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A Business Case for Managed Security
If you’re weighing the options for protection in your own organisation, the value of a SOC (security ops centre) can’t be overlooked. If you’re deciding between a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Head of IT or Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP); we’ll help you build a solid business case for why you’ll want your security in the hands of a team of professionals external to your organisation.
Advantages of a SOC
People, processes and technology
The first and most obvious advantage is access to a pool of experts who have the most up-to-date technology in their SOC and operate within the strictest protocols. A Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) has an entire team of professionals at its disposal to execute a wider range of preventive measures than a single operative could implement.
These include:
Vulnerability Management – Using a bespoke tool, your MSSP will regularly monitor for risks and fix or patch them in near real-time.
Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) – You’ll get access to a scanning tool via the SOC which will check for threats in all your endpoint devices like phones, laptops and servers that connect to your network. They’ll then quarantine and eliminate any threats they find.
Cybersecurity Awareness Training – A huge number of cyberattacks come through the people in your organisation because of poor password management practices or interaction with malicious communications. Getting regular training from SOC experts can help your team minimise their negative impact on organisation security.
Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) – Your MSSP will also roll out the best in SIEM tools to ensure all trends are monitored for threats from every corner of your organisation including domain controllers, servers and devices.
Incident Response – Your MSSP will help you create an airtight incident response protocol with best-in-class detection, analysis and response procedures.
Win more business
Lots of your client and partner organisations will have a duty of care to their own customers with regards to data security. If they don’t believe you have the best-in-class skills in cyber threat detection and elimination, they’ll take their business to someone who does. This can result in a loss of potential clients and oftentimes, you’ll never really know that it was your cybersecurity risks that cost you the business.
Flexibility
Beyond the top-tier support, there’s the ability to scale up or down as you need to. Opening a new site or shuttering operations during the lull months? A SOC scales with you. Whether you’re inundated with security requests, or everything is running smoothly, an in-house security team still needs to be paid. This could mean you’re paying for services that aren’t being used. Outsourcing means your security can be paid for on an as-needed basis, saving you money and giving you greater flexibility. So, pay for just what you need, when you need it with a SOC outsourcer like FourNet.
Divert risk
If you work in a regulated industry like finance or gaming, you’ll need to meet certain conditions. However, when you outsource your cybersecurity, you transfer those mandates and the risks associated with them to your partners. It’s a smart move on two fronts. First, you’ll not need to carry the workload or expertise in-house and two, if something were to go wrong, your organisation wouldn’t shoulder the responsibility.
Shared costs
Another of the more obvious benefits, when you pool your resources with other businesses to benefit from a central MSSP, there’s a lower cost. You don’t need to spend top coin on the best technology and hire the most up-to-date and experienced professionals; you simply chip into a single resource. And this outsourcing can save you hundreds of thousands of pounds that you can divert to other focus areas. Plus, your supplier will need to meet SLAs for continuous monitoring and response across all their clients; giving you the confidence that these standards are truly being adhered to.
Faster containment
With a SOC, threat detection and response are their whole job. They’re not trying to help Sally in accounts recover a document she accidentally deleted. And because of that some companies see threat containment speeds increase by as much as 50% after switching to a managed security service. This means threats are stopped quicker and customers are put at less risk, leading to more satisfaction and retention. It also means that you can use your enhanced threat response data as a selling point to help you win more business.
Use Case Development
To help you justify the investment in a SOC, you’ll want to create a use case for everyone who would interact with your network. This shows how your process is responding now and can help you identify opportunities for improvement.
To do this, you’ll want to start by:
- Determining your user and their goals.
- Defining the current process for cybersecurity as it relates to them.
- Showing the usual and possible alternative outcomes (negative too) for how things are currently done.
- Locating any common stumbling blocks or opportunities for refinement in your current cybersecurity processes.
- Doing this again for all user types until you get a complete map of your environment.
Justifying Investment
Now that you have a full map of all the use cases for cybersecurity in your environment, you’ll want to show where a SOC could intercept these processes and improve or eliminate them. In general, as MLR Networks have explained before, “MSSPs are much better placed to look after IT security needs than most companies. This is particularly significant for small to mid-sized organisations who will immediately benefit from a first-tier SOC, 24Ã--7 coverage and access to expert security consultants – all unattainable without a huge budget.” So, your goal when creating a business case for managed security is to show where those efficiencies can be made across better expertise, reduced headcount, improved technology, effective processes, and faster response times.
Demonstrating ROI
Once you’ve mapped where the investment should go, you’ll want to tie to it a concrete cost benefit. When the average breach will cost upwards of £1.15m, you likely understand that continuous monitoring is the goal. But, to run a SOC yourself, your organisation will need to front at least £500k on average per annum for headcount and tech; all while shouldering all the blame if it’s not monitored 24/7. So, for each of your use case line items, create a conservative estimate for how much using an MSSP will save you in real pounds and pence terms. In most cases, you’ll find a SOC with an MSSP will reduce your overheads by hundreds of thousands over hosting one in-house.
Ready to explore how a SOC can help you save time, money, reduce risk and win more clients? Talk to our helpful team of cybersecurity experts today to scope out your use cases. We’ll help you make the case for investment to all key stakeholders and build a secure environment you can shout to your clients about.