Data breaches are the number one concern for businesses today.
And rightfully so.
Customers read about major data leaks every day.
They know that even large corporations with the most resources have difficulty defending their assets against data-stealing hackers.
A couple of big names were part of highly damaging breaches, including Chick-fil-A, MailChimp, T-Mobile, and ChatGPT.
According to research, 45% of companies said that they were targets of a data breach. The majority of small businesses that were victimized had to close their doors following the incident.
There have never been so many attempts at getting sensitive data. While most bad actors target the financial or healthcare industry, hackers know that other businesses also collect a lot of customer data.
To make this continual fight against data breaches even more challenging, there are fewer cybersecurity professionals available. Key positions are unfilled and existing teams have been left short-staffed.
This type of environment is dangerous because teams have more work than they can handle, and long working hours create room for expensive mistakes.
How can a managed cyber security service help organizations that need to strengthen their defenses against data breaches but lack qualified professionals to do so?
Before we elaborate on the role of this data management tool in cybersecurity, let’s explore what the shortage of cybersecurity professionals refers to exactly.
The Skills Gap in Cybersecurity Explained
Companies need more cybersecurity experts than ever before because everything has changed — infrastructures are getting more complex, threat actors are more savvy, more systems are digitized today, and they collect more data than ever before.
After adapting their networks for remote work and introducing the cloud, businesses created more opportunities for malicious hackers. Now, criminals can exploit workers’ home computers as well.
Cloud technology also helps companies to scale in a cost-effective way. Complex multi-cloud infrastructures require larger teams as well as experts in specialized areas — such as cloud security.
All of this has increased the need for more cyber experts.
A couple of years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies still face a shortage of professionals.
But in what areas do they lack security staff?
When talking about the cybersecurity shortage, we refer to the lack of highly skilled, experienced, and specialized professionals.
In reality, the cybersecurity field is still growing. Looking back a couple of years, no one could anticipate that the need for experts in this area would double in 2021 and then triple in 2022.
What can companies do to address the skill gaps in security?
Also read: The Importance of Cyber Security Awareness in the Digital Age
Overcoming Skill Gaps in Security
Some tips for overcoming the shortage of professionals include:
- Introducing more training and education for the company’s teams
- Using AI for automation and threat hunting and mitigation in real time
- Enabling remote work to attract more security experts
Additional education helps existing team members and IT staff to develop their skills and grow into different roles. For instance, even workers who don’t enter the company as cybersecurity experts can transition into a security-focused role with additional training.
Today, automation is an integral part of security because it saves time for teams that already have a lot to do. In most cases, automation is applied to repetitive processes.
After such tasks are delegated to AI and automated, teams have more time to dedicate to sophisticated tasks and threats.
Since a lot of the issues that companies face today are linked to poorly protected data, it’s also necessary to have a solution that aids teams in detecting critical problems early and preventing compromised information.
Managed Cyber Security Services
A managed cyber security service is designed for advanced data management.
Since it’s AI-based, it learns about the company all the time. It takes into consideration the context while it generates reports about the state of security.
Then, it correlates this data to identify any behavior that is out of the ordinary and analyzes whether these anomalies indicate possible threats, such as data breaches.
More importantly, it’s designed for companies that are short-staffed in the security department.
Also read: How Cyber Security Specialists Protect Data from Digital Attackers
Overcoming The Skill Gaps With a Managed Cyber Security Service
How can a managed cyber security service help understaffed security professionals prevent possible data breaches?
To help the security teams, the service:
- Helps the teams to meet compliance with the privacy laws at all times
- Analyzes the latest data concerning the attack surface to uncover the signs of major risks within the company
- Offers actionable tips on how to remedy the problem or fix vulnerabilities that could lead to cyber security incidents (data breaches)
With these insights from the tool, teams know which tasks they have to focus on first, where the weaknesses are within the system, and what they can do to improve the security of a company — that is to prevent data breaches.
Also, these reports are written in an actionable and user-friendly way to be approachable to the staff with versatile skill sets.
As a result, it simplifies data management. And reduces the number of data breaches that normally occur due to flaws in the security that aren’t patched in time.
Turning an Uphill Battle Into a Fair Fight
Cybersecurity professionals are facing the largest number of cyber threats than ever before. To make this even more challenging, businesses often lack highly specialized professionals that are the right fit for their company.
Besides applying the usual advice that helps short-staffed companies (such as additional training and automation), it’s important to have a solution that helps teams get actionable data fast.
The right tools can turn uphill battles into fair fights.
For instance, a managed cyber security service streamlines data management and reduces the risk of a data breach by replacing the experts that the company needs.
It helps teams with versatile skills to determine where the problem is, automatically achieve compliance, and offer actionable advice on how to strengthen the security posture.
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