Skip to content

Staying secure in a dangerous age: Overcoming cybersecurity complexity – with cloud and managed security services

Cybersecurity Complexity by Quest

The last time I posted, I described several cybersecurity solutions which are moving beyond the reactive, siloed offerings that continue to be necessary, but are no longer sufficient to protect our enterprises.

These solutions can seem daunting. The complexity of it all often overwhelms.

This is partly due to what’s happening to our information infrastructures, which are also becoming more complex as they go hybrid. They are, essentially, boundless as they accommodate internet communication. Meanwhile, today’s in–house data centers are increasingly virtualized and typically combine a variety of cloud and managed services.

Missing in action: IT security professionals

Protecting all that from ever more aggressive and clever cybercriminals has become an immense challenge – one that’s made even more intense by a significant lack of IT security professionals.

In fact, by 2020, the shortfall of trained IT security professionals is expected to reach 1.5 million .

Training more IT security professionals – and educating workforces and consumers in better security practices to, for instance, avoid the many pitfalls of social engineering – will take a while.

But organizations and their customers need relief now.

Virtualization-aware cloud and managed security services

This relief comes in the form of cloud and managed security services from providers whose cybersecurity experts are knowledgeable about the advanced security tools able to track and integrate threat intelligence from many sources then correlate and predictively analyze that intelligence in real time to anticipate attacks and thwart them.

And since virtualized data center environments are also vulnerable to malware, it’s critical that they, too, are protected. This involves:

  • Virtualization-aware security. Make sure all your virtualized servers – both those you keep on your premises and those you in which you co-locate – are protected with leading-edge virtualization–aware security tools and capabilities.
  • Conducting due diligence on your service providers. Make sure any and all cloud and managed services providers you use have proper security in place – not just your security service providers, but all your service providers.

This means affirming that your providers operate their data centers using top–flight, certified IT security professionals and that they’re vigilant about updating, patching, authenticating anyone with access, encrypting all data all the time, and are willing and able to explain how they protect your data and applications.

Cybersecurity services customized for you

The right cloud and managed security services can ensure that your security stance is layered, up-to-date, resilient , prepared to respond quickly and effectively to security incidents, and able to conduct the in-depth post-incident forensics that prevent a repetition of the issue.

But that’s not all. The right cloud and managed security services provider should be able to address your needs with solutions that have been customized to your precise requirements , not just technically, but also with an eye to your business goals – and your bottom line .

Meet the Author
Tim Burke is the President and CEO of Quest. He has been at the helm for over 30 years.
Contact Quest Today  ˄
close slider