What is Managed Cybersecurity (and why your organisation needs it)

In an era where cyber threats are rapidly increasing, organisations of all sizes face unprecedented risks. A Datapac survey revealed that almost a third of Irish SMEs had data stolen in the past three years. With the complexity and frequency of these threats growing, managed cybersecurity has become a crucial defence mechanism for organisations. But what exactly is managed cybersecurity, and why is it essential for your business?

What is Managed Cybersecurity?

Managed cybersecurity, often referred to as managed threat detection and response services, involves outsourcing certain elements of your organisation’s cybersecurity tasks to a trusted external service provider. These providers can offer comprehensive security functions, including threat detection, incident response, and continuous monitoring, to protect your business from cyber threats. Critically, the protection offered by these services isn’t limited to the confines of the workday. Many providers will operate round-the-clock to ensure there are experienced threat analysts and response teams ready and waiting 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to detect and remediate any nefarious or otherwise suspicious activity.

Components of Managed Cybersecurity

In order to get a better understanding of what managed cybersecurity is and the utility it can offer to your organisation, particularly when viewed in-line with any existing cybersecurity investments in play, it’s worth giving a brief overview of some of the common terms and definitions.

Threat Intelligence:

This refers to the process of collecting, analysing, and applying information about current and potential cyber threats to enhance an organisation’s security posture. It involves identifying threat actors, their tactics, techniques, and procedures, and leverages this data to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber incidents, greatly enhancing an organisation’s ability to stay ahead of the cybercriminals.

Security Monitoring:

The continuous observation and analysis of an organisation's IT environment to detect suspicious activities, potential security breaches, and other threats in real-time. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to collect data from various sources, such as network devices, servers, and applications. This data is then analysed to identify events, patterns, or anomalies that may indicate a security incident.

Incident Response:

Once a security incident has been identified through monitoring, dedicated specialist cybersecurity teams will triage the situation to prevent the spread of any viruses or other malicious activities and take action to neutralise the threat.

Vulnerability Management:

This process involves regular scanning and monitoring to identify, assess, prioritise, and mitigate security vulnerabilities within an organisation’s IT environment to detect potential weaknesses that could be exploited by threat actors. Once identified, steps can be taken to eradicate these vulnerabilities based on their severity and potential impact.

The Modern Cyber Threat Landscape

The modern cyber threat landscape is increasingly complex and dynamic, characterised by sophisticated and persistent attacks from a variety of threat actors, including nation-states, cybercriminals, and hacktivists. Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) often involve long-term, targeted attacks aimed at stealing sensitive information or causing disruption. Ransomware attacks have grown in prevalence, targeting organisations of all sizes, and encrypting valuable data with substantial ransom demands for its unguaranteed return. Phishing and social engineering remain common tactics to gain initial access. Additionally, the rise of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and remote work has expanded the attack surface, making endpoint security more challenging. Cyber threats now exploit vulnerabilities in software, hardware, and human behaviour, requiring organisations to adopt comprehensive and adaptive security measures to protect against evolving risks.

Impact to Organisations

The consequences of cyber-attacks can be devastating. Financial losses from stolen data, ransom payments, and downtime can cripple an organisation. Additionally, the reputational damage from a security breach can lead to lost customers and decreased trust. Legal repercussions, including fines for non-compliance with data protection laws, add another layer of risk.

Benefits of Managed Cybersecurity

While many organisations have some degree of cybersecurity measures in place, oftentimes traditional point solutions such as antivirus, firewalls, endpoint protection, etc., in the modern cyber threat environment are not enough. 24/7 managed cybersecurity needs to be the new baseline, in the same manner as antivirus was viewed in decades past.

Managed cybersecurity services offer a plethora of benefits to organisations:

Expertise and Resources:

Managed cybersecurity providers offer access to a team of experts with specialised knowledge and skills, which would be impossible for all but the very largest multinational organisations to maintain in-house. These professionals utilise advanced tools and technologies that are cost-prohibitive for individual organisations to acquire and maintain.

24/7 Monitoring and Response:

This is a major advantage of managed cybersecurity services. Even if an organisation has the tools and skills to monitor for threats, incidents, and indicators of compromise internally, it’s simply not economically possible to ensure active threat detection and response 24/7/365 without seeking the support of external experts. Threat actors are aware of this vulnerability of the traditional approach to cybersecurity and will deliberately orchestrate infiltrations, attacks, and executions to occur outside standard business hours. Continuous monitoring ensures that any suspicious activity is detected and addressed in real-time, minimising potential damage. This around-the-clock vigilance is essential in today’s fast-paced cyber threat environment.

Cost-Effectiveness:

As alluded to, outsourcing to a reputable managed cybersecurity service provider is far and away the most economically viable option for all organisations to attain maximum levels of protection. Trying to replicate this with an internal Security Operations Centre (SOC) involves hiring and retaining a team of no fewer than 10 highly skilled, very well-paid security experts, leading to costs spiralling into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, per year. This approach offers little to no upsides in comparison with outsourced managed cybersecurity and adds additional management complexities and costs, as well as being far less flexible and scalable.

Peace of Mind:

Organisations commonly outsource many important elements of their operations to external experts without a second thought, such as facilities and premises management, fire and security alarms, electrical work, fleet maintenance, etc. Imagine the psychological burden and sleepless nights if all this had to be managed internally! We know that some business inputs are fundamentally too complex to tackle ourselves and so we turn to the experts. The complexity of the modern cybersecurity environment has exceeded the limits of IT generalists and so requires the support and guidance of a trusted partner.

In today’s digital landscape, proactive cybersecurity is not just an option—it’s a necessity. Investing in managed cybersecurity services is a strategic move that can save your organisation from potentially devastating cyber-attacks. If you’re interested in how Datapac’s Managed Threat Ops service can enhance your organisation’s cybersecurity, or if you would just like to discuss your cybersecurity journey, leave a comment or drop me an email at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to help.