Do you know how easy it is for external hackers to penetrate an organisation’s network?
A recent cyber simulation found that external attackers managed to breach the network perimeter of 93% of participating organisations and access their internal systems in two days. Attackers can actualise 71% of unacceptable events within one month.
Meanwhile, it takes companies an average of 196 days to identify a data breach. During this time, hackers can lurk in the system, steal sensitive data, conduct fraudulent activities, deploy malicious software, disrupt business processes, and even alter business-critical information.
The challenges compound for MSPs and MSSPs — cyberattacks against them increased by 50% from 2020 to 2021. Their network intrusion detection systems need to monitor for the networks of multiple customers while ensuring that hackers don’t infiltrate these networks via their infrastructure.
So why is it so hard for MSPs and MSSPs to protect themselves and their clients against external attacks? How do you know if threat actors have infiltrated your systems or your clients’ networks?
Why It’s So Hard To Detect External Attacks
There are many ways hackers can penetrate a client’s system if you don’t have complete visibility into your network and its infrastructure.
How do you know if a threat actor has logged into an employee’s email? How can you tell if a server is under attack or breached? How do you know if a personal device is attacking a network from the inside?
There are many vulnerable points on any given network. When you multiply them with the number of clients, there’s a lot to monitor. No wonder most MSPs and MSSPs feel like they’re underwater all the time.
What about hiring more people? How about installing the latest and greatest security tools?
It’s difficult to find security professionals and expensive to hire an in-house team with the expertise you need to cover all the bases. While you can use various security tools, they often generate too many alerts — making it hard to pinpoint the root cause and delaying response time.
Not to mention, security software with the right capabilities comes with enterprise price tags. If you cobble together a bunch of disparate tools, managing them can turn into a nightmare. You’d also need to invest in training your team and integrating the tools into current workflows.
The high cost and complexity of handling network security monitoring in-house make it increasingly challenging for MSPs and MSSPs to keep themselves and their clients safe from external threats.
How MSPs and MSSPs Can Detect and Prevent Intrusions Cost-Effectively
It’s not all doom and gloom. Here’s how you can strengthen your defence and detect intrusion immediately to protect your system and your clients’ infrastructure from external attacks:
Gather Information From Every Vulnerable Point
In today’s threat environment, everything is a potential target. MSPs and MSSPs must have the ability to gather information from all points within a network, both in the cloud and on-premises, to gain visibility into every attack surface and vector.
Use a Single Pane of Glass Monitoring Solution
Having to sift through and correlate data and alerts from multiple sources can lead to errors, inefficiencies, and delays. Choose a monitoring solution that allows you to oversee all activities on a single dashboard to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Leverage AI Analytics and Threat Hunting Technologies
An AI-driven cybersecurity solution can detect anomalies by analysing previous behaviours within a network and the larger cybersecurity landscape. It can help you compile data and connect the dots to inform immediate action.
Get the Right Amount of Actionable Data
Many traditional tools don’t provide enough information, while others send you too many alerts. Don’t get stuck in this Goldilocks situation. Use a SOC-as-a-Service solution that can help you sort through all the data, prioritiseze the issues, and send you actionable recommendations.
Use a Multi-Layer SOC Solution
Access to enterprise-grade tools is important, but you also need the right people and processes in place to correlate data and pinpoint critical alerts so you can act on them appropriately and immediately.
Establish an Asset Inventory
Data exfiltrated from unauthorized assets is one of the top causes of data breaches. You must monitor all the devices connected to a client’s environment so you can effectively protect it from rogue assets. Look for a monitoring solution that can help you create a single source of truth to track asset status, approval, and location.
Adhere To Regulatory Frameworks
Use a SOC-as-a-Service solution that bases its threat hunting and remediation recommendations on regulatory frameworks and industry standards, such as NIST 800 and CIS Critical Security Controls, to ensure that you’re following the latest best practices.
Choosing a SOC Solution For Your MSP/MSSP
A SOC-as-a-Service solution can help you strengthen the defence for your environment and your clients’ networks.
inSOC’s solutions are designed specifically for MSPs and MSSPs to help them scale up security operations without investing in expensive tools or hiring a large in-house SOC team.
Besides enterprise-grade security tools, a single pane of glass dashboard, and AI-driven analytics, you’ll also get a team of security experts to help you correlate the data, determine the threat level, prioritize issues, and provide actionable recommendations.
Our easy-to-digest reports show you top vulnerabilities, their criticality and risk scores, and offer remediation steps so you can fix issues and stay ahead of threat actors.
Learn more about our SOC-as-a-Service solution and see how it can give you the complete visibility you need with our 24/7/365 SOC monitoring.
