The challenge
Are your IT teams struggling to keep up with the pace of change in cybersecurity? With remote working, distributed supply chains, cloud, and third-party applications being just some of the challenges you face now, outsourcing could be an option. Nowadays, much of your data is out of your control, yet you are still responsible for it. So, monitoring for it outside of your network makes perfect sense. In a recent survey, 82% of companies said they plan to use managed service providers* to overcome IT challenges. Read on to discover how DRP addresses some critical cybersecurity issues head-on.
Why DRP?
Cybercrime is now a billion-dollar online business. Cyber threats and data breaches are increasing and are becoming more complex. Think about how many suppliers you have and how many they have. Would you know if there was a data leak in your supply chain? And where is your network perimeter now with all those users on their own devices and applications? That’s hard to define these days. Would you know if there had been a data breach or be able to identify the source? DRP continuously monitors the surface, deep and Dark Web for your data and provides near real-time alerts of any breaches.
New types of attacks
Many of the fastest-growing cybercrime techniques happen outside the reach of traditional network security. Some examples are:
- Typosquatting – Using a lookalike domain to send phishing emails or mimic your actual website
- Social engineering – Targeting individuals to obtain personal credentials or divert payments
- Lookalike apps – Exploiting confusion around new working practices to infiltrate users’ devices
- Form skimming – Siphoning data from website forms before it reaches network monitoring
According to research by IBM and the Ponemon Institute, it now takes on average 287 days to identify and contain a data breach – and the delay is growing.
All these challenges are hard to address using established cybersecurity practices. Of course, great network defences are still important – but once you have those in place, it’s time to go one step further and monitor the landscape outside your perimeter.
Why outsource DRP?
It’s perfectly possible to carry out monitoring in-house with the right platform; no specialist skills are required. But a managed DRP service can be deployed quickly and easily and will not impact your internal IT resources. Skurio believes the main reasons to outsource DRP to a managed service provider are:
- Expertise and resourcing
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide grew 350% between 2013 and 2021, from 1 million to 3.5 million. Skurio believes this is the main reason that UK businesses outsource their cybersecurity. Automation of monitoring and reporting allows your internal IT staff to focus on remediation and other critical tasks. Plus, you can pay monthly. - Service availability
By outsourcing DRP to a managed service provider, you can specify which features you want, what service levels you require, and what reporting you want. And it’s their job to deliver that bespoke service tailored to your business. It’s also their responsibility to keep up with new trends, threats and techniques deployed by hackers. - Quality of response
If you use a managed service provider for penetration testing, training, web firewalls, email security, managed threat detection or endpoint detection, it makes sense to have your DRP managed alongside those for a fast, joined-up response. It’s also helpful to view DRP intelligence in the context of your bigger cybersecurity picture.
How to choose a managed service provider
First, assess your digital risk so you can choose the managed service provider that can give you the support and protection you need. Factors to consider about your business are:
- The sector you work in
- Your customer base and supply chain
- The quantity of data you hold
- The value of your data
Other things to consider when choosing your provider:
- How broad is their range of services and SLAs – their ability to show a rapid, proactive response
- Flexible monitoring that matches your needs – what do you care about?
- A strong understanding of your sector and business - a proven track record
- Appropriate skill sets and cyber certifications – do you have specific regulatory requirements?
- A joined-up approach – are complementary services available?
- Software alliances and integrations – can they unify multiple data sources?
- A Security Operations Centre (SOC) – a single pane of glass
Read our guide
We hope you found this blog useful; for further information, read our Guide to Outsourcing Digital Risk Protection here.
*Source TechTarget March 2022
