Not Sure Which Security Solution is Right for Your Business?
Cybersecurity is indispensable for any business. Choosing the right security solution for your business empowers you to focus on your core business activities. The market is flooded with products/ services each claiming to be the best security service provider. You need to choose a security solution that is best suited for your needs and context. Through this article, we will help you in making this critical choice.
Considerations for Choosing the Right Security Solution
1. Know Your Needs, Context, and Security Threats
The best place to start the process of choosing a security solution is your business. You need to have a clear understanding of your needs and contexts. How many users do you have and how many are remote workers? Do you have employees and end-users in other locations and countries? What kind of third-party services and components are you using in your website/ applications? etc. are some questions you need to ask yourself.
This is more important than ever in the current pandemic situation and the new digital normal it has ushered in. There are geographically dispersed endpoints (BYOD technology, shared networks, etc.). That too, without the control and protection that the physical premises, secure enterprise networks, and company devices provide.
Given the growing threat landscape, you may need greater protection against certain types of threats. You also need to be aware of the security threats and issues that your business and industry face. This way you can ensure that the security solution is equipped to handle those threats and issues.
2. Evaluate Threat Intelligence, Remediation, Analytics, and Reporting Capabilities
Threat detection, remediation, reporting, and analytics are the four cornerstones of effective web security.
Here are some questions to ask:
- How agile is the solution?
- How does the solution respond in the event of a security incident?
- How frequent is security scanning? What kind of coverage does it provide?
- How comprehensive is the coverage?
- Can the solution grow with your business? Is it scalable?
- Can it be tuned later for your changing needs?
- Can reports be customized?
- What about visibility into the security posture?
- What kind of technical support is provided?
- How is it deployed? Is it a cloud, hardware, or software solution? How easy is it to deploy?
Total security solutions such as AppTrana provide cloud-based, scalable, comprehensive, managed, and intelligent security for your web applications/ websites.
3. Is the Security Solution Future-Proofed?
The threat landscape is fast-emerging. There are new threat vectors, sophisticated techniques, and emerging threats. Vulnerabilities are multiplying. The security needs and risks facing business are fast-evolving, especially in crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Choose a future-proofed cybersecurity solution. That is, the solution must not become redundant when a crisis/ disaster strikes. Is it equipped with futuristic technologies such as AI and automation? Is the security service provider continuously updating the solution? Do they engage in research to upgrade the solution? Are they equipped for zero-day situations and unforeseen contingencies? – are some questions you should ask.
4. Evaluate Industry Experience of the Managed Security Service Provider
The general regulations and compliance standards aside, several industries have their own regulatory requirements, standards, and best practices. For instance, healthcare organizations are bound by HIPAA Security rules and compliance standards for the protection of sensitive patient information. Organizations may also opt to comply with international standards such as PCI-DSS, GDPR, NIST frameworks, and so on.
Choose security service providers who understand that cybersecurity is not a one-size-fits-all. Ensure that they have prior experience of working in your industry or at least, be familiar with the specifications and requirements. Most importantly, the service provider must be equipped to custom-design security solutions with surgical accuracy to ensure you meet all the compliance standards, frameworks, and best practices of your industry.
5. Ask for a Free Trial
The Free trial will help you understand how the solution fits your needs and how it works in real-time. You must understand if and how the solution affects the speed and performance of your website and also evaluate the support and ability to get the security policy working relevant for your website. The best cybersecurity solutions do not slow down your website or impact its performance and backed by the support team to eliminate false positives. Chose a vendor who enables this experience before you make the investment.
6. Cost Considerations
Businesses do not have infinite resources. Choose solutions that fit your budget, have transparent pricing, and zero hidden costs.
Conclusion
Remember, not all cybersecurity solutions are created equal. Use this guide to carefully evaluate the solution before onboarding it. With the best cybersecurity solution, you can rest assured that your invaluable data and digital assets are secure round-the-clock.