The managed security services (MSS) market was established to help businesses improve their security posture in the face of an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape. In the years since its emergence, this market has continued to consolidate.

Today, the MSS market is comprised of telecommunications providers and strategic outsources as well as enterprise and boutique pure-plays. Each category of provider offers both benefits and challenges, and selecting the most appropriate provider requires careful consideration of their approaches and offerings.

Extending security

In the current era of complex network environments and limited resources, it is difficult and costly to evaluate and deploy the security controls to keep up with continually changing threats. What's more, competitive pressures often make it challenging to find, train, and retain personnel who have expertise in security.

Consequently, more and more companies are opting to outsource these critical functions to an MSS provider (MSSP). Partnering with an MSSP enables enterprises to maximize the value of their investments in information security technologies and the skill development of their own personnel while freeing teams to focus on core business issues. Working with an MSSP also enables organizations to enhance their security posture and reduce the volatility typically associated with security management staffing. At the same time, enterprises receive the level of protection they require but with a degree of flexibility and cost-effectiveness that meets business objectives.

MSSPs ensure rapid response to threats by using high-availability security operations centers to provide outsourced management and monitoring of security devices and events. These centers support 24/7 services aimed at reducing the number of operational security personnel an enterprise must hire, train, and retain to maintain an acceptable security posture.

Telecommunications providers that offer MSS as a component of other outsourced services often include a variety of security capabilities such as firewalls and intrusion detection in a full turn-key solution. While this streamlines problem resolution somewhat by reducing the number of vendors needed to address a security issue, it may not be a viable option for organizations that require checks and balances between their security and IT functions. For those companies, an independent pure-play provider may be needed to provide independent validation.

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