One of the most important aspects of setting up a business network is securing your business data as well as applications. This is especially important because cybercriminals, and other malicious actors, devote considerable amounts of time and effort looking for vulnerabilities that can be exploited to compromise business networks. Once compromised, cybercriminals can then access private data and applications for their nefarious purposes. In the first quarter of 2020, there were 8.4 billion records that were exposed due to poor security settings; this was a 273 percent increase compared to the first quarter of the previous year, 2019. If you are a business owner with little to no expertise in network security, you should consider using Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) to meet your business network security needs.
WHAT IS SECURITY-AS-A-SERVICE (SECaaS)
SECaaS is a cloud-based security solution whereby a third-party expert assumes the responsibility for ensuring the security of your business network, data, and applications. The SECaaS provider works with you to determine your optimal business security requirements depending on the nature of your business. The necessary security solutions are then provided across the cloud to protect your business network. With SECaaS, you no longer have to worry about out-of-date security solutions as your provider ensures that your business security is regularly upgraded and updated. As a business owner, all that you are required to do is pay your SECaaS provider a regular fee for the security services provided.
CHOOSING A SECaaS PROVIDER
After deciding to use a SECaaS provider for your business network security, the next thing to consider is which security provider to use. Careful thought and deliberation should go into choosing your SECaaS provider as choosing the wrong provider can put your business network at risk of compromise. Discussed below are several factors to look at before ultimately settling on a single SECaaS provider.
1) SCALABILITY
Scalability is the ability of your SECaaS provider to accommodate your security needs to keep up with the growth of your business. As your business grows, your business network will grow accordingly through the addition of more business tools and applications, as well as more data being managed within your network. These additional tools and applications provide additional vector points that can be used by cybercriminals to penetrate your business network if they are not fully secured. Your SECaaS provider of choice should offer the ability to easily and readily scale up their security solutions so that additional business applications are secured as soon as they are added to your network.
2) 24 X 7 COVERAGE
Ensuring that business networks are kept secure is a full-time and continuous endeavor. This is especially the case because, at any given time of the day or night, there are cybercriminals devising methods and looking for vulnerabilities to penetrate business networks. Any detected lapse in security coverage provides a window of opportunity that cybercriminals can use to access business networks.
Your SECaaS provider of choice should offer a guarantee of round-the-clock cybersecurity. Since cybercriminals operate around the clock, your SECaaS provider needs to be available at all times of the day or night. Your SECaaS provider should be available to respond immediately to any detected threats to your network. The quicker a network threat is detected and neutralized, the likelihood of any significant damage to your network and business operations.
3) EXPERTISE
Cybercriminals have a lot of tools and techniques at their disposal to attempt to compromise business networks. These techniques are continuously being refined to enable them more effectively as well as efficiently attack business networks. As such, effective network security is typically a complex endeavor, requiring cybersecurity specialists with a high degree of expertise.
When choosing a SECaaS provider, it is important to assess the level of expertise offered. Your SECaaS provider should have the knowledge and expertise to recognize as well as devise security solutions to counter common network threats. Depending on your type of network infrastructure, whether cloud-based or locally hosted, your security provider of choice should have the expertise to offer the relevant cybersecurity solution. Additionally, whatever SECaaS provider you choose should remain continually informed about upcoming cyber threats as well as cybersecurity solutions.
4) COMPLIANCE
There are several security policies and guidelines that must be adhered to when setting up a security solution for your business. Some of these guidelines may vary depending on the business industry as well as local, state, or federal directives. Some of these security policies require some form of certification to be obtained in order to demonstrate competencies. Depending on your business, some of the security standards that you may be required to adhere to include HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC, and SSAE 16, among others.
Prior to choosing a security solution for your business, you should make sure that the SECaaS provider is familiar with any regulatory requirements that have to be adhered to. Your provider of choice should have the knowledge as well as offer the required security solutions that are needed to ensure that your business is compliant with the relevant security solutions.
5) FLEXIBILITY
Given the constant nature of security threats as well as the versatile types of businesses, SECaaS providers must possess a great deal of flexibility in their security solutions. As security threats evolve, the SECaaS provider needs to be able to readily make the necessary accommodations in response. In addition, the SECaaS provider should offer solutions that can be readily adapted to meet a variety of business needs in varied economic sectors, and of varied sizes.
BOTTOM LINE
At Cyber Sainik, we understand how integral cybersecurity is to the success of any modern-day business. We provide a variety of cloud-based security solutions to meet the security needs of small and medium-sized businesses. We work closely with business owners to understand their security needs, and then provide our solutions uniquely tailored to address those needs. In addition to our role as a SECaaS provider, we also offer other cloud-based business solutions. Some of the other services that we provide are Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), and cloud communication services. For more information about our services, and to get started with our SECaaS offering, contact us today.
