It seems like every day we talk about the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we live and how we do business – for now and in the months to come - and in the face of so many unknowns, it can seem even more challenging to figure out what is truly “essential” as we make plans to move forward with a new understanding of what “normal” means.
One thing we know for sure, however, is that these new challenges aren’t going away anytime soon. We also know that businesses will need to augment their internal capabilities to be more agile and efficient, which is why it makes sense right now to examine the critical role of managed services for cybersecurity in a post-COVID-19 world.
For small and medium-sized businesses, that means taking advantage of managed security services that converge technology and expertise in ways that meet their unique needs. It’s what will allow them to run fast and lean – without risking gaps in network resilience and security – in a world that’s even more digitally dependent and socially distanced than ever before.
First, let’s look at the options. The cybersecurity landscape is flooded right now with point solutions that promise a silver bullet for very narrow aspects of security. That includes email security, application security, endpoint protection, network traffic analysis and so on. However, effective cybersecurity requires a multi-layer defense, and a multi-layer defense requires integration of multiple technologies and expertise. Many IT teams are overburdened with too many disparate tools and not enough time and expertise to leverage them.
So, companies with a network security monitoring solution from one vendor and an endpoint protection solution from another, face a real risk that those solutions won’t be able to seamlessly coexist – and do their jobs – without some serious integration work and day-to-day administration. Of course, that becomes a more pressing issue for companies that don’t have the resources (human or otherwise) to cobble those point solutions together, manage the integrations and then optimize the outcomes for each one on a continual basis. More often than not, that means businesses accept an uncomfortable level of risk as the new normal.
Managed security services offer a more practical approach to realizing a powerful cybersecurity operation. However, most service providers still rely on third-party technology vendors and are limited by how many tools they can actually specialize in and by how much customization of a tool they can do to fit any one business.
What we truly need to solve today’s cybersecurity challenges is for managed security service providers (MSSPs) to bring to bear their own multi-layer technology. MSSPs are typically best positioned to help resolve the issues that emerge when combining multiple solutions from multiple vendors. By employing their own consolidated, right-sized tech – including a foundation of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) functionality – MSSPs can strike a balance across power, practicality, and price.
That means they can offer a full range of compatible cybersecurity capabilities on a single platform – driven by a 24/7 security operations center (SOC) - and their customers get to take advantage of technology and security skills that are typically available only to larger companies, without straining their budgets to pay for the specialized personnel and extensive technology necessary to maintain an in-house SOC.
Now, more than ever, as IT departments and executives set their eyes on supporting and securing a remote workforce, dealing with new IT challenges, finding time to help combat financial difficulties with new innovation and productivity measures, IT security needs to focus on consolidation, convergence and simplification of cybersecurity – so the business itself can focus on what matters most.