Should organisations expand in-house teams or outsource their security?

Particularly when organisations are running with limited resources, with teams under immense pressure due to the prevalence of cybersecurity issues, IT, security and risk management leaders will need a new approach to counter advanced threats, but how do you know what approach to take

There has been an amplification of cybersecurity challenges sparked by the pandemic, and IT and cybersecurity teams have been at the forefront of organizational demands in almost every industry. With 67 percent of Indian IT teams saying the number of cyberattacks has increased during 2020, cybersecurity should no longer be looked at as merely a risk management measure; it’s an essential part of any business strategy. Cybercriminals have evolved in tandem with the threat landscape expanding, becoming more sophisticated, and deploying stealthy techniques to harm organizations and individuals. For those organizations reviewing or establishing a cybersecurity strategy, it’s important to consider whether in-house or outsourcing is best for your business. Particularly when organizations are running with limited resources, with teams under immense pressure due to the prevalence of cybersecurity issues, IT, security, and risk management leaders will need a new approach to counter advanced threats, but how do you know what approach to take? Regardless of your choice, IT security teams will continue to grow in size. According to Sophos’ ‘IT Security Team: 2021 and beyond’ report: • 73% of Indian organizations anticipate an increase in in-house IT security staff by 2023 • 66% expect the number of outsourced IT security staff to grow by 2023 It’s not a matter of which approach is better, but which approach is a better fit for your business. Here’s what to consider. Building an internal cybersecurity team An in-house team will have a stronger understanding and deeper knowledge of the business as they understand the IT infrastructure and the day-to-day business operations. Internal teams also understand the unique culture of the business and are ready-armed knowing the values and goals of the business. This inherent knowledge allows informed decisions to ensure the business is protected without disruption. However, managing an in-house cybersecurity team requires a hefty amount of investment and oversight. While having an in-house team of cybersecurity professionals may result in greater transparency and faster communication as it doesn’t involve a third party, there are downsides. IT security employees have the same rights as all other employees and it’s important to consider that sick leave and annual leave pose potential issues to achieve maximum productivity and efficiency – and continuity of protection. Using external cybersecurity professionals Outsourcing your cybersecurity requirements to a third party such as a managed threat response (MTR) service provider can provide your business with a fully managed service to deal with any cyber issues 24x7 365 days of the year. Not many organizations have the right tools, people, and processes to effectively provide the active threat protection their business needs. Sophos MTR can help businesses who lack the resources and knowledge to proactively hunt for threats, scope their severity, initiate action, and provide actionable advice to address the root cause of incidents. Although managed threat responders will do the work, the business ultimately owns the decision and decides what actions the team will take and how incidents are managed. It’s not solely left to tech either – Sophos MTR fuses machine learning technology with human experts to provide further analysis for improved threat hunting. Engaging an external cybersecurity team will also save you the hiring headache of having to find someone with the right skills especially considering sixty-two percent of companies struggle to recruit candidates with the necessary skills. Add to this onboarding and training as well as ensure these employees are staying on top of the ever-evolving threat landscape. Researching, acquiring, and setting up cybersecurity software and hardware can be time-consuming. Identity security, compliance, documentation, and analytics are some of the other aspects to be considered when managing an effective program. It can be challenging to strengthen your security hygiene when resources are limited which is why Sophos Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) will enable you to add expertise without the headcount to support critical IT operations.

For example, you can ask various questions regarding existing applications, current device performance, vulnerabilities, policies, and the attack surface, and Sophos EDR will provide you with the appropriate information to make an informed decision. Additionally, if any security issues are picked up, Sophos EDR can take fast action. For example, an employee’s laptop may be flagged as it is running a vulnerable, out-of-date program. Sophos EDR can remotely access the device, install the required update and reboot it to close the security hole. Investigating suspicious activity can be time-intensive and waste resources; combining Sophos MDR with the industry’s best endpoint and server protection, will block the majority of threats before any manual investigation is needed to enable you to focus on higher-value tasks. Imagine being able to cut down security admin time, reducing the number of incidents, while being able to reallocate sources to higher-value tasks; here is where Sophos Extended Detection and Response (XDR) comes in. Implementing Sophos XDR will offer your organization a unified system of security operations by reducing the complexity of security configurations, improving threat detection, and increasing prevention capabilities through multiple methods of response. By pulling from multiple sources of data such as endpoints, servers, and firewalls, Sophos XDR can analyze and contextualize critical information to provide you with a holistic and actionable picture of your entire cybersecurity environment. With access to a large pool of data, Sophos XDR can cross-reference indicators of compromise to identify and neutralize a threat; pinpoint applications that might be causing network issues; identify unmanaged or unprotected devices across the workforce. Cybersecurity has always been important, however, the explosion of remote-working seen in 2020 was for many, the catalyst for business leaders to take action. As organizations continue to build or adjust their cybersecurity strategy, it’s important to remember there is no “one size fits all” approach. Every organization is unique and requires an individual approach to cybersecurity. The one thing that remains the same across the board is the need to continuously evaluate your strategy and make adjustments as required to ensure your level of protection is proportionate to your risk profile.

 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)