Accelerating your cybersecurity program: Why, when, and how to do it – Cisco Blogs

Every day, organizations connect more and more devices and applications to networks to improve productivity, unlock growth opportunities, and innovate. This means IT teams have to contend with a growing attack surface and an increasing volume and variety of cyberthreats that put their organization’s privacy, data, and reputations on the line.

As networks become more complex and attack methods become more sophisticated, businesses recognize that cybersecurity cannot be considered optional.

Cybersecurity is the most challenging IT position to fill today. By 2021, there are expected to be 3.5 million vacant cybersecurity positions around the world. Due to the high demand and low supply of qualified cybersecurity professionals, security operations staff often lack the necessary skills or experience to defend their organization on their own.

By partnering with a cybersecurity service provider, you can accelerate your security program and minimize the impact of a breach, by leveraging professionals who specialize in threat detection, investigation, research, and response.

The benefits of managed security

Whether you’re looking to optimize your security operations, prevent threat alerts from overwhelming your existing team, or automate your response actions, partnering with a managed security service provider can be a sound business move.

One of the biggest advantages of leveraging a trusted cybersecurity service provider is you can enable 24x7x365 monitoring of your environment with continuous access to analysts, investigators, and research – without having to make significant investments in hiring or training in-house staff or security operations systems.

What do you need to look for in a security service provider?

Your security service provider should provide resources to advance the capabilities of your team so they can focus on the things most important to your business.

A service provider that’s able to evaluate, investigate, prioritize, and recommend the right response to a threat within your environment – as well as monitor for changes and indications of compromise – can significantly advance your operations capabilities and reduce business risk.

Additionally, it’s worthwhile considering the reputation of your cybersecurity service provider, including their capability to keep up with a rapidly changing industry. A provider that’s using a cloud-native integrated platform, as well as defined as-a-service architectures, would better align to your changing business and work structures.

How do you establish the right partnership?

Once you’ve chosen your security service provider, it’s critical to lay the groundwork for your partnership. This means:

• Clearly defining your security operations requirements
• Understanding your provider’s methodologies and threat research
• Evaluating the ease of deployment and time to value
• Determining whether security expenditures will be predictable

Find a partner who will radically uplift your security posture

There’s a lot to consider when deciding which cybersecurity partner is right for your business. As security service providers vary in quality and scope, proper vetting is important.

Ultimately, your provider should strengthen your cybersecurity program without adding complexity, so you can focus on what matters most. Your IT specialists will sleep better at night knowing that a team of professionals is monitoring your networks carefully to keep critical assets safe, and adapting defense measures in line with changes in the threat landscape.

With Cisco Managed Detection and Response (MDR), a team of cybersecurity experts monitors security events for indications of compromise, understanding the latest threats, tactics techniques and procedures used to initiate cyber attacks. These experts strengthen your security program by using their skills and tools to detect and rapidly respond to threats.

Learn more about how Cisco MDR can enhance your security operations and give you the freedom to focus on what matters most. Get in touch today.

Share: