Hardly a day goes by without reports of a new type of cyber-attack. Whether its financially-motivated criminal syndicates, or state-based actors, those who are looking to inflict harm on your organisation are constantly adopting new tactics to take advantage of any perceived vulnerabilities.
Organisations are faced with the ongoing challenge of ensuring they have the right mix of internal security capabilities to confront an ever changing threat landscape.
One potential solution would see every organisation significantly expand the skill-set and capabilities of its in-house information security department. However, with Australia experiencing a shortage in skilled cybersecurity professionals, this option presents its own difficulties.
A viable alternative for many organisations is to partner with a trusted cybersecurity services provider. This allows your organisation to retain certain skills in-house, whilst augmenting your capabilities as needs arise. In this blog, we will explore how outsourcing a range of cybersecurity functions to professional and trusted partners could be the ideal solution for your organisation.
Organisations are faced with the ongoing challenge of ensuring they have the right mix of internal security capabilities to confront an ever changing threat landscape.
One potential solution would see every organisation significantly expand the skill-set and capabilities of its in-house information security department. However, with Australia experiencing a shortage in skilled cybersecurity professionals, this option presents its own difficulties.
A viable alternative for many organisations is to partner with a trusted cybersecurity services provider. This allows your organisation to retain certain skills in-house, whilst augmenting your capabilities as needs arise. In this blog, we will explore how outsourcing a range of cybersecurity functions to professional and trusted partners could be the ideal solution for your organisation.
Fighting an Uphill Battle: The Challenge of Cybersecurity Staffing
All too often, organisations view cybersecurity through an exclusively technology lens. Many boards are under the impression that investing in the right technology solutions will keep a range of malicious actors at bay. However, the reality is that securing your organisation’s information assets requires much more than investing in the latest kit.
Cyber-criminals are constantly adapting their attack vectors to take advantage of new vulnerabilities. If you’re wholly reliant on technology to secure your network, devices and applications, it’s only a matter of time before the criminals find gaps in your security defences and exploit them.
A team of well-trained cybersecurity professionals will understand the criminal mind and will always aim to stay one step ahead of the attackers. By integrating the latest threat intelligence, closely monitoring your network traffic and identifying attacks in the wild in real-time, skilled cybersecurity staff are essential to successfully confronting a constantly evolving threat landscape.
However, ensuring your organisation has the cybersecurity staff with the essential set of skills your organisation needs is a core challenge for any CISO. Even if you do manage to assemble the right team, retaining them over the long-term in a tight labour market presents further difficulties.
All too often, organisations invest substantial amounts of time and money recruiting and training a cybersecurity team that has the right suite of skills, only to see staff up and leave to pursue better-paid opportunities elsewhere.According to 160 Australian CISOs surveyed by specialist IT recruitment agency, Robert Half, the race for talent has become so competitive that many firms are out-bidding each other to attract the right candidates by boosting salary offers to over 70% of new hires.
Despite this, 88% of surveyed CISOs are experiencing more difficulty attracting the right employees compared to five years ago. Additionally, reports indicate that 71% of CISOs face rising staff turnover rates, which is unsurprising given that 31% of IT employees change jobs within less than two years.
This is a problem that is being exacerbated by the pandemic, with international recruitment efforts being hamstrung by travel restrictions and lockdowns. Clearly, current market conditions favour local employees, with demand for key cybersecurity skills substantially outstripping supply.
Whilst skills shortages and competitive remuneration levels are driving heightened employee mobility, there is an alternative approach that could result in a better outcome for your organisation - outsourcing.
Cyber-criminals are constantly adapting their attack vectors to take advantage of new vulnerabilities. If you’re wholly reliant on technology to secure your network, devices and applications, it’s only a matter of time before the criminals find gaps in your security defences and exploit them.
A team of well-trained cybersecurity professionals will understand the criminal mind and will always aim to stay one step ahead of the attackers. By integrating the latest threat intelligence, closely monitoring your network traffic and identifying attacks in the wild in real-time, skilled cybersecurity staff are essential to successfully confronting a constantly evolving threat landscape.
However, ensuring your organisation has the cybersecurity staff with the essential set of skills your organisation needs is a core challenge for any CISO. Even if you do manage to assemble the right team, retaining them over the long-term in a tight labour market presents further difficulties.
All too often, organisations invest substantial amounts of time and money recruiting and training a cybersecurity team that has the right suite of skills, only to see staff up and leave to pursue better-paid opportunities elsewhere.According to 160 Australian CISOs surveyed by specialist IT recruitment agency, Robert Half, the race for talent has become so competitive that many firms are out-bidding each other to attract the right candidates by boosting salary offers to over 70% of new hires.
Despite this, 88% of surveyed CISOs are experiencing more difficulty attracting the right employees compared to five years ago. Additionally, reports indicate that 71% of CISOs face rising staff turnover rates, which is unsurprising given that 31% of IT employees change jobs within less than two years.
This is a problem that is being exacerbated by the pandemic, with international recruitment efforts being hamstrung by travel restrictions and lockdowns. Clearly, current market conditions favour local employees, with demand for key cybersecurity skills substantially outstripping supply.
Whilst skills shortages and competitive remuneration levels are driving heightened employee mobility, there is an alternative approach that could result in a better outcome for your organisation - outsourcing.
5 Key Benefits of Outsourcing Some (If Not All) Of Your Cybersecurity Requirements:
1. Cost Effective
Whilst you may think it is more cost effective to have an in-house cybersecurity team, given the range of skill-sets you are likely to need, and current labour shortages in Australia, the outsourcing route is likely to generate significant long-term savings for your organisation.
As an example, consider the costs associated with setting up your own in-house Security Operations Centre (SOC). The expense of maintaining a team of security analysts around the clock is likely to be prohibitively expensive. You will also need to invest in a range of monitoring systems and SIEM solutions.
An outsourced model achieves significant economies of scale. Because a trusted cybersecurity partner will have established an existing SOC , which they use to monitor the networks of a range of organisations, you end up sharing the costs with others.
2. 24/7 Eyes on Glass
Your cybersecurity staff may be rostered to work during business hours only. The problem is that cyber-attackers are on the hunt for opportunities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
A network breach that is launched on a Friday evening may go undetected for 48 hours or longer. This allows your attackers plenty of time to move laterally across your network, compromise large amounts of your critical data, install backdoors for future exploits, and launch malware that could enable remote code executions.
The outsourcing model allows you to maintain 24/7 eyes on glass. This means that whenever a breach occurs, cybersecurity experts will be watching your network traffic, ensuring they are ready to swing into action to limit the damage.
3. Rapid Incident Response
The key to effective cybersecurity is the ability to respond rapidly whenever an incident occurs. It is critical that you act quickly to contain a breach, restrict movement through the network, minimise damage to systems and secure data assets.
Rapid incident response is essential for reducing the impact an attack has on your organisation. You will experience minimal downtime and will be able to maintain business continuity.
With a highly-skilled cybersecurity team on your side, you can rest assured that in the event of any attack, professional incident response teams will be acting quickly to protect your organisation. This can dramatically reduce the costs of an attack, as damage to your systems will be limited and data compromise will be minimal.
Rapid incident response can also prevent a range of legal consequences, as you will be able to demonstrate that your organisation adheres to industry best-practices. It can also prevent long-term reputational damage that often flows for organisations that are victims of cyber-attacks.
4. Range Expertise
When outsourcing your cybersecurity requirements to a trusted partner, it is likely they handle significantly more breaches than your in-house team would handle. By being exposed to more alerts and attacks, an outsourced team will be better informed about how to respond to different attack vectors.
The outsourced model also ensures your organisation benefits from the skills and knowledge of a range of cybersecurity professionals with deep domain expertise in specific verticals.
For example, your outsourced cybersecurity partner may have staff with specific expertise in CLOUD platforms, application security or endpoint protection. Having all the different skill-sets your organisation requires in-house is all but impossible. Most organisations that opt for the in-house model have generalists, which means you miss out on the knowledge and experience of domain experts.
Regulators, boards, shareholders, customers and commercial partners all expect organisations to be taking active measures to strengthen their resilience against increasingly dangerous cyber-attacks.
Organisations are required to meet increasingly complex industry and regulatory compliance standards. Whether its PCI-DSS, APRA CPS 234, ISO27001, IRAP or the ASD’s Essential Eight, there’s no escaping the fact that cybersecurity compliance is more onerous than ever before.
That’s why it’s essential to tap into the guidance and knowledge of outside experts. By partnering with a trusted cybersecurity provider, your organisation will gain access to a range of specific skills and expertise that will enable you to uplift your cyber resilience, expedite your cyber maturity and achieve your compliance requirements.
Whilst you may think it is more cost effective to have an in-house cybersecurity team, given the range of skill-sets you are likely to need, and current labour shortages in Australia, the outsourcing route is likely to generate significant long-term savings for your organisation.
As an example, consider the costs associated with setting up your own in-house Security Operations Centre (SOC). The expense of maintaining a team of security analysts around the clock is likely to be prohibitively expensive. You will also need to invest in a range of monitoring systems and SIEM solutions.
An outsourced model achieves significant economies of scale. Because a trusted cybersecurity partner will have established an existing SOC , which they use to monitor the networks of a range of organisations, you end up sharing the costs with others.
2. 24/7 Eyes on Glass
Your cybersecurity staff may be rostered to work during business hours only. The problem is that cyber-attackers are on the hunt for opportunities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
A network breach that is launched on a Friday evening may go undetected for 48 hours or longer. This allows your attackers plenty of time to move laterally across your network, compromise large amounts of your critical data, install backdoors for future exploits, and launch malware that could enable remote code executions.
The outsourcing model allows you to maintain 24/7 eyes on glass. This means that whenever a breach occurs, cybersecurity experts will be watching your network traffic, ensuring they are ready to swing into action to limit the damage.
3. Rapid Incident Response
The key to effective cybersecurity is the ability to respond rapidly whenever an incident occurs. It is critical that you act quickly to contain a breach, restrict movement through the network, minimise damage to systems and secure data assets.
Rapid incident response is essential for reducing the impact an attack has on your organisation. You will experience minimal downtime and will be able to maintain business continuity.
With a highly-skilled cybersecurity team on your side, you can rest assured that in the event of any attack, professional incident response teams will be acting quickly to protect your organisation. This can dramatically reduce the costs of an attack, as damage to your systems will be limited and data compromise will be minimal.
Rapid incident response can also prevent a range of legal consequences, as you will be able to demonstrate that your organisation adheres to industry best-practices. It can also prevent long-term reputational damage that often flows for organisations that are victims of cyber-attacks.
4. Range Expertise
When outsourcing your cybersecurity requirements to a trusted partner, it is likely they handle significantly more breaches than your in-house team would handle. By being exposed to more alerts and attacks, an outsourced team will be better informed about how to respond to different attack vectors.
The outsourced model also ensures your organisation benefits from the skills and knowledge of a range of cybersecurity professionals with deep domain expertise in specific verticals.
For example, your outsourced cybersecurity partner may have staff with specific expertise in CLOUD platforms, application security or endpoint protection. Having all the different skill-sets your organisation requires in-house is all but impossible. Most organisations that opt for the in-house model have generalists, which means you miss out on the knowledge and experience of domain experts.
5. Expedite Your Cyber Maturity
Regulators, boards, shareholders, customers and commercial partners all expect organisations to be taking active measures to strengthen their resilience against increasingly dangerous cyber-attacks.
Organisations are required to meet increasingly complex industry and regulatory compliance standards. Whether its PCI-DSS, APRA CPS 234, ISO27001, IRAP or the ASD’s Essential Eight, there’s no escaping the fact that cybersecurity compliance is more onerous than ever before.
That’s why it’s essential to tap into the guidance and knowledge of outside experts. By partnering with a trusted cybersecurity provider, your organisation will gain access to a range of specific skills and expertise that will enable you to uplift your cyber resilience, expedite your cyber maturity and achieve your compliance requirements.
How can Threat Intelligence help?
Managed Security Services by Threat Intelligence
combines the expertise of our highly skilled security specialists with the advantages of Evolve rapid security automation to expand your organisation’s cyber resilience. With a complete and flexible suite of Managed Security Services, your organisation’s unique cybersecurity objectives can be achieved with our tailor-made approach.
Whether you wish to augment your in-house capabilities, achieve the peace of mind that comes from 24/7 monitoring, or retain incident response capabilities for unforeseen emergencies, Threat Intelligence is here to help you meet your specific requirements.
Not only will our outsourced solutions expand the capabilities at your disposal, partnering with Threat Intelligence will enhance your resilience at a time when cyber-attacks have never been more dangerous.
Best of all, by outsourcing your Managed Security Services, you ensure the costs of achieving your cyber objectives are contained, allowing you to dedicate more time and resources to your core goal – growing your business!
Contact Threat Intelligence
today for a discussion about the goals your organisation is seeking to achieve and how Threat Intelligence can help you achieve them.
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