It’s no secret that advances in malware such as Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and the sophistication or organised crime syndicates & hackers in general have left companies vulnerabilities exposed. One only has to tune into any  global news report to witness the newest high profile breach!

A trend of outsourcing this aspect of your IT network to an external security expert has emerged and grown rapidly in recent years as a result. The added complexity of the corporate network as technology gets implemented essentially creating a new layer of tasks/responsibilities and therefore increasing IT departments’ workload even further. This leads to the exploration of engaging with an MSSP as the IT manager asks:

What are the benefits for our organisation?

Below we cover some the pressing issues with regards to the benefit gained from hiring an MSSP:

1. Skills

Are the single biggest reason for wanting to seek help in the first place. A lack of dedicated skilled personnel can be detrimental to any business unit or dept. However, in IT it will be catastrophic as we all know that data is one of the most valuable assets companies have and any loss of customer data can result in bad publicity, loss of trust with customers/partners and ultimately a loss in revenues. Hiring an MSSP ensures that a dedicated security expert will be reviewing and monitoring all aspect of your network full time. The insight provided into security situations is based on extensive experience and having the expertise, time & technology to fully evaluate & remediate security issues. This is simply not possible for an internal IT employees truthfully should not be expected of them.

2. Technology & Facilities

Another enhancement can be attributed to the technology & facilities which an MSSP can offer. Today you will find that most MSSPs have state of the art technology/ infrastructures that can be very expensive but are leveraged by spreading that cost across a number clients. These are managed by trained employees inside in a security operations centre (SOC). If you want to read more about the main functions of a SOC, take a look at our blog post “The Five Key Functions Of A Security Operations Centre”.

3. Saving Costs

In truth, the bottom line is usually the key driver for companies to explore outsourcing something as vital as security for their network. In almost all cases we can link the other factor above back to cost as most companies operate this way and are confined by the financial barriers to implement an internal IT security team. Simply put most cannot compete. An MSSP can spread the investment over analyst, hardware, software, and facilities by utilising their client base.

Conclusion:

The point to take away from this is that MSSPs are much better placed to look after your IT security need than you are. Once you have decided make the jump one should consider and carefully examine the skills they have & can provide. The technology & facilities used will also be a huge indicator of what can be offered and therefore what you can expect. Finally, the cost or bottom line savings that an MSSP can offer you should be examined and evaluated in conjunction with the other benefits to help aid in your decision. It is also important to remember that the cheapest may not be the best option and vice versa. So think carefully, evaluate all benefits and the best choice should seem more obvious.