As we enter National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it is hard to escape the conclusion that cybersecurity has never been more important — or more difficult.
Threats are growing more frequent, sophisticated and costly. Data, devices and other assets keep moving beyond the reach of network perimeter defenses. Increasing government and industry regulations keep adding layers of complexity.
At the same time, organizations everywhere are coping with an ever-worsening cybersecurity skills shortage that makes it difficult to hire and retain qualified IT security professionals. According to a new global study by the Information Systems Security Association, the skills crisis is on a “multi-year trend of bad to worse.”
To deal with the converging trends of more threats and fewer security staff, more organizations are deciding to work with a managed security services provider (MSSP). According to research from IDC, 60 percent of IT leaders say they are investing in managed security services to help them reduce their risk.
Closing the Gaps
Working with an MSSP is a cost-efficient way to fill in any gaps in your security posture. For a fraction of the cost of hiring, training and retaining in-house staff, you can gain on-demand access to a team of specialists with expertise in a wide range of technologies and solutions.
Most MSSPs offer a fairly standard package of services designed to make sure your security devices and systems are working properly and able to identify any unusual activity. Common services include monitoring and managing firewalls, VPNs, endpoints, antivirus and intrusion detection.
At Verteks, we’ve built a much more comprehensive portfolio of security services for our customers. Beyond basic monitoring, we provide a range of strategic services including device configuration and deployment, real-time threat intelligence, continuous threat detection and analysis, and advanced reporting. We can also conduct regular assessments and penetration tests to evaluate your technical, operational and physical security measures.
Our threat detection and response platform combines advanced analytics and machine-learning algorithms to rapidly evaluate warnings, bulletins, alerts and incident report feeds from multiple threat intelligence sharing communities. Additionally, this threat intelligence supports advanced threat-hunting capabilities for detecting, disrupting and isolating any threats that might evade existing security measures.
Advanced Capabilities
Our platform also implements endpoint security based on zero-trust principles. All applications and processes running on endpoint devices are continuously monitored through a cloud-based AI platform, which treats everything as a threat until it has been evaluated and verified. The AI engine uses multiple machine-learning algorithms to process hundreds of different behavioral and contextual indicators in real time. Only apps and processes classified as trusted are allowed to execute on the endpoint device.
Unlike many providers who only create alerts in the event of an attack, our solution provides a comprehensive incident response plan. In the event of an attack, an analytics engine collects and evaluates evidence and generates a threat score for each incident. Based on those scores, we offer a series of recommended actions.
While our technologies are top-notch, our people are the strength of our service. Our technicians have expertise in a broad range of security disciplines. They also hold key industry certifications such as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a great time to take stock of your security posture. If you find that current threat levels and skills gaps are creating unacceptable risk, give us a call. We’d welcome the chance to show you how our managed security service can help you quickly and efficiently detect and mitigate threats.
