25 Feb Tackle Internal Vulnerabilities and Dominate the Security-as-a-Service Game
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Every year since 1957, the NFL has delivered this honor to a player for his outstanding contributions – someone who has set himself apart and dominated the game.
Cybersecurity is a vastly different game than football, and it doesn’t nominate nationally recognized players. But with cybercrime running rampant, managed service providers (MSPs) could become MVPs to their clients and prospects, and dominate the Security-as-a-Service game.
Just take a look at some of these statistics that prove the need for formidable cybersecurity:
- Cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015
- By 2021, a business will fall victim to a ransomware attack every 11 seconds
- Hackers strike every 39 seconds
- Data breaches exposed 15.1 billion records in 2019
- Small businesses comprised 43% of all data breaches
MSPs can leverage this information to offer more than basic antivirus and anti-malware solutions. These tools don’t block one of the biggest threats to an organization – internal vulnerabilities.
Internal Foul
According to a Ponemon Institute report, 60% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) cite employee negligence as the cause of most data breaches. Negligence can include things such as storing worked-related passwords on personal mobile devices, accessing the business network through an unsecured internet connection, or losing a company-issued laptop. Another Ponemon study backed this up when it revealed that 70% of chief information security officers felt “a lack of competent in-house staff” is their weakest point in their security.
With this kind of security weakness, MSPs can make a play to expand their security offerings with more comprehensive internal network protection. But it may not be so easy.
Reviewing the Stats
Even though only 19% of organizations feel they are highly effective at minimizing IT security risks, many businesses still aren’t convinced they need a stronger “defensive line.” For instance, 54% of SMBs think their companies are too small to be targeted.
If MSPs want to dominate the Security-as-a-Service game, they must prove to their current and potential clients that forgoing comprehensive cybersecurity will cost them more down the road – when, not if, they fall victim to a breach. The average cyberattack costs a company $3 million – an expense that could put many SMBs out of business.
Statistics often work well as a clear reality check to grab a decision-maker’s attention. Executives like to deal in numbers. If you show a CEO how much money and downtime one breach will cost, and then compare that number to the more affordable cost of improved security, you get them thinking of the ultimate loss – revenue.
And the immediate cost of the actual breach isn’t the only loss. A business can also forfeit customer trust and reputation. A Ping Identity survey discovered that 70% of consumers said they would longer do business with a company after a data breach. That’s a lot of customer loss.
Your Opportunity to Score
There’s never a timeout with cybercrime and internal data vulnerabilities. Organizations operate with constant risk of fumbling the security ball. This is where MSPs have a chance to become an MVP for prospects and clients by expanding their security services and dominating the game.
References:
- Herjavec Group, Annual Cybercrime Report, 2019
- 110 Must-Know Cybersecurity Statistics, Varonis, 2020
- 15 Cyber Security Statistics, hashedout, 2019
- Separating the Truths from the Myths in Cybersecurity, Ponemon, 2018
- 2018 Consumer Survey: Attitudes and Behavior in a Post-Breach Era