Develop Your Security Outsourcing Strategy
Outsource the right functions, with the right MSSP.
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Contributors
- Adrien de Beaupré, Certified Instructor and Penetration Tester, SANS Institute
- 4 anonymous company contributors
- A lack of time and resources prevent many CISOs from being able to enable security internally.
- It is unclear what functions should be outsourced versus what functions should remain in-house.
- Organizations have difficulty measuring the effectiveness of their managed security service providers (MSSPs).
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- You can outsource your responsibilities, but not your accountability. You must effectively manage your MSSP as you are still accountable for your security.
- Most organizations won’t have a choice – they’ll have to outsource high-end security skills. A shortage of qualified security professionals leads many organizations to outsource.
- MSSPs can better identify and remediate threats. An MSSP is able to provide more mature security due to its experience and broad client base.
Impact and Result
- Calculate the future financial obligations of outsourcing vs. insourcing to determine which method is the most cost effective.
- Understand the current landscape of MSSPs that are available today and the features they offer.
- Determine which security responsibilities can be outsourced and which should be outsourced in order to gain cost savings, improve resource allocation, and boost your overall security posture.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out if you should outsource your security, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Determine what to outsource
Determine what functions you should outsource and any potential cost savings.
2. Select the right MSSP
Evaluate the MSSPs to determine which one is the best for your organization.
3. Manage your MSSP
Align the MSSP to your organization and create a metrics program to manage your MSSP.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is an eight call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Determine what should be outsourced
Call #1 - Assess your responsibilities to determine which ones you can outsource.
Call #2 - Determine your ideal cost savings and benefits from outsourcing.
Call #3 - Perform costing analysis and evaluate each responsibility.
Guided Implementation #2 - Select the right MSSP for your organization
Call #1 - Understand the MSSP market and determine variables to evaluate MSSPs.
Call #2 - Identify which features to look for in an MSSP and create an MSSP shortlist.
Call #3 - Evaluate and rank the MSSPs.
Guided Implementation #3 - Create an MSSP management program
Call #1 - Create a metrics program and understand how to align your MSSP to your organization.
Call #2 - Create an MSSP management process.
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Mueller, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Garfield County IT
Guided Implementation
9/10
$12,776
10
Christchurch City Council, NZ
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
5
Jerry's Foods
Guided Implementation
10/10
$31,833
20
Modesto Irrigation District
Guided Implementation
10/10
$31,833
20
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Assoc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,733
5
