Posted on April 13, 2020
Security
You can leverage the expertise of a crack cybersecurity team without emptying your company bank account.
To accomplish this, you can outsource your cybersecurity services to a Security as a Service (SECaaS) provider. The concept works the same as Software as a Service (SaaS), where you move network services that you’d generally handle in-house to the cloud.
Entering a Security as a Service agreement involves subscribing to a cloud-hosted service. Then, the provider handles cybersecurity.
This kind of arrangement has grown increasingly popular for corporate infrastructure. It’s a way to relieve your in-house IT Department of some responsibilities.
A Security as a Service arrangement gives you immediate access to the latest security resources and tools. By deploying SECaaS across your organization, you can ensure that every server, PC and mobile device stays updated and secure at all times.
This arrangement eliminates uncertainty. You’ll no longer have to concern yourself with routine deployments such as security patches. Your SECaaS partner handles all updates for you.
This arrangement doesn’t mean that you’re entirely out of the cybersecurity loop. SECaaS providers enable you to keep an eye on your network security using a convenient web-based dashboard.
A SECaaS agreement frees company resources while providing you with complete transparency. With a SECaaS partnership, you can go forth confidently knowing that the security of your network is in the hands of skilled IT professionals.
A SECaaS partnership gives you access to a broad range of cybersecurity skills that you may not have the budget for had you hired the same talent in-house. This benefit is why it’s becoming an increasingly popular service. Nevertheless, it gives you access to highly trained cybersecurity specialists 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Indeed, a SECaaS provider can deliver security performance that’s better than your in-house team’s. It’s their core business, and they excel at it.
By partnering with a SECaaS provider, you can make in-house IT management easier. Despite this arrangement, you’ll still know everyone who accesses data and why.
The following are three things that you should consider about security as a service for your IT team.
SECaaS connects you with a wide range of continually expanding capabilities. However, there are some security items that you should keep in-house.
As an example, any security function that is ingrained deeply into the core of your business is not something that you should outsource. For example, you’d want to leave the protection of SAP traffic to internal IT personnel.
Internal staff members know what regular traffic looks like for your organization. A third-party may not notice an abnormality, which would leave your network vulnerable in this regard.
The same applies to security logs and entity behavior analytics. This kind of information is unique to your organization. It can prove challenging for an outside company to assess this data accurately.
To analyze this kind of information, personnel must have intimate knowledge of what’s typical for your network and endpoints. If you head a large organization, you must even exercise caution about transferring responsibilities for essential functions such as firewall management.
A firewall for a large corporation may have thousands of rules. Even some midsized companies have enough firewall rules that it would prove difficult for an outside company to secure.
A SECaaS provider enables you to hand off your cybersecurity functions. However, you are still responsible for maintaining network security.
You must establish accountability for organizational security. Additionally, you must take responsibility for its failures.
In a SECaaS arrangement, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. Finding a cybersecurity partner with whom you can work well is critical to the success of a SECaaS engagement.
If you’re considering entering a SECaaS agreement, you must have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what. In your contract, you must outline who has access to what data.
Your agreement must also outline where your organization will store important information such as audit logs and user credentials after entering the SECaaS arrangement. You also need to describe how you will access that information.
You must also outline every detail about data ownership in your service provider contract. This process also helps identify any gaps in security, allowing you to address it before becomes a problem.
When choosing a SECaaS provider, you need to know what questions to ask. Begin with finding out about the potential provider’s security certifications. For example, ask how they address compliance standards for GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI.
Also, ask a potential partner about their process for protecting data when vetting vendors. Pay particular attention to how they address handling personally identifiable information.
You must protect sensitive information from the time that you create it to the time that you delete it. It’s essential that your potential SECaaS provider has a plan for dealing with personally identifiable information for the entire data lifecycle.
There are many reasons why you may express interest in Security as a Service. You may want to reduce the cost of maintaining cybersecurity. Alternatively, you may want continuous protection from a never-ending series of new cyber threats. A SECaaS provider can do all these things for your organization.
Net Depot has provided infrastructure cybersecurity for more than two decades. Contact us today to find out how to enhance your network security and empower your business to get back to its core competency.