Managed Services, Security

What are Managed Security Services?

Chaz Hager August 19 2022

Is your in-house IT team overburdened? Is your business looking for specialized IT skillsets that aren’t part of your employee skills? Or perhaps you need specialized security services to make your business MISS security compliant as is required by the law? This is where managed services could be invaluable to you.

The role of managed service providers isn’t to replace your existing teams or run a system as a service above and over you. These services can be treated as augmentative, extended arms of your business’ IT and security needs. You can leverage their technical prowess and expertise for continuous incident monitoring, security, collaboration, etc. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year to suit your needs.

Managed Security Services – Meaning and Definition

Managed Services refers to third-party vendors who provide IT security and other services to manage your IT division end-to-end. 

With the advent of the remote working culture, say, your business decides to promote a hybrid work culture with remote working. How would you go about implementing it? What collaboration strategies, tools, and techniques would you use to ensure the safety of your business’ shared emails, files, audios, etc.?

Or, say, you want to migrate from the age-old, risky, unreliable, environment-unfriendly on-premise data centers to a cloud. How would you go about with the migration? How would you ensure optimal use of the cloud resources? How would you set up cloud security so that hackers don’t walk away with all your stored data?

If you don’t have all the answers or even if you’re completely lost, that’s unsurprising. These are just a few of the things modern businesses are expected to be equipped with. 

Let’s not even get to the importance of data protection, cybersecurity, or adherence to minimum information security standards (MISS Security). Such services, and many more, tailor-made to suit your business needs, are exactly what managed security services are all about.

What are Managed Security Services?

You can outsource these services to third-party vendors, also known as MSSPs, short for Managed Security Services Providers. A good managed services provider would offer even more than an MSSP, because their offerings could help your business scale up by being your mentor with the complete IT expertise they’d bring.

Like many non-IT firms, you could simply hire them and forget about it, trusting them to do their job well. Remember, you can’t just trust anyone for your data security. If you’re looking for a reliable, trustworthy MSP, Northriver IT can be your answer. You can lean on Northriver as one of the industry-leading MSPs, a complete IT solution from cloud migration and scaling to cybersecurity and collaboration.

The Top Five Benefits of Managed Security Services

 

1. Ensure a central and simplified usage and maintenance of all your digital assets.

2. Protect your data with industry-leading cybersecurity protocols that adhere to the highest security standards and regulatory compliance.

3. Expert additional staffing that’ll prove cost-effective in the long run since you won’t need to hire new staff or invest in setting up a completely new security infrastructure.

4. A pick-and-eat buffet of services, especially if you choose an MSP over an MSSP – whether you need assistance for threat identification and mitigation, handling server security, producing satisfactory and timely security audits and logs, or handling any administrative tasks, both MSPs and MSSPs offer a wide array of services you can choose from. Choose one or all, and then rest assured, things will be safe and secure.

5. MSSPs bring in knowledge of the most up-to-date threats as well as the tools and technologies to handle them.

MISS Security and Managed Security Services: What’s the Connection?

MISS Security, short for Minimum Information Security Standards, is a government document law, or a standard as the name suggests, that all businesses must adhere to. Whether you’re a law firm, an IT business, a healthcare provider, operating as a construction business, or as an educator or facilitator firm, every business needs to adhere to this standard if you’re processing sensitive data.

This, in simpler words, is a document spanning 70-odd pages, approved in 1996, to ensure that every business has at least a minimum standard of security protocols in place to prevent data loss, breach, identity theft, or any other kind of data compromise. A managed security services provider would help you implement all these policies.

Furthermore, based on the kind of data your company processes, they’d be able to guide you on whether or not you even need to worry about it, and in the future, depending on the data you choose to collect, help you re-evaluate that decision as and when necessary.

Final Word

Managed security services ease your burden and reduce your worry lines. Think of them as the guards of your data – and you should choose experienced, professional guards that not only protect but also know what actions to take in case of breaches or data disasters. By now, you’ve likely understood what and why a managed security services provider is essential.

If you’re looking for an MSP now, or just want to have a chat and seek the best guidance for your business, come and say hi to us at Northriver IT where we’ve been serving clients just like you for almost two decades now, we’d be delighted to assist you in any way we can!

Northriver cybersecurity solutions provide an all-in-one security cover for your IT operations. 

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