Cyber security is a primary concern for every business. No matter how big or small your business is, or what industry you’re in, the fact of the matter is, your network, applications, and data are under almost constant siege.

To complicate things further, there is a global shortage of cyber security professionals with the knowledge and skills to get the job done. Organisations need to find a way to build their business and keep customers satisfied, while also monitoring around the clock for malicious activity and guarding against cyber attacks. This is why many companies are working with trusted partners to manage cyber security effectively, and taking the pressure off internal teams.

DIY Security

Organisations that try to tackle cyber security on their own quickly learn that it is a daunting task. One of the challenges of cyber security is the sheer volume of information to consume and analyse. There are a variety of network and endpoint security tools—firewalls, endpoint security, anti-malware, intrusion detection systems, etc.—that each generate logs and alerts. SIEM (security information and events management) solutions were designed to help by aggregating and correlating the various sources into a single view—ostensibly to streamline and simplify security management. However, the reality of traditional SIEM solutions doesn’t deliver on that promise. Instead of dealing with an overwhelming volume of alerts from 10 different tools, you end up with an overwhelming volume of alerts from the SIEM.

A report from the Ponemon Institute revealed that IT security teams have to address an average of 4,000 security alerts per week—and 25% of their time is wasted chasing false positives. Few companies have the resources or personnel to manage this volume of alerts. Sifting through alerts and separating the signal from the noise to identify and respond to critical security incidents requires deep understanding of the threat landscape. Cyber attacks also don’t keep to business hours, so cyber security professionals need to monitor the environment 24/7 for signs of suspicious or malicious activity to prevent or contain attacks.

MSSP (Managed Security Services Provider)

It makes sense for most companies to outsource their cyber security efforts to a trusted partner. It then becomes the responsibility of the partner to hire or outsource the right cyber security talent, and most importantly, to monitor your environment around the clock to identify any security incidents.

Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) are one option for outsourcing security. Typically, the MSSP simply fills the gap in your own IT security team. They manage and monitor the security tools you already have in place and do the work of analysing alerts from your SIEM to determine which ones need additional attention and elevate those to you. It does relieve some of the burden on you, but ultimately it just kicks the can down the road a bit. You have the same tools and the same alerts, and you still need to have the people and processes in place to address the alerts.

Managed Security Provider

Working with a managed security provider like Timico takes things a step further. Rather than just playing middleman to operate the tools you have in place and escalate issues to you to deal with, Timico leverages the Alert Logic MDR (managed detection and response) platform to deliver a Managed SIEM service. It is an end-to-end security program that takes the security pressures off your business’ internal teams and helps to protect your business from threats and attacks.

Timico and Alert Logic give you threat monitoring and visibility across your complete environment, vulnerability scanning to discover weaknesses and misconfigurations, threat intelligence, and cloud security configuration management. Instead of just filtering a really overwhelming volume of alerts down to a slightly overwhelming volume of alerts, Timico actively monitors and protects your network, applications, and data.

Cyber security management is tough. You don’t need the additional stress and headaches of trying to properly manage cyber security and defend against constant threats. By working with a partner you trust to get the protection you need, you can focus on what is important; managing your business.

Book in your free security consultation today to speak with the experts about the state of your cyber security.