Cybercrime has skyrocketed during the past few years. Each day, the AV-TEST Institute – an independent research institute focused on IT security – registers more than 350,000 new potentially unwanted applications and malicious programs. Hackers constantly develop new tactics and launch new kinds of malware non-stop. On average, a cybersecurity breach happens every 39 seconds, a University of Maryland study found, according to the FitSmallBusiness article “Cybersecurity Statistics Every Small Business Owner Should Know.”
It’s difficult for any organization to keep its IT security defenses up-to-speed, but small and midsize businesses (SMBs) in particular face an uphill battle. Nearly half (43 percent) of data breaches involve small business victims, according to Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations report.
Smaller businesses experience data breaches at a high rate, and they’re often not properly prepared. The 2018 State of Cybersecurity in Small and Medium Size Businesses (SMBs) report conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Keeper Security found that 58 percent of companies studied had suffered a data breach in the past 12 months – yet only 28 percent rated their ability to combat IT security threats, respond to attacks and address vulnerabilities as “highly effective.”
The consequences of these breaches are costly: Following cybersecurity incidents, the SMBs studied by the Ponemon Institute spent $1.43 million on average due to damage or theft of IT assets. Additionally, disruption of normal operations cost them an average of $1.56 million.
A Solution for SMBs: Outsourcing Cybersecurity
For smaller businesses with limited resources looking for ways to guard against cyberattacks, outsourcing IT security is one option. There are numerous advantages to turning to a third-party security services provider to tackle data breach prevention. Here are just a few to consider.
1. It costs less than maintaining an in-house IT security team. Staying ahead of hackers these days requires high-level expertise, and everyone wants those experts on their team. Many SMBs don’t have the budget needed to attract and maintain an in-house security staff. Outsourcing to a managed security services provider (MSSP) that can give your company on-demand access to high-level professionals is a more affordable option.
2. It’s difficult to find cybersecurity experts who have all the necessary skills and can create a road map for your organization. IT security pros with the knowledge needed to not only tackle IT security issues today but also establish a strategic road map for the future are in short supply. In fact, there’s a global cybersecurity professional shortage of approximately 2.93 million, according to (ISC)² – an international, nonprofit association for information security professionals. As a result, even if an SMB can afford to hire an internal cybersecurity expert, it will likely be difficult to find one. A third-party provider has already done that legwork and assembled a team of security pros for you.
3. In-house IT will likely have limited threat knowledge. The cybersecurity threat landscape constantly evolves, making it difficult to stay up-to-speed on the latest malicious programs and hacking techniques. Your in-house IT team – due to the need to attend to other day-to-day tech issues – will almost certainly have limited knowledge of new and evolving threats, compared to an MSSP with access to real-time data and reports from numerous security solution vendors and a staff extensive and focused enough to monitor threats at all hours.
4. Security service providers have access to the latest tools. To fight ever-changing cybersecurity threats, you need access to the latest versions of security tools. Outsourcing security to an MSSP means you won’t have to worry about updating everything all the time – they’ll do it for you.
5. Your internal IT team is already overworked. At small businesses, in-house IT staff is often limited. Sometimes, there’s only one IT guy who must juggle everything at once. Cybersecurity is too labor-intensive and time-consuming to put on that IT staffer’s already overflowing plate.
Ultimately, outsourcing security can help SMBs save time, contain costs, and avoid the potentially business-destroying fallout of a data breach. If you’d like to learn more, Stratosphere Networks offers comprehensive cybersecurity solutions, including an MSSP offering. Connect with us by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
