A Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) is a third-party organization offering complete cyber security protections, including the necessary infrastructure, software, people, and processes.
This includes implementing a Fortune 100-level security ecosystem and defending all entry points against common threats and sophisticated attacks. An MSSP improves security capabilities throughout the business, ensuring that all legal requirements are met and raising employee security awareness.
Overall, an MSSP manages all facets of its customers’ cyber security using highly specialized security experts while guaranteeing client access to help desk support through a 24/7/365 Security Operations Center (SOC) or SOCs and offering all necessary defenses against cyber security risks, including real-time threat intelligence.
The customer won’t have to deal with a labor shortage or the need to find or keep workers. This strategy reduces overhead for the company and enables current employees to concentrate on their particular skill sets and generate income.
Here are some specific activities an MSSP handles for its customers:
Monitor and Detect
- Use a single interface to monitor the entire security ecosystem, including email, endpoints, and networks.
- To stop breaches, identify high-impact malicious activity.
- Ensure excellence in operations
- Provide real-time security reporting visibility through a configurable dashboard, gathering verified threats in one place for subsequent action.
Investigate
- Analyze all security alerts using the most recent security intelligence to validate and rank threats.
- Evaluate each alert artifact thoroughly to ascertain the scope of incidents and degree of compromise.
- Analyze and prioritize security alerts based on threat patterns, operational capabilities of attackers, and indicators of compromise (IoC).
Hunt
- Look for harmful threats, warning signs, and zero-day vulnerabilities.
- To direct hunting activities, use cutting-edge threat intelligence across the entire security landscape.
- Acquire complete threat visibility through thorough network traffic and endpoint inspections.
Respond
- Quickly contain threats using orchestrated security responses and automated threat notifications.
- Create plans for protection and correction to lessen potential intrusions and data breaches.
- Quickly resolve incidents; skilled analysts take a systematic approach
Why invest in an MSSP?
Reduced costs
MSSPs are less expensive than employing a full-time security team internally. As an illustration, an MSSP can install and maintain your security system for about $75,000 per year. According to data from InformationWeek’s most recent Salary Survey, the hardware costs to hire a full-time, three-person security team start at more than $240,000. An MSSP can divide the cost of analysts, equipment, software, and facilities across several clients, lowering the cost per client.
Enhanced staffing
Finding qualified programmers is challenging for many businesses, and finding security programmers is even harder. This puts pressure on IT departments to hire, develop, reward, and retain key personnel. Companies can concentrate internal resources on more important business initiatives by outsourcing repetitive security monitoring and protection. By providing a range of career opportunities and positions from entry-level to senior management, an MSSP will probably be able to keep security experts on staff. Additionally, they can carry out redundant security tasks.
Advanced technology and advocacy
Because they are managed and watched over by certified security professionals, security solutions and technologies like firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDSs), virtual private networks (VPNs), and vulnerability assessment tools are much more effective. For instance, MSSPs can use a remote monitoring connection to check whether an alarm is legitimate after an intrusion is discovered and stop further intruder activity. A managed service can shield the client’s network from unsecured VPN endpoints. A higher level of product support is provided to the client for any MSSP-created goods incorporated into their offerings. To prevent attacks like this from happening to their clients again, MSSPs can inform third-party vendors about their security flaws and offer recommendations.
Enhanced skills & secure facilities
While MSSPs can analyze threats that could affect anyone, in-house IT teams can only analyze threats that directly affect them. MSSPs are among the most aggressive and tenacious security software users. They have extensive experience dealing with hundreds or thousands of life-threatening situations daily, giving them insight into security situations. MSSPs can improve security just under the facilities they provide. Security operations centers (SOCs) are located nationwide by many MSSPs. These are physically fortified locations with cutting-edge infrastructure run by qualified staff.
Objectivity and independence
Businesses frequently use ad hoc solutions to address the same security issues but rarely employ enterprise-wide security management or strategies. An MSSP can offer an unbiased viewpoint on a company’s security and uphold a system of checks and balances with internal staff. An MSSP can offer a comprehensive, coherent solution that eliminates extra work, hardware, and software.
Security awareness
An MSSP can get early access to information on countermeasures as well as advance notice of new vulnerabilities. An MSSP can offer guidance on how other businesses handle security issues their rivals have encountered. An MSSP will likely interact with other MSSPs and highly qualified and specialized international security experts. These tools enable MSSPs to diagnose and address client issues in hours instead of weeks for an internal team.
Prosecution & service performance
The MSSP frequently has strong ties to law enforcement organizations worldwide and is knowledgeable about the forensic investigation and supporting evidence needed to win a case. MSSPs can provide real-time results 365 days per year, seven days per week. This is very different from an internal service available during regular business hours. They have created processes to guarantee continuous service availability. To ensure there is never a security gap, MSSPs always upgrade any hardware and software their clients are using to the most recent version. The strict contractual obligations that MSSPs have to their clients and the need to uphold their good name in the marketplace require that their control procedures be well-documented and strictly adhered to.
