Oursourcing the role of information security officer
A company can’t ensure effective data and asset protection having only an IT specialist onboard. The main task of IT department is to make sure the infrastructure is sufficient, processes aren’t interrupted and systems work smoothly, whereas infosec officers try to protect your sensitive data putting the security of the corporate perimeter as their priority which doesn’t necessarily go along with the IT department’s concern. CISO takes responsibility for dealing with security threats, preventing possible incidents, supervising the conformity to a company’s internal regulations and providing employees, including IT specialists, with a strategy which would safeguard their activity.
The best option for small businesses which are not willing to hire extra staff and can’t afford to maintain servers is to try outsourcing. MSSP will take care of your data providing a company with proper instruments, specialists who will monitor the internal activity remotely, ensure continuous support and security policies tailored to the company’s needs. A company can opt for a cloud deployment model — the monitoring system components are launched in the cloud chosen by an organisation. Data is processed and stored on the cloud provider’s side.
Companies might lack both budget and skills. Budget has to be allocated for software, for hiring new specialists or training the reassigned ones, purchasing and maintaining a server in case a company wants to keep it in-house.
Companies which offer outsourcing make certain that a thorough communicating is established between an information security specialist and a CEO or a manager at the company who is entrusted with security issues management. As for the technical aspect, it can be easily implemented via cloud. MSSP will deploy and administer the information security solution, mitigate issues which can follow its launch, process the customer’s data and configure interaction of the solution’s components. The role of CISO is outsourced without experiencing any omissions or setbacks. Professional tools help a specialist begin to receive the first monitoring results already a few hours after these instruments are installed and launched.
Money is one of the essential considerations when it comes to outsourcing information security, companies who prefer to pay for the service once per month allocating their budget will be willing to opt for CISO as a service instead of purchasing the whole system and hiring a highly skilled team. Such IT infrastructure as email servers, VPN, NAS should also be considered — in case a company is small enough to afford their own infrastructure should think about outsourcing as well as those who can’t create conditions for having their own information security department.
It is truly beneficial to have an information security expert as a staff member, as the specialist will know all the company’s peculiarities, do’s and don’ts, what is a normal activity and what should be taken as a threat, and you don’t have to discuss all this with a third party company which needs to realise your specifics first. Anyway, the adaptation process is quite quick when you deal with an outsourcing team, and this will be a team with many years of experience working with information security in various industries. The outsourcing team is also unbiased and the chances of turning into a malicious insider are incredibly low whereas an in-house information security department is as any other department in a company — even a CISO might leak data for personal reasons or take some data after being dismissed or simply quit in not the most convenient time for a company.
There are many pluses in having a CISO as a service. You don’t have to re-train your staff and reassign employees making them do the job they are not professional in. You don’t have to hire extra staff. You don’t have to purchase a server and don’t have to learn how to deploy and work with a complicated monitoring systems which are the key instruments of a proficient CISO. You don’t have to splash out on equipping the department with costly software as you can plan your budget allocation each month. You get a 24/7 support.
The only risk you might face is the cloud. In case a company gives access to its data via cloud there can be only cloud security threats the possibility of which have to face all businesses without exception.
