Security teams are under increased pressure. Cybercriminals are constantly adapting their attack techniques but the pressure of dealing with this constant onslaught of threats is only exacerbated when working in teams which are stretched too thin.
Unfortunately, this is the reality many face given the cybersecurity skills shortage.
Today’s cyber talent squeeze is a significant issue. While it isn’t a new challenge, it’s grown in prominence in recent years. Just as organisations relied on channel partners for support during the early days of the pandemic as they adjusted to new ways of working, they are now turning to partners for assistance as they do their best to manage with strained IT security teams.
How can channel partners add real value for organisations struggling with the cybersecurity skills shortage?
Talent gap impact
Increased digitalisation driven by the pandemic, the rapidly expanding threat landscape and SecOps hiring challenges have created a perfect storm for individuals on the front line of cyber defence, as well as opening businesses up to more cyber risk.
The struggle to hire the right talent is a particular concern. Our research has shown that 85 per cent of cybersecurity professionals believe the workforce shortage is impacting their organisation’s ability to secure systems and networks.
Perhaps more worryingly, the same research uncovered that almost a third (30 per cent) of the current workforce plans to change professions in the future – suggesting the cybersecurity talent gap will only get wider if the industry does not act.
Against this backdrop, the role of channel partners has never been more important. They can support security teams in a variety of ways, shoring up defences and even encouraging talent retention by lightening the load for those teams.
Plugging the gap
Support from channel partners can take many forms. If mid-market organisations are struggling to hire the right cyber skills and handling the entire security function in-house is no longer viable, those under-resourced teams may turn to MSPs to plug the gap.
Many organisations rely on outsourcing to access the necessary skills and expertise to deliver security services and capabilities. Although incidents like the Kaseya REvil ransomware attack in 2021 are a sobering reminder that both MSPs and MSSPs are a growing target for bad actors, the reality is that companies of every size, shape and scope are in cybercriminals’ firing line.
MSPs and MSSPs can provide the expertise and leading-edge tools that will help their customers manage their security ecosystem in the face of dynamic threat actors.
By considering the bigger picture and integrating security across endpoints, cloud computing, email, and other solutions, MSPs and MSSPs can show their relevance to those customers struggling with the skills gap – enabling those organisations to become more resilient by rapidly adapting to the constantly changing threat landscape.
Connecting the dots
Aside from outsourcing security, businesses may rely on channel partners to help them consolidate the disparate products they already have in place. By optimising security with one integrated platform, they can lighten the operational burden on their SecOps team.
All too often, companies are working with a patchwork of security tools that require IT security teams to pivot between solutions and stitch disparate products together to get the full picture. This is time-consuming and isn’t always the most inspiring work for teams.
Partners can address these challenges by helping customers implement an extended detection and response architecture that can integrate with their current security tools and connect all the dots to eliminate security gaps.
By integrating security functions and unifying telemetry from different sources in one interconnected open ecosystem, alerts become actionable and SecOps team gain single pane-of-glass visibility into every system. This saves time, reduces administrative fatigue and makes it tougher for criminals to exploit a weakness.
Partners with this expertise provide a key strategic service, not only helping organisations to eliminate holes in their protection, but also removing unnecessary labour to free up overstretched teams.
Crucially, reducing the more technical work required to navigate siloed systems will also enable businesses to hire individuals with different skillsets or professional experience, helping to close the talent gap.
Valuable partnerships
Tackling the cybersecurity skills shortage is a business imperative. Partners have a vital role to play in supporting those organisations struggling due to the skills shortage.
Not all partners are the same. That’s a great thing! Inevitably, support will look different depending on the partner, but there is considerable opportunity to support those working on the frontline of defence and add real value to customers while they are navigating this talent crisis.