Technology evolves quickly, and the threat landscape is constantly adapting and expanding. Few organizations have the tools and skills to stay on top of it all and effectively manage cybersecurity on their own, which is why many have chosen to work with managed security services providers (MSSPs) that offer managed detection and response (MDR) solutions. As you consider different options, though, it’s important to select a security provider that understands the shift to a cloud-first mentality and can effectively monitor and protect a hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Managing Cybersecurity in the Cloud
A report released from AllCloud earlier this year predicted that 85 percent of businesses will have a majority of their workloads running in the cloud by the end of 2020. It’s probable that there is at least some cloud adoption among the remaining 15 percent as well. The concept of network architecture has fundamentally shifted from the traditional local network to a hybrid cloud model that combines local resources with cloud platforms like AWS and Azure and cloud-based SaaS (software-as-a-service) applications like Salesforce and Microsoft 365.
Two of the tenets of effective MDR are comprehensive 24/7 visibility, and scalability. If your security can’t see all of your devices, applications, and data, and if you don’t have security experts monitoring around the clock to take action on suspicious or malicious activity, you can’t really be secure. If your security can’t scale up and down in a dynamic cloud environment, you can’t be confident that you’re protected. If your security is limited in what it covers inside the cloud you are partially protected and not optimally maximizing your cloud architecture opportunity or investment. That’s why, when choosing a security partner to work with, it’s vital to choose one capable of managing and protecting a complex cloud environment and one that maintains its investment in line with the cloud provider introducing new capabilities.
One of the defining aspects of the cloud is that it is dynamic making it challenging to scale with surges in demand or maintain visibility as the environment changes. The ability to automate monitoring and the ability to remediate threats are essential in the managed security services space. Your cybersecurity should provide a global view of threat activity across your entire hybrid cloud environment, and it should have dedicated threat intelligence and 24/7 monitoring by skilled cybersecurity analysts to ensure hybrid cloud security threats are quickly detected and resolved to reduce or eliminate damage.
A cloud-native solution also streamlines deployment and configuration and simplifies pricing. Working with an MSSP that understands and integrates with the major cloud platforms and cloud applications makes it easy to purchase and enable protection.
Leading the Way to Effective Cybersecurity
Independent analysis from a trusted third-party—like the recently published The Forrester Wave™: Global Managed Security Services Providers, Q3 2020—is an invaluable resource for organizations evaluating different options. Alert Logic recently announced that it was ranked as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Global Managed Security Services Providers, Q3, 2020.
Digital transformation and hybrid cloud environments require cloud-native cybersecurity tools and services. Unfortunately, many MSSPs fail to understand the unique needs of monitoring and protecting applications and data in the cloud.
