Be Cyber Smart: Why Security is Too Complex to Manage Alone
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Now in its 18th year, it continues to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity across our country—especially now with 83% of employers saying that remote work has been successful for them.
But with more people working from home and using their personal devices, today’s organizations are exposed to greater levels of risk. As businesses rise to meet the challenge of the always-on digital workspace, the pressure on IT teams is growing. Indeed, given that 91% of all cyberattacks originate with email, it’s critical to balance the need for empowering employees in their work lives, while mitigating security risks posed by remote work.
The truth is, cyberattacks are not going away anytime soon. The IBM 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report says that the average total cost of a data breach was more than $1 million higher where remote working was a factor in causing the breach. Building an infrastructure—and expertise—to support and process this ever-growing amount of data while also protecting remote workers from attacks, challenges many businesses.
Fortunately, IT teams don’t have to go it alone. Having an external expert can help ensure their success.
The growing complexities of cybersecurity
To cope with these shifts in the market and workplace, more businesses are investing in their digital transformation strategies. Whether they turn to the cloud, AI or edge computing to digitally transform and propel business innovation, they still need to migrate, process and protect their data. If not correctly implemented, monitored, managed and maintained, the result can be security breaches, compliance failures and the ensuing loss of data, profitability, productivity and reputation.
As businesses advance their digital transformation initiatives, cybersecurity cannot be overlooked. But the complex array of digital security products and tools—with multiple dashboards, alerts, proactive management and IT/security expertise needed to maintain them—can quickly hamper security efforts. And this is all before businesses have begun to see ROI.
Fortunately, mitigating cybercrime is not “the impossible dream.” Organizations can strengthen and optimize their data security strategy by turning to a managed services provider (MSP) for support.
The benefits of a managed security services solution
Partnering with an MSP to enhance, secure and manage IT can help organizations maximize ROI while freeing internal resources for other strategic initiatives. An MSP can help your business:
- Develop a holistic security strategy. Rather than taking the time to develop a solid security strategy, many organizations find themselves growing a complex collection of point products that can be challenging to manage and put businesses at risk. An MSP can help you curate and tailor a security strategy that considers the challenges you face and the goals you’re trying to achieve—a strategy that aligns with your business needs.
- Access up-to-date security proficiency. Managed services providers have expert security knowledge, training and certifications and can provide the latest expertise on security trends, threats and attack vectors, solutions and more—this is especially important with a widening worldwide cybersecurity skills gap.
- Reduce staffing costs. Most organizations today can’t find, let alone afford, specialized security talent. Having an MSP develop and manage your security posture can keep you from spending on recruiting, hiring and retaining expensive security talent. In fact, 74% of IT decision-makers agree they cannot meet their organization’s demand for IT expertise with internal resources only.
- Be more proactive than reactive. Breach cleanup and penalties can be extremely costly. An MSP can help you proactively detect and prevent an incident before it happens, reducing the risk of an attack and business downtime.
- Conduct end-user awareness training. A key part of any security strategy should be to increase security awareness through continual end-user training and testing on the latest security threats.
Most importantly, an MSP can collaborate with your in-house IT team to ensure that cybersecurity is thoroughly integrated into any business development plan.
Considerations ahead of partnering with an MSP
Before partnering with an MSP, however, it is important to consider your business needs and prepare effectively. By understanding existing challenges, a business can determine what help they need, who to turn to for support and whether potential solutions meet the demands of its customer base.
A company should also consider their desired business outcomes. While ad-hoc point solutions can be effective in the short-term, they can add management complexity and unneeded risk over the long term. Businesses must also prioritize who they can trust. Building a long-term relationship with an established MSP will make more room for innovation and business growth now and in the future.
Finally, build in and invest in compliance. Not only will it protect your organization’s reputation and avoid any legal ramifications, it will also strengthen security.
Logicalis: An expert managed services provider that ensures your security success
According to a recent Forrester survey: “IT leaders who have an established relationship with strategic IT services providers are positioned to limit disruptions to employees and customers, ensuring business can continue and outcomes can still be achieved, even during times of change.”
Logicalis can help you confidently conduct business with a holistic security strategy. Partnering with an MSP to build a solid cybersecurity strategy can be an easier, more cost-effective way to build and maintain a more robust IT infrastructure.
We take a zero-trust approach to security that promotes productivity and remote access, within limits, using network segmentation to protect sensitive data from inside the network. It’s a model that offers CIOs better access-based control with insight into the users and devices requesting connection to the network.
Ultimately, the best offense is a good defense. By turning to an MSP to monitor, manage, maintain, optimize and enhance IT, you can both protect your organization and employees, while also ensuring your security infrastructure is aligned with business goals.
See where you stand by taking our Security Maturity Survey. Upon completion, you’ll receive an overall score with a more detailed report available from your Logicalis Account Executive. Or contact us for more information.
Jon Groves is CEO of Logicalis U.S.