No matter how big or small your business is, managing your security requirements in-house can be challenging. However, with the help of a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), you can focus on doing what you do best and trust the security of your business to qualified professionals. If you want to know more about MSSPs and what they can offer your business, please read on.
What are MSSPs?
MSSPs are specialised companies that provide security services to organisations. They are typically responsible for managing and monitoring a company’s security infrastructure, including firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, antivirus and malware protection and other security technologies.
What do MSSPs do?
MSSPs provide a range of services to their clients, including threat intelligence and analysis, security assessments, incident response and regulatory compliance assistance. They often have a team of security experts who are dedicated to providing ongoing support and monitoring. They are responsible for ensuring that their clients’ security infrastructure is up-to-date and protected against emerging threats.
What services do MSSPs provide?
MSSPs offer a number of vital services to their clients, including:
Risk management
Risk management is one of the most important responsibilities of an MSSP. It involves identifying, assessing and mitigating business risks that could be harmful to your company and its assets. The goal of risk management is to ensure that you have adequate controls in place to prevent data breaches or other security incidents from occurring.
While risk management policies should be based on your organisation’s specific needs, they usually include things like identifying critical assets and processes within your IT infrastructure. This concerns what information would cause significant harm if exposed, such as bank details, employee contact information or even the location of your company offices.
MSSPs will also specialise in assessing potential threats against those critical assets and processes. They can identify who might try to get hold of this information and remove them as a risk. Defining policies that mitigate these threats is also incredibly important – how you protect your sensitive data makes a huge difference in keeping your business safe from threats.
24/7 Security Operations
MSSPs will monitor and oversee the management of your security systems 24/7, usually from an operation centre. These operations will include tasks like utilising threat intelligence, data collection and analysis to identify potential weaknesses, monitoring the sharing of information and sensitive data, and managing firewalls, virtual private networks, vulnerability scanning and more.
Security Incident Response
MSSPs are largely proactive, not reactive, so they will continually monitor your systems and networks for suspicious activity. This way, they can take action before any damage is done to your company’s sensitive data or reputation.
Security incident response is a core component of any MSSP. Solutions can include taking measures such as blocking access to malicious websites or removing malware from your servers. This can take a while when someone is inexperienced, but with the help of an MSSP team, you can get this task carried out quickly. This is particularly helpful when you are working against the clock to ensure that your company’s information can be saved.
It’s also important for an MSSP to ensure that any changes made as a result of security incidents are documented, so you know what needs updating in case another attack occurs later on down the line.
Consulting Services
Consulting services are perhaps the most common solutions provided by MSSPs. An MSSP can help you determine what your company’s security needs are before providing tailored advice and guidance on how to manage your security plan and limit potential risks. With a team like this at your side, you are much less likely to encounter major threats or attacks. They often offer cybersecurity audits in order to highlight weaknesses and advise how their services could help.
How do MSSPs and MSPs differ?
Managed Security Service Providers and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are not the same. MSPs provide more general IT services such as help desk support, software installation and hardware maintenance. And while they may provide some security services as part of their overall offering, they typically don’t have the same level of expertise on security that MSSPs do.
The type of work an MSP does will vary from business to business, but it generally includes things like backup and recovery solutions, infrastructure upgrades and cloud migration services. Some MSPs will also provide training programs in addition to their other offerings. In addition, MSPs are likely to work with multiple clients at one time, which can make them less specialised and less dedicated to your company.
What are the benefits of MSSPs?
There are many benefits to using an MSSP for security services. One of the main advantages is that it allows organisations to leverage the expertise of specialised security professionals, without the need to hire and maintain their own in-house security team. This can be especially beneficial for smaller organisations that may not have the resources or budget to build and maintain their own security infrastructure.
Another benefit of using an MSSP is that it can help to improve an organisation’s overall security setup. MSSPs have access to the latest security technologies and threat intelligence, which they can use to identify and respond to potential threats before they become major issues. They can also provide ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that an organisation’s security infrastructure is always up-to-date and protected against emerging threats.
In addition, using an MSSP can help organisations to meet regulatory compliance requirements. MSSPs often have a deep understanding of regulatory requirements such as GDPR and PCI-DSS and can provide assistance with compliance audits and assessments.
Final Thoughts
Overall, MSSPs provide a valuable service to organisations looking to improve their security setups. By leveraging the expertise of specialised security professionals, organisations can benefit from the latest security technologies and threat intelligence without the need to build and maintain their own in-house security teams. This can help to reduce costs and improve overall security effectiveness, while also ensuring regulatory compliance and peace of mind.
Why choose Eventura as your cybersecurity partner?
With over 20 years experience in cybersecurity, we know our stuff. Our team of cybersecurity experts can complete a full audit of your business and identify any areas of weakness, which could leave you vulnerable to cyberattacks.
We were even mentioned in the Governments National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Annual Review 2020 when we were chosen to test their “Exercise in a Box” designed to help small businesses prepare and respond to cyberthreats. You can read the article here.
There is a common misconception that cyberattacks don’t happen to SMEs but this couldn’t be further from the truth. With our expert knowledge, we can help you protect your business’s future from the ever increasing threat of cybercriminals.
If you would like to speak to one of our cybersecurity experts or request a cybersecurity audit, you can request a free call back here.
