8 Benefits of Security As A Service (SECaaS)

Many businesses are unknowingly wide open to attack and should consider the benefits of Security as a Service (SECaaS). Investing is a firewall, anti-virus, physical office security, intruder alarm, and CCTV may not be enough. Alas in today’s ever changing digital world this is not enough to keep modern cyber criminals at bay.

Malware, ransomware, phishing, virus, denial of service, distributed denial-of-service, man-in-the-middle and brute force attacks. These are only a handful of the different approaches cyber-criminals use to try to compromise your network security.

Cyber Attacks on Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMB’s)

Many SMB’s are woefully unprepared to thwart attacks from professional cyber criminals. The Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report stated that 43% of cyber-attacks were against small and medium sized businesses.

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An Overview of SECaaS

The reality is that new and more sophisticated cybersecurity threats are appearing on a daily basis. These are all designed with one purpose in mind, to compromise your network. Cyber criminals are looking to steal data for profit by reselling that data or demanding a ransom for it’s safe return.

With the move towards cloud based network services the security perimeter can be somewhat blurred. Sensitive data is spending more and more time in the cloud and the security implications of this warrants closer attention.

Security as a Service (SECaaS) allows you to outsource the security of your local and cloud based services to a managed security provider. It is the SECaaS provider who becomes responsible for all areas of your network security. The best providers of SECaaS will have extensive experience in the security arena and will utilise the latest protective measures available.

Benefits of Security as a Service (SECaaS)

There are a number of justifiable benefits of Security as a Service (SECaaS) for small and medium sized businesses (SMB’s). Potentially SMB’s may not have the budget to invest in the security hardware, software and expert security staff required to meet today’s every increasing security standards.

Security as a Service (SECaaS) Features

Network security is no longer simply a case of installing a firewall or two at the edge of your network and applying a security policy. It is becoming far more involved as cyber-criminals get more sophisticated.

Your SECaaS provider will use the Security as a Service model and it’s large number of security features (described below) in a layered collaborative approach to provide security ‘in-depth’.

• Intrusion detection and prevention
• Identity management and control
• Security information & event management (SIEM)
• Continuous security monitoring
• Ongoing vulnerability scanning
• Data encryption
• Email Security
• Web Security
• Local data security on Laptop, Mobiles, Tablets
• Cloud and Edge data security
• Anti-Virus scanning

What is SIEM?

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) combines both Security Information Management and Security Event management functions into a single security management system.

SECaaS providers utilise SIEM to collect and aggregate security logging data captured from all devices that fall under the security management domain. These devices are end systems, servers, local and cloud applications, switches, routers, firewalls and also anti-virus software.

SIEM then re-orders and analyses potential security events to ascertain if there are in anyway related and will create a report and alert the SECaaS provider to any malicious activity.

What Can SECaaS Protect Against?

Although it’s important to understand what Security as a Service can protect against (listed below is a small example), it’s essential to also appreciate WHERE it will protect you.

Your data is now everywhere, on local laptop’s, mobile phones, tablets, in the air thanks to WiFi, on local servers, edge servers, cloud services and each of these platforms needs to be secured.

SECaaS will protect your local network devices, edge services, cloud services, WiFi, mobile phones and tablets from an ever growing number of threats.

• Malware
• Ransomware
• Phishing
• Virus
• Denial of service (DoS)
• Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
• Man-in-the-middle
• Brute force attacks

Network Models That SECaaS Protects

Security as a Service (SECaaS) can protect a wide variety of local, cloud and edge based network service models and be tailor made to suit your specific security requirements.

SECaaS uses the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) model to ensure that alerts from all secured devices and applications are complied and analysed to obtain a faster and more efficient picture of related security events.

• Local branch and head office model
• Network as a Service (NaaS)
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
• Recovery as a Service (RaaS)
• VoIP as a Service (VaaS)
• Edge as a Service (EaaS)

Conclusion – Benefits of Security As A Service (SECaaS)

The benefits of Security as a Service (SECaaS) means it is now becoming the preferred security model for small and medium sized businesses. SECaaS reduces upfront costs of security hardware, outsources and simplifies security management plus removes the need to employ highly trained (and expensive) security staff.

If you are uncertain that your current security solution will protect you in this ever-changing information age, however SECaaS may well be the perfect fit. Please get in touch to discuss your Security As A Service SECaaS requirements in more detail. We offer a completely free consultation with one of our technology experts to fully go over your precise needs.

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