What are Managed Security Services (MSS)?

Organizations can get cybersecurity services through managed security services (MSS). MSS companies support the management and monitoring of security devices, systems, and Software as a Service (SaaS) programs. An in-house or remote team of professionals might handle individual duties or the organization's overall security responsibilities. MSS companies offer 24 hour control and monitoring of devices like firewalls, Intrusion prevention systems, and endpoint detection and response systems (EDR). They can handle upgrades and patches, conduct audits and security assessments, and deal with security incidents. There are numerous MSS service models, and each one offers distinct services and levels of security. These consist of MDR, MSP, and MSSP.

Key Features

• Information Security Experts
• Threat & Risk Mitigation
• Threat & Risk Response
• Insight & Reporting

What's at risk?

Organizations that experience a data breach may suffer serious financial, legal, and reputational repercussions. Depending on the size and intensity of the attack, the remediation costs can also be high, with post-attack expenses possibly reaching the tens of millions of dollars. By continuously monitoring, managing, supporting, and maintaining the company's security systems, devices, and software, managed security services (MSS) vendors can help to limit the extent of cyberattacks and reduce the overall cost of a data breach. They can also support with the prevention and detection of threats, as well as the quick and efficient response to security incidents by detecting and resolving security vulnerabilities. MSS vendors can help organizations to minimize their risk of a data breach.

Setting up and maintaining a full in-house cybersecurity team can be a significant financial burden for an organization. It requires hiring and training skilled cybersecurity professionals, purchasing and maintaining expensive hardware and software, and investing in various tools and technologies. These costs can quickly add up and become overwhelming, especially for smaller organizations. Managed Security Services (MSS) vendors offer a cost-effective alternative by providing their services on a monthly fee basis. This allows organizations to reduce capital expenditures, avoid amortization and shift internal budgets, rather than invest a large amount of money upfront. Additionally, MSS vendors often have access to advanced technologies and tools, which can be difficult or expensive for organizations to acquire on their own, and the team of experts are providing a continuous monitoring, management, support and maintenance, saving organizations from the hiring, training, and retention costs associated with building an in-house team. This can help organizations of all sizes, but small to medium-sized businesses often find this approach more effective to cover their security needs and to budget it accordingly.

My company is small. Do I really need to worry?

Regardless of the size of the organization, data shows that small business networks are constantly under attack, and the attack surface is expanding. Hackers continually run scanning utilities that are used to identify open vulnerabilities in an effort to infiltrate systems. Organizations must put more effort into achieving visibility and control over the network as distributed networks, remote work and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) paradigms, and hybrid environments become the new normal. Vendors providing MSS offer specialized knowledge and equipment to help meet the diverse requirements of varying business verticals and their dynamic IT environments.

MSS Companies oversee teams of security specialists who are assisted by cutting-edge technologies to help safeguard against threats. These skills can be used by organizations to fill up the gaps left by not having an internal security team or a team that is understaffed.

We already have an IT Company/Person we use!

That's great to hear! We also support other small businesses that have an existing IT Company or person. Our unique Information Security options compliment existing teams very well. While they worry about updating your computers and handling software installations, our team will ensure that all things Information Security are handled. We can work with your team on training to be more security minded, we can help you write your incident response and disaster recovery procedures, and even run through simulations and testing to ensure your team is ready to go in the event something does happen.

In summary, there are different types of Managed Security Services (MSS) available to organizations, including Managed Service Providers (MSP), Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP), Co-Managed IT Service Providers (Co-MIT), and Managed Detection and Response (MDR). MSPs manage IT on behalf of the organization, including personnel and infrastructure, while MSSPs provide network security monitoring and management services that cover the organization's entire IT environment. Co-MIT providers offer a service model that blends client management, internal IT teams, and MSP offerings, while MDR vendors actively search for threats to identify and alert organizations on existing or new threats. When choosing an MSS provider, it is important to consider the issues the organization is trying to solve, the maturity of the company's existing security programs, and the level of response required. That's not all we do as those are just a few of the key differentiators between us and a traditional IT team. We are happy to talk through your goals, dreams, and vision for your company to see where we can help scale technology and security for the future.