What is Cybersecurity as a Service (CSaaS)?

With businesses continuing to face ever-evolving cyber threat vectors, it’s unsurprising that CSaaS (cybersecurity as a service) is becoming increasingly popular.

CSaaS is an outsourced cybersecurity model that operates via the cloud. Companies using this type of service hire a third party to manage application, endpoint, and network security, and threat detection and response.

There are several reasons why CSaaS is continuing to grow in popularity with SMEs and even larger firms. For example, there is an ongoing shortage of cybersecurity professionals – over 3.4 million worldwide - meaning many companies find outsourcing to experts easier than hiring in-house.

What’s more, cybercrime is getting more and more expensive to fight, with the average cost of a data breach now topping $4.88 million.

Businesses need a reliable, affordable, and flexible cybersecurity solution they can run in the background – and for many, CSaaS is that option.

How Does CSaaS Work?

CSaaS is a cloud-based, outsourced cybersecurity solution, meaning its operations are managed off-site, and handled by experts so  you don’t have to hire and manage in-house.

CSaaS operates as a floating, infinitely scalable service, meaning that as your business grows and evolves, you can continue to rely on experts to protect your networks, infrastructure, and applications from afar.

Given that CSaaS runs in the cloud, there’s no demand placed on your internal resources, meaning you can simply log into security portals as and when required, and rely on experts to closely monitor your data.

Let’s explore some of the main components of CSaaS in practice.

Real-time threat monitoring

Delegating cybersecurity to a CSaaS team means there’s always someone continuously protecting your systems. When it comes to securing your data and infrastructure against evolving threats, proactivity is key – and CSaaS will flag suspicious activity and take immediate action to neutralize threats based on your command.

Vulnerability scanning and risk assessment

Vulnerability scanning is vital to hardening your company’s security posture. Regular scans by a CSaaS team will ensure that potential weaknesses in code, access control, and configurations are addressed and remedied quickly.

Beyond regular scanning, you will also benefit from penetration testing, which many CSaaS experts offer as an in-depth analysis of infrastructure vulnerabilities. Penetration tests observe your security through the eyes and techniques of an ethical hacker, which helps you to spot potentially hidden risks to patch them up quickly .

We help hundreds of security-conscious companies manage their potential flaws by combining scanning and penetration testing. For the best protection, we recommend testing at least twice yearly.

Rapid incident response

The best CSaaS services will have the resources to run a flexible, rapid incident response plan in the event of a data breach. For example, experts may run root cause analysis while quickly containing threats, and advise on action needed to bring services back online as soon as possible.

It takes companies an average of 194 days to spot a data breach – meaning the need for faster, more accurate response and remediation has never been more important.

Data protection and compliance management

Working with a CSaaS team means you’re immediately adhering to recommended data handling and processing compliance. Regulatory standards can be difficult to navigate and apply on your own – but, with the help of a team of off-site experts, you can avoid costly fines and keep your private data as safe as possible.

Education and training

In some cases, CSaaS operatives can offer extended training and education to your team to help it become better acquainted with cybersecurity risks as it evolves.

For example, human errors, such as falling prey to social engineering tricks, continue to put company infrastructures at risk.

“Scams based on social engineering are built around how people think and act. As such, social engineering attacks are especially useful for manipulating a worker’s behavior. Once an attacker understands what motivates a worker’s actions, they can deceive and manipulate the employee effectively.”

Clayton State University

CSaaS vs. Traditional Cybersecurity: What’s the Difference?

While traditional cybersecurity can still be immensely effective in spotting and remediating threats, some key differences exist between it and CSaaS. Here are the main comparisons worth remembering:

Benefits of Cybersecurity as a Service

Many businesses adopt CSaaS over traditional security because:

• Response and remediation is often faster
• There’s always access to immediate expertise
• It’s extremely easy to scale when your business grows or client needs change
• It’s simple to budget for through a subscription model
• You don’t have to pay salaries, benefits, or for training

Market data and forecasts also show that businesses are broadly embracing CSaaS, likely for a mix of the above reasons, and that this trend will continue. It’s estimated the CSaaS market will grow to around $349.39 billion, at a compound annual growth rate of 9.4%, by the end of the decade.

Types of Cyber Security as a Service

Beyond the benefits, there are multiple different ways to take advantage of CSaaS – here are the four main types of service you’ll find available.

Managed Security Services (MSSP)

MSSP options tend to cover all CSaaS bases. You’ll hire an MSSP team to cover threat detection, vulnerability scanning, 24x7 monitoring, and incident response.

SOC as a Service (SOCaaS)

SOCaaS options typically take the work of an in-house SOC out of your hands and into the cloud. These options are similar to MSSP services, however, they’re usually specialized in 24x7 monitoring, reporting, and threat intelligence.

Endpoint & Cloud Security Services

Again, aspects of this option can blend into MSS and SOCaaS – however, these services typically focus on immediate threats affecting endpoints, such as hardware, and cloud access points.

Identity & Access Management (IAM)

IAM is a specialized CSaaS option that focuses on protecting and maintaining access controls, such as role-based sign in, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and biometrics.

When consulting with our clients, we aim to offer as broad a security coverage as possible, with many of our customers preferring a tailored approach, choosing specific security elements for their unique needs.

Industry Use Cases for CSaaS

CSaaS is broadly used in several industries where highly sensitive data protection is a compliance and legal requirement.

For example, healthcare organizations – which are some of the most threatened by cyber criminals – use CSaaS to enhance access control and encrypt new data they create.

Financial brands, too, outsource to CSaaS to ensure its frameworks and apps are always up to speed with the latest threats. As one of the fastest-growing and fastest-paced industries, outsourcing managed security is a wise move for most companies in finance.

Integrating CSaaS into Business Security Strategy

Integrating CSaaS into businesses isn’t an exact science, largely because one company’s needs will always vary compared to the next. However, here’s a brief overview of how to bring CSaaS into your business operations.

1. Thoroughly review your cybersecurity plan and ask experts to assess  and analyze your posture and response strategies. Penetration testing to spot weaknesses, for example, can be helpful at this early stage.
2. Carefully research the CSaaS market and choose a provider with experience and expertise in your industry. Research is vital here – use our suggestions in the next section to help.
3. Work closely with your chosen provider to bring their security support into your existing business plan and operations.
4. Offer your CSaaS provider as much detail as possible regarding your current operations, and how you intend to scale in the short- and long-term.
5. Follow your provider’s advice to roll out your new security measures in line with your infrastructure, provide training and support to your employees, and agree to rolling monitoring, testing, and auditing.

How to Choose the Right CSaaS Provider

Your needs for a CSaaS provider may not be the same as other businesses’, however, there are always some key factors you should consider when researching the market.

Based on our most successful partnerships – and feedback we’ve received from our customers – we recommend that you ask potential providers the following questions during your research:

• Do you offer 24x7 monitoring and protection?
• What are your policies around data protection and encryption?
• Which threat surfaces does your service protect?
• Do you supply FWaaS (firewall as a service)?
• Do I still need to take responsibility for any aspects of my cybersecurity?
• How frequently do you produce reports and analytics?
• Do you follow any specific data handling frameworks?
• How quickly can you respond to a suspected threat?
• Are you partnered with any leading software vendors?
• Do you offer disaster recovery planning?
• How secure are your own data handling and processing measures?

Using these questions as a launchpad, you can compare different providers based on the most important aspects of CSaaS.

If you’re keen to start improving your cybersecurity posture and to explore the further benefits of CSaaS, contact the VikingCloud team today for an obligation-free conversa