Advancements in our technology have massively improved our lives, making our daily tasks more convenient and empowering rapid innovation. Yet, this digital revolution has also opened the floodgates to more sophisticated and pervasive IT security threats.
And unfortunately, the escalating cyber attacks don’t just affect our ability to navigate the digital world. The recent massive cyberattack affecting five Ontario hospitals that impacted patient care shows us the real-life consequences, too.
In response, organizations must implement more modern IT security measures that protect their digital assets, sensitive information, and their community’s physical safety. Luckily, with the right cybersecurity strategy, it’s possible to keep their data and systems intact, confidential, and available.
Figuring out how to achieve this can be manageable. Beyond implementing cybersecurity best practices internally, Security as a Service (SECaaS) solutions can help you proactively stay ahead and address your risk.
Below, we’ll dive deep into everything you need about this cloud-based security model. You’ll learn how this approach can help your company adapt to new threats and keep your operations running smoothly despite any obstacles.
What is SECaaS?
Many organizations, small and medium-sized, struggle to protect their data. With such limited budgets, they often lack the resources and expertise to operate with a robust IT infrastructure.
Unfortunately, with the inability to invest in advanced technologies, dedicated IT security staff, and ongoing training, these companies are more vulnerable to risk. And if they do experience a cyber security threat, they can’t respond as effectively, making the financial consequences likely much more devastating.
That’s why Security-as-as-Service (SECaaS) is an appealing alternative for helping smaller organizations protect their critical activities and information.
With SECaaS, businesses can outsource their digital security needs to a third-party company called a managed service provider specializing in cybersecurity. They will leverage the cloud to provide computer security services rather than a business using their in-house and on-premises hardware.
Typically, the MSP will provide their SECaaS solutions on a subscription basis, allowing businesses to customize the services to reflect their distinct circumstances. These services might include tactics such as managed detection and response, security awareness testing and training, dark web ID tracking, permissions and document management, and more.
Curious about how moving to the cloud can benefit small and medium businesses? Explore this guide to the benefits of cloud computing.
Core Components of SECaaS
When hiring an MSP to implement Security-as-a-Service solutions for your institution, your success will determine whether they create the proper foundation of essential elements for thwarting and neutralizing threats.
Comprehensive Protection
An effective Security-as-a-Service solution means your company can tackle your risk holistically, approaching a hacker’s potential attack surface from all angles.
Your MSP will address your overall network safety, using thorough IT security assessments to get a clear picture of your needs. They will also implement more targeted and layered tactics, looking at the various stages of an attack chain to make sure that you’re prepared to address a threat either before, during, or after it happens to you.
This will include establishing intrusion management protocols, developing backup and disaster recovery strategies, and data loss prevention (DLP) mechanisms to prevent users from transmitting or leaking data unsanctioned. They will also encrypt your data so that if an unauthorized user does gain access, it will be unreadable.
Real-time Monitoring
Businesses need to be able to get real-time information about the activity on their network to detect and address threats before they wreak significant havoc.
Continuous monitoring is a key aspect of SECaaS, allowing you to minimize damage. Your provider will implement advanced tools, often ones that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning, for rapidly analyzing traffic and user behaviour. You can gain the insights needed to spot potential weaknesses.
Scalability
SECaaS solutions help companies nimbly change their cybersecurity approach as their needs and threats evolve. That’s why scalability is a crucial component of your SECaaS foundation. Your provider should work with you to create a system and infrastructure to increase or decrease its capacity so you can continually optimize your resources and maintain the same level of performance.
Your business can also future-proof its operations. With SECaaS, you’ll have a framework always ready to incorporate new technologies and tools.
Easy Integration
An effective Security-as-a-Service solution should be able to integrate with your organization’s existing IT infrastructures seamlessly. No one wants to undergo a time-consuming and extensive tech overhaul. Thankfully, SECaaS allows you to adopt advanced digital security measures without significantly disrupting your systems, applications, and workflows. Instead, you can benefit from your new cyber security solutions immediately, with easier onboarding and minimal reconfiguration.
Benefits of SECaaS for Businesses
Yes, Security as a Service gives companies the obvious advantage of stronger data protection. However, SECaaS also offers more specific benefits to businesses, particularly small and medium companies.
Leverage the Benefits, Avoid the Negatives
Unfortunately, sharing resources online can expose you to data breaches and other potential attacks. These tools can make our work lives more hassle-free: for example, artificial intelligence can be a game-changer for accomplishing tasks more efficiently: customer support, data analysis, supply chain management, etc. But as a recent UK government report on AI noted, it’s likely to increase the risk of cyber attacks, too.
Working with an MSP for their SECaaS can help you combat the vulnerabilities that come with digital tools like AI and cloud computing. With your provider’s expertise, they can help you adopt measures to plug any gaps in your defenses, ensuring that your digital operations remain a positive experience rather than a burden.
Proactive and Cost-Effective Cybersecurity
With Security-as-a-Service, businesses can shift from a reactive to a more proactive digital security approach. That way, you can detect threats early, take preventive actions, reduce any downtime, and also improve how you respond to an incident at the moment.
As a result, SECaaS will be more cost-effective for your company. You can avoid having to invest upfront in building your own in-house traditional security infrastructure and hardware. Instead, relying on an MSP’s subscription model can help you plan a more predictable budget.
Delegated Work
Hiring an MSP for their SECaaS services lets you rely on dedicated experts with the deep knowledge required to manage your security. They can offload the burden from you so you can focus on your critical mission, and they can oversee and maintain your cybersecurity from a centralized location. Your MSP will also make your cybersecurity more efficient since they’ve already honed their skills and best practices beforehand.
Stay Ahead of Cyber Threats with Bulletproof IT
Don’t wait until you experience a cyber attack to think about your cybersecurity. Implementing a data protection plan before you face a threat is critical if you want your corporation to remain resilient and healthy long-term. With the right help and knowledge, you can create a preventative shield that safeguards your IT infrastructure and helps you avoid significant financial loss.
At Bulletproof IT, our experts have more than 30 years of experience in the IT security domain. We’ve developed a deep understanding of evolving threats and modern attack vectors, and we’re committed to keeping up with the latest security innovations.
When your company works with us for our SECaaS solutions, we will give you the peace of mind to operate confidently in a chaotic digital business environment.
Contact us to learn more about Security-as-a-Service and how our Bulletproof IT team can simplify your cybersecurity management for a more powerful impact.