Are you struggling to hire skilled digital security talent in 2020? If so, you’re not alone. According to a Tripwire study on the infosec skills gap, 82% of security experts said that their teams were understaffed; nearly the same proportion (83%) indicated that they were feeling more overworked going into 2020 than they were a year prior. It doesn’t appear this problem will get better anytime soon. Indeed, 85% of survey participants reported that it had become difficult over the past few years to hire skilled security professionals. If unfilled, these hiring gaps could weaken your digital security posture. Fewer security analysts means fewer experts who have the necessary skills and knowledge to enact security controls and respond to potential issues before they balloon into security incidents.
Technology in the Absence of Skilled Personnel
The infosec skills gap undoubtedly will make it difficult for you to hire experienced infosec personnel for the foreseeable future. But you’re not out of options. Tim Erlin, VP of product management and strategy, clarifies this point in another post for The State of Security:
The skills gap doesn’t have to be an operational gap. Security teams shouldn’t overburden themselves by trying to do everything on their own. They can partner with trusted vendors for managed services or subscribe to service plans where outside experts can act as an extension of the team.
Erlin isn’t alone in viewing managed services providers as a potential solution to the skills gap. In Tripwire’s study, a majority (85%) of respondents indicated that managed services could help them fulfill their digital security needs. That’s the same rate of survey participants who indicated they’d plan to invest in these types of solutions sometime in the future. But that begs the question: what type of managed service should you be looking for? What type of solution will give you the most bang for your buck?
ExpertOps: The Answer to Your Infosec Woes
Tripwire provides a Security-as-a-Service (SecaaS) solution that can go a long way towards addressing the gaps in your digital security posture. Known as ExpertOps, this suite gives you all the software, ongoing consulting and cloud infrastructure that you’ll need to stay on top of the latest security threats. It does this all within a single subscription, thereby maximizing the value of investment as well as operational costs. Not only that, but ExpertOps provides tailored advice, incident assistance and audit support to each and every customer. This ensures that each customer—even those with large and complex environments spread across separate business units and franchises—can get the expertise they need to meet their security requirements. It also frees up partners who are interested in delivering cybersecurity services to their customers to focus on their core business. All the while, Tripwire delivers its expertise around file integrity monitoring, secure configuration management and vulnerability management to help to support customers in their security efforts. Let’s use an example to better understand how ExpertOps works. Say you’re interested in strengthening your vulnerability management program. Tripwire’s SecaaS solution leverages its knowledge of your environment in combination with both advanced analytics and a unique quantitative scoring algorithm to prioritize relevant vulnerabilities for remediation. ExpertOps’ algorithm draws upon various information submitted by Tripwire’s Vulnerability and Exposure Research Team (VERT) including the ease with which someone could abuse a vulnerability and the impact that such an exploit would have on your environment. Additionally, ExpertOps will match you with a VERT researcher as well as a dedicated managed service engineer to provide vulnerability insights and customized reporting to help you mature your vulnerability management program. That’s an important point to keep in mind. It’s not enough to find another security tool that someone will just run remotely. As you well know, you don’t need another solution that feeds you disparate data and that’s controlled by anonymous technician. You need a solution that will integrate into your business processes, change management system and analytic tools, and help you mature your cybersecurity posture. Even more than that, you need whoever’s managing the tool on the provider’s side to be an expert on your team, not someone who’s removed from the business. That’s why our ExpertOps managed service engineers act as an extension of your team and ensures that we are helping you accomplish your business goals.
Expert Cybersecurity Technology for the Win
The infosec skills gap might be preventing you from meeting your hiring goals, but it shouldn’t stand in the way of you pursuing your security goals. Anthony Israel-Davis, senior manager of R&D at Tripwire, agrees with this assessment.
Cybersecurity is inherently technological and, while people and process provide good security momentum, technology really gets the ball rolling. Whether it’s ensuring servers and devices adhere to secure configuration, assessing the enterprise for vulnerabilities, keeping inventories of devices and software, or ensuring administrative privilege is properly controlled (the CIS top 5, by the way), technology makes it possible.
Are you ready to integrate a solution managed by a team of experts into your organization’s processes and to begin maximizing your security efforts? If so, you can learn more about Tripwire’s ExpertOps solution by clicking here.
