In this fourth part of our series on how to achieve IT maturity, we’ll talk about one of the most important elements of a strong and capable organization: your security and how to improve it, especially with the help of the right managed cyber security services.
Few companies reach the highest levels of IT maturity, but those who do have several powerful advantages. Their IT teams aren’t just exceptional at doing IT-related tasks — they’re also tightly aligned with the overall business and capable of actively contributing to the organization’s growth and success.
Security is an essential aspect of getting to the higher levels of IT maturity. In this article, we’ll show you why security is so important in this and what you can do to build a more secure organization.
Why Is Security so Important for IT Maturity?
It’s an uncomfortable truth in the world of IT: cybercrime is rising, and fast. Today’s cyber criminals have more tools and techniques at their disposal than ever before, which means security teams have to be on their A games all the time.
Attacks like ransomware, phishing, and pretexting are on the rise, driven by the wider use of technologies like AI. As time passes, attacks will only become more sophisticated and frequent, which means cybersecurity has to be a number one priority. You can’t be a mature organization — or anything close — without a strong focus on security.
How to Improve Security With Managed Cyber Security Services
Here’s the thing about building a secure organization — it’s extremely difficult when you go it alone.
This is especially true for small and mid-sized businesses. Your internal security teams will be under constant pressure from competing challenges, often struggling to work with a limited set of tools and dealing with gaps in their skills and experience.
We’ve found that most companies can benefit greatly from working with a third-party security team. A managed cyber security services partner isn’t a replacement for your security employees — it supports and augments them.
The right managed cyber security services partner (MSSP) will bring resources, infrastructure, and specific skill sets that your team might lack. They’ll help you build a more secure and robust company without running your employees into the ground.
Let’s look at some of the specific ways managed cyber security services can help you.
- Vulnerability management — this is all about staying on top of the various weak points in your organization’s security. It involves constantly monitoring and scanning to pinpoint any vulnerabilities so you can then take appropriate steps to fix the problem and prevent any future issues.
- Security information and event management (SIEM) — here your security partner will carry out an in-depth analysis across your organization, collecting data on network traffic and security events. This gives you a much more comprehensive understanding of all the threats you face, the security infrastructure you already have in place, and how you can improve.
- SOC-as-a-Service (SOCaaS) — this is where your partner provides a Security Operations Center so you don’t have to build and maintain one internally. A SOC is a place to carry out 24/7 monitoring, threat detection, incident response, and security analytics, all overseen by a skilled team working with high-level tools and processes.
- Security awareness training — it’s essential to make sure your internal teams (not just security personnel) are educated and aware of all relevant security risks and what they should do to keep the company safe. Your MSSP can provide this through regular training, mock exercises, and ongoing communication to build a culture of cyber security awareness.
- Red Teaming-as-a-Service (RTaaS) — red teaming involves simulating real-world attacks to see how your defenses will respond and to identify any weak points and areas to improve. Your security partner can help carry out these operations to help you build a more resilient organization based on practical data.
- Virtual CISO (vCISO) — a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) can be a fantastic asset for a smaller team with no high-ranking security leader. They bring expertise, vision, and leadership skills to your security team without the enormous cost and time commitment of bringing on a full-time in-house CISO. You can also bring in additional vCISOs on a short-term basis to take the helm for specific, niche challenges.
- Compliance Operations-as-a-Service (COaaS) — complying with all relevant data privacy regulations is one of the most important responsibilities when it comes to cybersecurity. The right MSSP can make sure you’re taking all the right steps to comply with regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA so you don’t end up facing eye-watering legal penalties.
These are just the most important benefits you’ll get from a competent MSSP — there are many more. But how do you know which partner is right for you?
Choosing the Right Partner
The right managed cyber security services partner can help you build a more secure organization, avoid and mitigate threats, and recover more effectively in a worst-case scenario. This is a fundamental part of reaching full IT maturity and as cyber threats continue to mutate, evolve, and multiply, security is not something any company can afford to take lightly.
The right partner for you will depend on your specific goals, needs, risk profile, history, and many other factors. It’s well worth taking the time to reach out to multiple potential partners and learn more about how they operate and what they could do for you.
Here at DYOPATH, we’ve helped countless companies improve their security — it’s one of the areas where we truly excel — along with the other steps required to reach IT maturity.
If you’d like to learn more about IT maturity and how improving your security can help you get there, read our white paper: The IT Director’s Blueprint to IT Maturity.
