In today’s digital world, cybersecurity is a major concern for businesses of all sizes. With an increase in cyberattacks and data breaches, it’s crucial to have the right security measures in place to protect sensitive information and systems. Many companies rely on their general IT team to handle all cybersecurity issues, but is this enough to keep your business secure?
The reality is that the shortage of cybersecurity professionals and limited budgets make it challenging for businesses to keep up with the ever-evolving threat landscape. This is where managed security service providers (MSSPs) come in.
What is a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP)?
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are third-party companies that offer support in various business areas, such as HR and payroll. In recent years, MSPs have expanded their services to include IT infrastructure management and information security.
For companies requiring round-the-clock monitoring, an MSSP is a suitable alternative to a security operation center (SOC), which requires at least nine people to operate 24/7. An MSSP is designed to reduce the number of operational security personnel that an enterprise needs to hire, train, and retain.
In a post-pandemic environment, planning for contingencies and considering the uncertainties of the future is what will ultimately spell the difference between surviving and thriving among businesses.
Gartner projected that by 2023, the widespread adoption of advanced technologies will see a jump from less than 15% today to 75% of organizations restructuring their risk and security governance.
To understand how organizations have responded to their pandemic-related challenges so far, Kaspersky has surveyed businesses of different sizes in 26 countries in September 2022.
Results of the survey are collected in the latest Kaspersky IT Security Economics Report where respondents in Southeast Asia shared their current setup when it comes to managing the IT security of their organizations.
In using MSSPs to fulfill their IT security needs, SEA businesses admitted to enjoying the following benefits:
- IT teams doing more with less.
SEA companies appear to be placing a premium on getting access to extensive knowledge and resources from outsider cybersecurity technology pros.
Some 55.8% of these companies said MSSPs provide special expertise, 54.7% are helping them meet compliance requirements and reduce regulatory risks for them, and 50.4% realized that MSSPs are taking the complexity out of business processes. They believe that partnering with MSSPs is a shot in the arm for their internal IT crews with all the resources and skills they bring to the table. - Cutting costs.
This is one of the biggest benefits of MSSPs for 49.4% of companies in the region. Keeping a roster of highly specialized cybersecurity experts in-house is expensive for every company of every type and size. Engaging an MSSP could reduce HR expenses and up-front IT security costs such as huge spending on full-time staff, rigorous protection measures as well as staff training and awareness.
Businesses are now beginning to look at security as an operational expense, taking into account the cost of suffering a breach such as a hacked database, costly downtime, customer losses, and reputational damage that could seriously hurt the bottom line. - Scalability.
SEA respondents (48.5%) have found that working with MSSPs is helping their organization become flexible in terms of changing requirements. They can add resources in increments or only for a certain period of time.
“Recall how the usual ways of doing business were impacted during the pandemic years. We have seen how physical offices and stores shut down, employees suddenly dispersed to work remotely, and customers forced to transact everything online. We were also witnesses to how cybercriminals took advantage of the unprepared world, unleashing a surge of cyber attacks of various kinds,” according to Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.
“From their pandemic experience, decision-makers of thriving businesses have learned to adapt to the new normal to stay in the game and be on the frontline for when opportunities arise. There is no other way but to grow and expand only if we change our mindset and shift our priorities,” the Kaspersky executive added.
Kaspersky’s partner-MSSPs across Southeast Asia are at the disposal of companies that are considering turning to MSSPs to gain access to Kaspersky’s wealth of experience, expertise, and comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity services and solutions, including threat intelligence, incident response, threat detection, malware research, and reverse engineering and digital forensics.
Interested vendors may know more about Kaspersky’s Managed Service Provider Partnership here.
To download the Kaspersky IT Security Economics Report 2022, please click here.