Should Fort Lauderdale Businesses Outsource Cybersecurity?

Should Fort Lauderdale Businesses Outsource Cybersecurity?

Given the rising level of cybersecurity threats, it makes sense to wonder if businesses should outsource cybersecurity. What risk comes with taking this approach, especially for high-target, high-risk industries like finance and healthcare? Would such companies be better off keeping their cybersecurity operations in-house?

Given these questions, Palindrome Consulting reached out to some cybersecurity experts to hear their thoughts about outsourcing cybersecurity. This post is about the benefits and disadvantages they pointed out about this approach.

High Level of Expertise

One cybersecurity expert coming from a background in enterprise security reported having worked with Fortune 500 companies and government entities in need of cybersecurity operations. His company provided outsourced cybersecurity operations, which proved to be a big hit with their client base.

The clients’ biggest benefits were in the cost and time required to optimize internal resources. Small businesses may not have the capacity to hire an entire cybersecurity team yet get a full package of services when they hire an MSP.

For government and enterprise clients, the level of expertise of the existing staff is an outstanding advantage. MSPs have the ability to provide appropriately trained personnel as the client’s need for support grows. In the current market, this is a significant challenge.

The respondent advises businesses to lean towards the outsourced model, especially because the team in an MSP understands the tools of operation inside out. It also only takes them a short window to get operations up and running. The differential cost of lost opportunity, in-house resources, turnover, training costs, and knowledge would be minimal.

Considering the substantial skillset necessary to perform cybersecurity issues well, an in-house team may pose increased risks. That’s unless they have a solid system of checks and balances. Cybersecurity operations have many moving parts that require constant monitoring and adjusting for ongoing success. Not all companies have the appropriate management skills to oversee this.

Finally, MSPs operate in the small and medium business environment, with an absolute demand for cybersecurity services. The operations are huge, and due to team requirements, it wouldn’t make sense to incorporate them into the internal IT environment. That’s where a proper MSP or MSSP bridges that gap adequately.

Cost-Effectiveness and Coverage

When an organization outsources its IT security functions, it gains access to a broader skillset and roles, including:

• Vulnerability management
• Incident response
• Application security
• Network security
• Architects

The proper protection of an organization’s IT infrastructure calls for many skillsets. Often, an outsourced managed IT provider will support a company in meeting compliance requirements. These roles are numerous, and most organizations don’t require them all the time.

Instead of hiring all these services internally, a company would see more cost savings by outsourcing an MSP. It’s also expensive to find, train, and maintain an internal IT team performing these roles.

An MSP is a “Think Tank” that’s always up to date with the latest technologies and cybersecurity threats. They can solve issues in minutes that would otherwise take days for an internal team to figure out.

Outsourcing is also efficient in providing the coverage modern businesses need. They’re more flexible, working 24/7, unlike internal teams with a 9-5 schedule. You can trust that your passwords are safe and an MSP won’t quit and leave your confidential data.

Synchronization Between Partners

Cybersecurity is a moving target. What works today might require reinforcement tomorrow. The ability for a company to recover from cyber-attacks is crucial, which is why IT teams have had to switch from securing parameters to securing devices and their cloud infrastructure. Having a team of specialists that keep up with the latest trends is a reliable solution.

There’s an undeniable linkage between partners with an outsourced MSP for cybersecurity services. For example, when a cyber threat attacks one partner, the MSP applies the solution across the board. That means they won’t just wait for another client to suffer a similar threat before implementing the solution again.

Decreased Downtime

What would happen to a company whose technology fails for a day or week and all the firm gets back is a blank stare? Would it still survive? Regardless of how short, downtime can lead to costly losses, employee dissatisfaction, and loss of customers. An outsourced cybersecurity firm has the tools and resources to minimize downtime, especially if an organization implements the recommended services.

To understand the costly impact of downtime, consider a company’s annual income and divide it by 365. That is the approximate amount the company would lose each day they experience downtime.

For a million-dollar business, the figure would be approximately $30,000 daily. Outsourcing cybersecurity services is more of business continuity insurance as it protects the company from the costly damage of downtime.

The Downside of Outsourcing Cybersecurity

Every decision a company makes in the cybersecurity space has some risk level. The vendors a company chooses to work with, how they implement the systems, and how they monitor and maintain the systems are crucial factors to consider.

One of the downsides of this approach is the simple ideology that an external party has full access to a company’s IT infrastructure and network. That calls for a lot of caution in choosing who to partner with for this service.

Other cons to outsourcing come with accountability and a higher risk probability. Working with an outsourced service provider calls for a different relationship than a company would have with an internal IT team. Since the MSP is not an employee, it’s accountable to the client differently. The only recourse in case of a misunderstanding is to fire the organization.

An MSP is also more exposed as it deals with multiple clients simultaneously. If one of the clients gets breached, it can affect all the others in the network. The SolarWinds incident is an excellent example.

Partnering with an MSP in Fort Lauderdale

Partnering with an MSP is a mix of both worlds, but the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. The key to outsourcing is to set up alerts and communications for the client to see what the MSP is working on around the clock.

At Palindrome Consulting, we provide IT support and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses in the Hollywood area. Contact us to schedule a consultation and find out how we can meet your business IT needs.