Why Your SMB Should Leverage SOC-as-a-Service
When it comes to cyber security, most SMBs understand what is at stake. However, it’s becoming perpetually harder for SMBs to keep pace with the necessary defenses and know-how needed to protect their businesses. This is happening because rapid advancements in cyber crime are creating a dynamic shift in cyber security. Today, security experts are urging organizations away from merely adopting tools and technology, instead they’re highlighting the importance of the operational application it takes to use these tools and technologies effectively.
Recently, a study by the National Cybersecurity Alliance revealed 60% of small to mid-sized businesses go out of business within six months after suffering a cyber attack or data breach. The growing concern is that with each successful attack, the damages, and associated costs continue to skyrocket.
Many larger enterprises have turned to creating their own Security Operation Centre (SOC) but, the lack of time and resources makes creating an in-house SOC unrealistic for SMBs.
Instead, SMBs should look to leveraging SOC-as-a-Service, here’s why:
Why your SMB Needs a Security Operations Centre
The point of a SOC is to create a central hub dedicated to monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to cyber threats and incidents around the clock.
Threat actors understand which types of businesses are most vulnerable and when their defenses are down:
Most cyber attacks happen outside of business hours when staff are too busy or not around: After hours, on weekends, during holidays or busy seasons.
Cyber attacks target SMBs because they are less prepared and have less defenses to penetrate.
Since the pandemic, businesses have created larger attack surfaces with remote employees working outside the perimeters of their office networks.
SMBs severely lack the time management and resources it takes to properly monitor their IT environments and networks. For the majority of SMBs it simply isn’t feasible to train, hire, and manage a security specialist that is able to perform 24/7/365, let alone an entire team of specialists (along with the necessary capital investments of equipment and resources).
Without continual monitoring, the posed risk exposure to an SMB’s IT environment grows exponentially. Risks extend to every operation, employee/customer/stakeholder, and anyone else in the supply chain. It’s not just about the damages that you could cost them, but also about the damages that they could cost you. Cyber criminals will find threats and vulnerabilities from all angles. This means SMBs must be capable of detecting and containing cyber attacks, at all times.
SOC-as-a-Service provides SMBs with a cost-effective and reliable solution.
Can You Build Your Own SOC?
Creating an in-house SOC requires a substantial investment in hardware and software and most importantly in the labour to staff and manage a team. These essential elements will need to run at full capacity on a 24/7/365 basis.
For a high percentage of SMBs, the thought of an in-house SOC is simply out of reach:
Staffing Challenges
Finding top-tier talent to run a 24/7 in-house SOC can be extremely difficult while settling for low-end security talent typically leads to a sacrifice in the level of effectiveness. The problem compounds when facing high turn-over rates due to the enduring intensity that the position commands.
Higher Costs
In Canada the average cost of one SOC analyst was $125,000 annually, according to the 2021 Technology Salary Guide from Robert Half. Even with a sufficient budget for one SOC analyst, the fact is that several staff are needed to run a small SOC, and more yet to staff them 24/7/365.
The Skills Gap Is Growing
Cybercriminals spend up to 20% of their time learning new skills and tactics. On the other hand, most organizations lack the internal cybersecurity skills and experience needed prevent or respond to these evolving cyberthreats.
Spreading Resources Too Thin
As we mentioned, the cyber criminal community is dedicated to stealing data. Who in your organization is dedicated to protecting it? Placing the responsibility of cyber security on your already overburdened IT team can lead to reduced security effectiveness.
In-Effective/Un-Optimized Tools
Purchasing and installing cybersecurity products without initial optimization and ongoing tuning is not enough. Without principal operators, the misused tools lead to a false sense of security, opening security holes, which can result in critical alerts being suppressed, missed, or ignored.
Why SOC-as-a-Service Makes Sense
With quickly evolving threats and cybercriminals using ever-more sophisticated techniques, SOCs have become critically essential in providing continuous threat monitoring for SMBs.
Cost Effectiveness
The cost effectiveness of leveraging a third-party SOC allows organizations to re-allocate time and resources back into business operations rather than increasing operating, technology, labour, and equipment costs.
A Wealth of Experience
Rather than relying on overburdened staff using passive cybersecurity tools from the sides of their desks, SMBs can opt to rely on entire teams of dedicated security experts armed with specialized tools to focus on monitoring their networks at all times.
Rapid Response & Resolution
By detecting a threat early, a SOC can neutralize the threat quickly preventing it from spreading, and reducing recovery costs, downtime, reputational damages, and preventing data theft/loss.
24/7/365 Monitoring
A SOC works around the clock to guard your business whenever a cyberattack may happen. This reduces the stress of looking for skilled employees that are willing to work off-hours, during holidays and weekends.
It’s Time for Your SMB to Leverage SOC-as-a-Service
As the sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks continues to rise, it becomes even more vital for organizations to have the ability to constantly defend their digital environments. SOCs provide a counterbalance for SMBs to optimally use cybersecurity tools and technology to protect themselves against the advanced processes used by cybercriminals.
Ultimately, SOC-as-a-Service offers a cost-efficient and effective solution for SMBs to remain secure and remain competitive.
We Can Help Protect Your SMB With SOC-as-a-Service
Organizations need to partner with a Managed Security Operation Centre who can monitor their IT environment and respond to threats 24/7/365. Our robust catalogue of cyber security solutions (including SOC-as-a-Service) offers a tailored approach to face your unique challenges.
EnterProtect is a trusted partner for businesses and organizations across Canada. As an award-winning Managed Security company, our Security Operations Centre monitors, detects and responds to cyber attacks around the clock and can do the same for you.
Schedule a free discovery call to learn if SOC-as-a-Service is right for you.