Beginner’s guide to CSSPs (Cybersecurity Services Providers): The Whats, the Hows, and the Whys. 

As a business owner, one of the top things in your mind is growing competition, getting maximum ROI out of your investments for business, the increasing pressure to keep your customers pleased, and most importantly, staying compliant in a highly changing regulatory environment.

That is why businesses are deploying all kinds of advanced technological systems such as IoT, OT, and cloud to enhance the efficiency of their operations. It is no wonder that global spending on IoT was around 1.1 trillion in 2023!

However, the rise in cyber attacks in the last three years is due to it. Sophisticated cyber attackers are orchestrating attacks based on more research on their targets, using advanced technology such as AI and ML to bypass the security of their IT infrastructure. There is a rise in the number of IoT ransomware attacks by 87% (Statista). It just goes to show the increasing cyber risk as businesses increase their pace of digital transformation.

Cybersecurity has become a necessity for all. Businesses can no longer do away with standalone measures like network security, endpoint security, etc. for threats of this magnitude and complexity. It is where dedicated experts are needed to help them gain maximum leverage from their cybersecurity investments. They can guide them in cyber risk prevention, mitigation, and threat combat. 

This is where CSSPs come into the picture. Cybersecurity Service Providers offer an umbrella service and guidance to secure your business. 

Who are Cybersecurity Services Providers?

Imagine when you have a plumbing problem at your home. You don’t call the fire department to solve your problem, you call someone well-versed in understanding how pipes, water systems, and other aspects of plumbing work.

Similarly, when you want a specialized approach to cybersecurity, you call Cybersecurity Service Providers. CSSPs are external cybersecurity providers who provide businesses without security capabilities with cybersecurity guidance and expertise (like the plumbing example above).

With their assistance, you can implement the needed measures based on industry best practices for information security, threat detection and response, and incident response for cyber attacks such as ransomware attacks and data breaches. There is a prevalent shortage of cybersecurity skills across the industry. 

Probably your organization does not have the required expertise in the team to take all the measures stated above. CSSPs help by providing a dedicated team that works 24×7 for 365 days to help you address all the cybersecurity needs on the go and help you plan your defense accurately.

They assist you in identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, taking measures to defend your network, implementing best practices in security, and providing support and guidance for cyber incident response. They provide the much-needed assistance to build a solid cybersecurity posture that defends your IT infrastructure against most threats.

What does a Cybersecurity Services Providers do?

Cybersecurity Services Providers provide dedicated Security Operations Centers, expertise, and tools that demand a high capital expenditure or be expensive for businesses. They are known for rendering uninterrupted support and guidance services to businesses on-site and remotely.

Modern businesses struggle with establishing a dedicated team for security, and identifying and implementing the best security practices due to many reasons. One of the reasons is the increased capital investment in standalone cybersecurity solutions and establishing dedicated SOC (Security Operations Center), the challenge to find and retain cybersecurity experts and identify and implement Information Security and other measures for detection, response, and recovery from cyber threats.

Cybersecurity Service Providers offer cybersecurity services and guidance much needed to improve your posture and ensure that you have the cyber resilience for detecting and responding to threats. They provide much-needed support for responding to cyber incidents like data breaches that target vital information assets.

When you are on the growth path, you wouldn’t want disruptions due to cyberattacks to affect your business.

Therefore, cybersecurity service providers make sense because they have a dedicated team that works as an extension of your team.  They cater to multiple aspects of your security such as establishing a cybersecurity framework that works the best for your IT infrastructure and identifying and implementing the security controls that are best fit to your business goals. They can craft risk management strategies against cyber attacks that are more sophisticated with AI and ML at play.

With the best information security practices in place, along with security solutions, controls, and measures in place with a dedicated team for responding to cyber attacks, you can function without worrying about your cybersecurity operations. It helps your team to work with increased focus improving the scope for productivity and improving your confidence among stakeholders like customers that define your brand’s value. CSSPs ensure that your IT infrastructure remains secure at all times by constantly evaluating the environment for threats through continuous threat monitoring and responding to it with the right measures.

Not just this, they also take care of all the cybersecurity operations and maintenance work that often demands a dedicated team of experts at bay to ensure that all the cybersecurity alerts are catered to and attended to at the right time and categorize the threats as per their risk and severity.

Why do you need a Cybersecurity Services Provider?

There are innumerable benefits to considering Cybersecurity Service Providers for your business. The following are some of the benefits worth considering for Cybersecurity Service Providers:

Fills cybersecurity skills gap in your organizations

In 2022, there were about global 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs not filled. It is one of the biggest challenges that businesses face today. It is why businesses can’t fulfill their most immediate and long-term cybersecurity needs. It has caused an increase in awareness gaps leading to social engineering-based attacks in businesses. CSSPs help solve this by providing a dedicated team of cybersecurity experts who cater to all cybersecurity needs through a tailored approach. They got the expertise, tools, and resources to close cybersecurity awareness and skills gaps in security.

Saves businesses from the high cost of cybersecurity – setting up SOC, hiring a team of experts, and investing in security solutions 

Cybersecurity is an expensive ball game. It demands an investment of huge capital, dedicated expertise, and time. For instance, setting up SOC requires an average investment of around $6 million, excluding the cost of security solutions averaging $1 million. 

CSSPs come with resources, expertise, solutions, and SOCs, saving businesses from high capital expenditures. CSSPs provide the much-needed subject matter expertise for bridging the cybersecurity skills gap. It saves their valuable time, money, and resources to find and retain cybersecurity experts requiring training and other retention costs. It allows businesses to be more agile by removing dependencies from an in-house team that can sometimes not have the skills needed to create security strategies. 

Augmented Cybersecurity Posture – improved threat detection and response capabilities with some of the best practices in security

CSSPs empower organizations with improved cyber resilience. They identify and implement best security practices for their posture, helping businesses with improved threat detection and response capabilities for their business. It helps them to meet compliance requirements stipulated by global and regulatory compliances. Cybersecurity experts help with posture assessments that are critical in ascertaining the vulnerabilities in their IT infrastructure and allow them to identify and address security loopholes, easily exploitable if not attended to. Cybersecurity posture assessments and augmentation are critical for compliances like GDPR, PCI-DSS, NIST, HIPAA, and others. 

Empowers your organization with round-the-clock security of IT infrastructure

CSSPs offer a dedicated SOC team that handles and manage security operations. They shift the cybersecurity stress from their limited team and improve the precision in response since cybersecurity experts are better versed in threat and event management compared to an IT generalist. SOC enables a business with round-the-clock security that protects them round the clock for 365 days against cyber attacks, rendering the IT infrastructure with continuous monitoring and information security. CSSPs provide the expertise needed to develop and maintain cybersecurity tools. 

How to choose your Cybersecurity Services Providers?

So you have finally decided that you want to get a CSSP for your business. But how would you know that the CSSP is the best fit for your business? You choose one that offers holistic fulfillment of your scope without worrying about change management within your organization or disrupting its operations. Choose a CSSP that gives you maximum ROI across your cybersecurity investments, allowing you to leverage their expertise to maximize productivity and focus on innovation.

So without further ado, here is a list of things that you must consider before you choose your CSSP:

Must encompass your scope

The organization you choose as your CSSP must consider all your cybersecurity requirements and tailor services based on your scope. It would mean if you are planning to undergo digital transformation, they must help you transition safely and help you identify and implement measures that ensure defense against future attacks. 

Disruption to your ongoing operations

Any change is necessary for the organization demands an investment of time and realignment of functions, roles, and responsibilities. However, this can also mean a temporary halt of operations for commissioning, deployment, etc. Therefore, the CSSP you choose must allow you to operate seamlessly without disruption from the installation, commissioning, deployment, or maintenance activities of cybersecurity. 

Track record 

Before you proceed with any CSSP, you must evaluate their performance and track record with previous clients. You must check whether they have previously worked in the industry they belong to. It helps you filter out the ones that fit your requirements the best. See how effective they have been in incidence response and compliance. 

Compliance

One way to identify a good CSSP company is to evaluate whether they have the necessary global and regulatory compliance certifications. You must check whether the CSSP is adhering to all the necessary information security, confidentiality, etc. standards to ensure compliance.

Why is SharkStriker the only CSSP you need?

Businesses often struggle with cybersecurity. Some of the primary reasons are:

• Managing multiple vendors for fulfilling their security needs
• Finding the right cybersecurity expertise and retaining them
• The increasing cost of cybersecurity solutions and setting up 
• Tight budget for cybersecurity 
• Lack of resources, tools, and expertise for security 
• Lack of a cybersecurity framework

SharkStirker is a CSSP that helps solve that by providing a one-stop service that caters to all the challenges through a holistic approach. Through one single service, we meet all of your cybersecurity needs. No longer will you have to take up the trouble of finding multiple vendors for security. You can secure your organization against the most immediate and sophisticated threats without disrupting operations. Through a team of compliance consultants, SharkStriker helps you stay compliant with all the latest changes in local and global regulations. Our platform easily integrates with all your cybersecurity investments giving you the maximum ROI. 

Here are some of the benefits you get when you make SharkStriker your CSSP:

• Get both cybersecurity and compliance goals achieved through a single vendor
• Enhanced cybersecurity posture with assessments and implementation
• Improves brand reputation with enhanced security for all your customer data
• Gives you 24×7 support against breaches and other attacks 
• We don’t charge you for deployment or any additional costs
• Flexible pricing plan – we offer asset-based pricing that allows you to pay as you grow.

To summarize 

When you need specialized services for your business that cater solely to cybersecurity, then a Cyber Security Services Provider is just for you. You must choose one that fits your scope and budget well. SharkStriker has everything you need in a CSSP with exclusive business benefits worth considering.