In the post-pandemic world, businesses across the globe are shifting to a hybrid workplace model. With some of their workforce working remotely while the rest is working from on-premises offices, organizations are increasingly concerned about the possible security vulnerabilities they are getting exposed to on a daily basis. Thus, in order to ensure the security of such a largely distributed workforce, businesses are investing heavily in cybersecurity measures.
One such popular cybersecurity investment is the use of managed security service providers (MSSP). These are third-party vendors who provide security products and services to businesses. These service providers manage, monitor, and handle the security processes of their clients. MSSPs offer a wide range of security services: from setting up and managing the network infrastructure to monitoring the network to identify security threats in real-time.
As per statistics recently released by ReportLinker, the managed security services industry was estimated at a value of 23.19 billion dollars in 2021. With a CAGR of 16.11%, this industry is expected to reach 56.6 billion dollars by 2027. Cyberattacks are one of the main reasons leading to such rapid adoption of MSSPs globally. The global rise in cyberattacks has become a matter of concern for enterprises across all industries. Thus, businesses of all sizes and types are being forced to invest in cybersecurity to improve their security posture and raise their defenses against such cyber-threats.
MSSPs can customize their products and services based on each client's business size and requirements. They provide a wide range of products and services for security capabilities like authentication and authorization, threat detection and response, endpoint management, network management, firewalls, cloud security services, and so on. MSSPs usually work on a subscription-based model and deliver their services thorough multiple modes like on-premises, remote, or via cloud. Like any other subscription-based technologies, businesses can choose to outsource their entire security management processes or select ones based on their budget and business needs.
Today, with all the technological advancements on one side, we also find that cyberattacks are evolving at a rapid pace. The cyber-threats are becoming more complex and difficult to detect. Thus, without substantial security tools and resources monitoring your network continuously, it can get difficult to keep these threats away. Additionally, it's an even bigger task to prepare an organization to respond to a cyber-threat, in case it occurs. Timely detection and response is crucial in such cases to limit the damage. Thus, the easier and more efficient option is deploying MSSPs as a valuable addition for any business looking to amp up their enterprise security levels. Any enterprise with limited resources for IT security management are benefited from these services. They need not invest any additional time and resources into obtaining and training new resources because they can instead choose to outsource the entire process to an MSSP.
Dealing with cyber-risks and providing security from cyber-threats is a complex activity and requires technical expertise. Since MSSPs are cyber experts and their primary focus is on monitoring the threat landscape of their clients, they can ensure timely threat detection and security. With this, the security burden of the organization is moved to their vendor, allowing them to concentrate on their own business operations and profits.
Additionally, organizations operating in industries where there is a business or legal requirement to monitor and manage security 24x7 (for instance, government), look to adopt MSSP services to avoid the expenses and tedium of doing so with in-house resources. MSSPs can deliver continuous oversight around-the-clock at reduced costs. They usually also abide by SLAs, thus guaranteeing an agreed upon level of security and service at all times.
Another main advantage of MSSPs is that they are highly cost-efficient. Since these vendors work on a subscription model and provide the same services to multiple clients simultaneously, their cost per-client is very low. This is why MSSPs are convenient for businesses of all sizes.
MSSPs also help you stay compliant with the legal requirements of various data privacy laws. Since privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, HIPAA, GLBA, etc. are constantly evolving, the security solutions needed to address them must evolve as well. If your organization doesn't stay on top of changing needs, it can become non-compliant to its legal responsibilities. Therefore, sourcing your security environment via MSSPs also ensures that your business is in line with each privacy laws' requirements. The MSSPs will they take care of the compliance part from their side and ensure that your company meets the legal regulations.
One of the major disadvantages or concerns surrounding MSSPs is that an entire organization's security is handed over to a third party. This may leave very little within the organization's control. Data protection and security is an absolute necessity for any organization. Thus, when the security fronts are managed by MSSPs, it means that they also have access to lot of internal and sensitive data. With the global rise in supply chain attacks, organizations are rightfully concerned about outsourcing their security services from MSSPs. In cases where the contracted vendor faces a cyberattack, it places additional risk on their clients for data breaches and financial losses to occur.
Lack of control over processes can be another matter of concern. When security is handled internally by the organization itself, they have control over the processes and operations. When using an MSSP, they might not have have control over the actual cybersecurity landscape of their organization in terms of processes and flexibility.
Today, organizations have to choose from a wide range of MSSPs that are available in the market. Thus, it becomes crucial to identify the right service provider who is best-suited for your organizational needs and requirements. The first step is to identify why you need an MSSP. The processes that are required to be outsourced must be identified and listed out. Once the list of requirements is ready, the same must be presented to the security heads and leaders to map out a doable budget and finalize the nitty-gritty details.
The second step is to conduct a thorough research of all the MSSP vendors in terms of their capabilities, processes, cost, deliverables, etc. Thorough checks must be done regarding how technologically updated the vendor is, what kind of services they offer, how compliant they are with the industry-specific and region-specific legal requirements, and so on. They must also identify what assurances they provide in terms of disaster recovery and business continuity. Additionally, the MSSPs themselves must have the capability to deliver the said level of service. This means that they must have adequate resources in terms of finance, technology, and professionally-trained people to deliver the services.
Then, vendors must be short-listed based on how well they align with the organizational requirements. As a next step, the IT experts must meet with the vendor associates and verify their customer references. This provides as an additional step of vendor validation. It is important to remember that eventually you will be handing over the entire security posture of your organization to an external enterprise. Thus, it is crucial to perform your due diligence and ensure everything is in place before finalizing on the vendor.
In today's cybersecurity environment, it has become an absolute necessity for each organization to perform measures to protect the company data and ensure security against cyber-threats. In the end, every organization must strategically choose their MSSP vendor to be one that is experienced and can work cohesively with your in-house IT team. Together, they can lay a solid fountain to monitor your enterprise network for possible threats continuously, identify them on-time, and respond quickly to minimize the damage.
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