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Nowadays everyone should acknowledge the importance of cyber security as risks increase exponentially every day. Not having a security setup isn’t reasonable and logical at all. Outsourcing cyber security refers to working with third-party vendors and purchasing security solutions. But, sometimes businesses don’t want to depend solely on providers, that’s mainly because providers can implement out-of-date, substandard solutions. With poor security, your networks are up against an increased risk of cyber attacks. When a cyber-attack happens, businesses can’t prevent or isolate breaches without providers.
In short, solely depending on providers for cyber security is risky, and providers’ lack of attention and response times to attacks can put your entire network at risk. When these are taken into account, building an in-house cyber security setup would be the alternative. Whether going with outsourced or in-house cyber security, both have their pros and cons.
Drawbacks and limitations of outsourcing security don’t make this approach unlogical for businesses as it offers great benefits. But, before explaining that outsourcing cyber security is the best fit for all sizes of businesses, we should really understand what is outsourcing cyber security.
What Is Outsourcing Cyber Security?
Using legacy technologies and investing in hardware-based security solutions are out-of-date and inefficient in many ways since networks expand to different geo-locations due to more remote employees, and branch locations. Modern corporate networks become more complicated and these networks become more difficult to safeguard every day. That’s why maintaining an in-house security setup is expensive. Additionally, a company’s lack of resources and IT staff can lead to poor security across the enterprise.
In this era, poor security measures are often exploited by cybercriminals, and each successful data breach can cause your organization approximately 4.24 million dollars of recovery costs. Additionally, in each data breach, businesses are obligated to pay the regulatory fines since they don’t adhere to compliance regulations completely. Building a cyber security setup whether it is deployed remotely or on-premise is a necessity.
Benefits of Outsourced Cyber Security
1- Fast Setup
Purchasing your constantly evolving security needs from a provider helps you save money, and safeguard your business with enhanced security architectures. Trusted third-party providers can offer an aligned security setup while diminishing the need for on-premise deployment. Most providers offer enhanced security solutions that can be integrated into your existing security rapidly. Additionally, as your business grows, you can make sure your resources are safeguarded adequately, and your business meets compliance regulations.
2- Cost-Efficient and Affordable
Remote security infrastructure is the best choice, especially for SMBs because small businesses often tend to think that security isn’t the main priority, but third-party providers offer cost-efficient solutions. Meaning outsourcing cyber security is logical, and affordable in most cases. Outsourced security setup enables great flexibility and it is cost-efficient. Additionally, you can contact support teams if a problem occurs in your security setup. If you want to learn more about the benefits of outsourcing security click here.
Limitations and Complexities of Outsourced Cyber Security
Although there are great benefits of outsourcing cyber security, this setup has its drawbacks and limitations which can make you consider building an in-house security setup or embracing hybrid settings. Because outsourcing cyber security means giving a considerable amount of control to the provider to safeguard your assets. Let’s look at the drawbacks of outsourcing cyber security.
1- Providers’ Lack of Care
Although most providers offer timely responses to problems, issues, or additional patches, vulnerabilities, and gaps, fixing the problem can take time unless there is a breach. That’s mainly because the priority of support commonly goes to bigger spenders which are at increased risk of cyber attacks. Unless your business is attacked by malicious actors, providers might respond to problems slower.
2- Hidden Expenses
Providers list their services and fees in their contracts. But, these are approximate amounts and basic prices will be revealed in time. So, you can expect that there can always be hidden costs and extras. Additionally, you can never know when there is going to be a problem in your existing infrastructure. These all additional expenses can be seen as a drawback of outsourcing cyber security.
3- Substandard Solutions
Some providers are mistaken by implementing substandard solutions for your security, and these solutions are enormously risky as they have substandard effects that aren’t effective to safeguard sensitive data. Additionally, when this happens you have no control over your provider’s actions. Solely depending on third-party providers can put your business in danger as you won’t be able to intervene in the event of a data breach.
Alternatives: In-House & Hybrid Cyber Security
If you don’t solely want to depend on providers and building in-house security or embracing hybrid arrangements are the alternatives to outsourcing security. In-house security requires businesses to handle all operations on their own. This alternative requires a lot of resources and money, and it may not be the best solution for small to midsize businesses (SMBs).
Additionally, finding the best IT professionals for your in-house team might not be as easy as you think. If you can’t find the right talents for your IT team, it can cause big problems. Although in-house cyber security seems to have some drawbacks and limitations, generally it enables greater control over your security setup, and your team can prioritize tasks, and security in accordance with your business’s needs.
If you don’t think both outsourcing and in-house cyber security options aren’t the best fit for your organization, you can use them both simultaneously in a hybrid approach. This way you can create a much smaller in-house team while working with external consultants. But, this approach can be costly as well.
Last Words
Purchasing your cyber security needs from providers is logical in most cases. But, you should know what you are signing in for, especially if you want to outsource your complete security. Generally, working with the right providers improves network security, and reduces IT spending.