FEATURE : CIO STRATEGIES way for organisations to get the solutions they need from a menu of options . Take for example threat intelligence , which is the foundation for any security operations programme and essential to discovering what is happening in your environment and what actions to take .
If an organisation doesn ’ t have the resources to take full advantage of the capabilities of a threat-centric security operations platform , a service provider can assume the task of customising and managing threat intelligence for you and conducting alert triage . Turning data into actionable threat intelligence , they can deliver threat intelligence prioritised based on your risk .
They can also use the threat intelligence that ’ s relevant to your organisation to deliver additional , high value and customised services such as risk assessments , vulnerability management , spear phishing investigations , threat hunting and incident response . Going a step further , they can provide support to integrate threat intelligence into your infrastructure and operations and ensure the right data is sent automatically to your security infrastructure to protect against the threats that matter most to you .
If you ’ re considering outsourcing some or all aspects of your security operations , be sure to consider these key points :
• Make sure the service provider can protect your entire technology stack – on-premise and in the cloud . You may not need support for both immediately but validating that they have the capability will ensure they can adapt as your needs evolve .
• Unfortunately , in security there are no silver bullet solutions and this holds true with managed services . There is no way to guarantee 100 % protection . However , putting Service Level Agreements ( SLAs ) in place can help ensure support expectations are met , for example with respect to response times .
• When evaluating a service provider one of the most important things you can do is speak to references with similar environments and / or in similar industries . Make sure you understand what happens when there are problems and look for a partner that will respond as one of your team .
• If you feel that you are lacking security leadership , consider a CISO-as-a- Service offering , also known as a virtual CISO ( vCISO ). A total of 10 % of the organisations that responded to the ESG survey say they are now retaining a vCISO . In addition , 29 % of the CISOs surveyed are working as a vCISO while another 21 % are considering doing so .
The time is now for many organisations to consider managed security services to help address their security needs . They fill the cybersecurity skills gap and , in the process , help you overcome a broad spectrum of security challenges so you can improve your overall security operations . • www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO
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