Companies Increase Their Reliance on MSSPs

A majority of organizations are engaging with managed security service providers (MSSPs) to augment their internal cyber-security capabilities, according to a recent Intel Security survey. The report also found organizations that use MSSPs expect to increase these partnerships over the next 18 months to improve their investigations and scoping of potential incidents, as well as to broaden security monitoring and monitoring coverage. Meanwhile, the "McAfee Labs Threats Report: December 2016" looks at how organizations use security operations centers (SOCs) and MSSP partnerships, and it highlights trouble spots, such as overwhelming numbers of alerts that negatively impact business. Malware, ransomware and other cyber-threats are growing, according to the report, which surveyed nearly 400 global security practitioners. Therefore, the highest spending priority should be on ways to improve the ability to respond to confirmed attacks. This opens big opportunities for MSSPs, particularly within companies that still use an ad hoc approach to security operations. Here are survey highlights that show why many organizations use MSSPs as part of their security strategy.