5 benefits of outsourcing your cyber security

Maintaining a strong security posture is a significant challenge for most businesses. With complex cyber-attacks becoming more common, all businesses are at risk of falling victim. To reduce this risk, businesses typically implement new technologies that focus on prevention, detection and remediation.

However, this technology in isolation will not prevent a cyber-attack, it needs to be leveraged by skilled security professionals. Many businesses choose to outsource this to a trusted third party to ensure their business is as safe as possible. In this article, we will discuss 5 reasons why businesses should outsource their cyber security.

Access to experienced professionals

Many businesses rely on their in-house IT teams to manage their infrastructure, as well as their cyber security. Depending on the size of the company, and the workload of the IT department, this can be an overwhelming task, and can result in a poor security posture and an overworked team. This is also compounded as there is currently a cyber security skills shortage, making it difficult for businesses to employ experienced cyber security professionals.

When a business outsources their cyber security to a trusted third party, they gain access to a team of cyber security specialists. Their experience ensures they will be able accurately find and plug gaps within a business’s security posture, and most importantly they are aware of the current cyber-threats, and the best way to avoid them.

Reduce costs

For businesses of all sizes, employing a new security professional or training an existing employee can be extremely expensive. For smaller businesses, it can also be difficult to justify having an employee dedicated solely to security. In addition to the cost of employing or training someone, a business will still need to pay for cyber security technologies.

Whereas if a business outsources their cyber security, the cost is typically a fixed amount per month and includes the technology, as well as access to the team of cyber security professionals. Whenever a business is considering the cost of outsourcing security, they should also consider the average cost of a cyber-attack, as this can help estimate the return on investment.

Decrease workload for in-house IT teams

If your business has an in-house IT department, it is highly likely they already have a full workload maintaining the IT infrastructure and assisting with support requests. This often leaves them with insufficient time to dedicate to researching the perfect security solution, or threat monitoring after the solution is implemented.

With outsourced cyber security, the third-party provider is responsible for the planning, implementation and monitoring of a cyber security solution. This gives in-house IT departments more time to spend providing IT systems that help grow the business and provide better experiences for other employees and customers.

Improved incident response time

After a business falls victim to an attack, it is imperative that they respond quickly to reduce further damage and limit downtime. If a cyber criminal enters a network or system during the weekend, an in-house IT team may not notice until Monday morning. This will give the threat actor enough time to move laterally across a network and inflict even more damage. For example, it only takes 18 minutes for Russian nation-state hackers to move across a network.

Many cyber security providers offer 24/7 protection, detection and remediation to ensure that regardless of when an attack occurs, there is someone ready to swiftly take action. This is also a more cost-effective method of around the clock protection, as it would be extremely expensive to hire an internal team to work throughout the nights and on weekends.

Access to advanced technologies

There are many cyber security technologies designed to fulfil specific roles, including endpoint protection, email protection, autonomous detection, and many more. For an in-house IT department, they will not have experience with all of these advanced technologies, and it would be too costly and time-consuming to provide training for all solutions.

If a business outsources their cyber security requirements, they will be protected by a team of professionals that have experience with a suite of next-generation cyber security technology. As this team live and breathes cyber security, they will also be able to accurately provide insights into which technologies are worth a business investing in.

Looking to outsource your cyber security?

In 2022, all businesses need to invest in cyber security, before it is too late. There are many advanced threats that most in-house IT departments are not prepared to defend against. For this reason, it is logical for businesses to outsource their cyber security to a trusted third-party provider. To find out more about how we can keep your business safe, contact us today.