Managed Security Services Prove Their Worth

The world of cybersecurity changes every day. New threats enter the security landscape, and organizations leverage new and better tools to deal with these threats. At the same time, business users travel around the world, carrying notebooks, tablets and smartphones that contain sensitive information. How can enterprises continue to secure data in such a dynamic environment?

Cloud-based security solutions — known as Security as a Service, delivered by managed security service providers — fill this gap. Cloud-based security offerings provide organizations with the flexibility to respond to an increasingly diverse spectrum of attacks. Once considered fringe products, Security as a Service offerings now play a critical role in building strong defenses.

The Benefits of Security as a Service

Security as a Service providers offer several key benefits that simply aren’t found in traditional on-premises offerings. Cloud-based products are often scalable, affordable options that offer state-of-the-art security controls with only a fraction of the administrative burden needed to support on-premises systems.

Cloud providers design their service offerings with scalability in mind. The hundreds or thousands of customers they serve simultaneously demand highly scalable solutions that easily accommodate both predictable and unpredictable spikes in usage. If an organization’s website sees a sudden spike in demand — perhaps with the arrival of a seasonal peak or because of media coverage — an on-premises solution may not cope with that demand without a time-consuming and expensive hardware upgrade. Cloud security offerings can automatically scale to meet changing needs.

Managed security services also offer affordable access to security products built and maintained by seasoned experts. A single enterprise may not be able to employ individuals who specialize in endpoint security, email security and web security, but providers with advanced capabilities in each of these domains leverage economies of scale to employ entire teams focusing on these key areas. Organizations using managed providers gain affordable access to tremendous talent pools.

Finally, Security as a Service offerings remove much of the administrative burden required by on-premises security controls. The vendor applies software updates centrally, and all customers benefit immediately from these enhancements. This eliminates the need to manually download and install security updates. IT staffers simply log on to a web-based console and monitor the security of their infrastructure through a provider’s dashboard.

For more information on Security as a Service, read the white paper “Protection on Demand.”