Different Categories Of Managed Security Services

By Author: Martin Lobo
Total Articles: 355
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Information in the form of employee details, client details, customer information, transaction details and so on. For small businesses, basic security solutions would be more than enough to protect the sensitive data from going into wrong hands. However, for very large enterprises it would be inadequate to handle the intensity of attacks from both internal and external hackers. Moreover, installation of more security devices and software makes monitoring and supervision an uphill task.

In an IP network, almost every device be it firewalls or servers create records of the traffic it carries, the transactions it makes and the activities it performs. Therefore, to ensure network security each device need to be monitored 24/7. However, this can be quite tiring as monitoring thousands of devices with each device recording thousands of events would be a daunting task. In such a scenario, companies and organizations can ensure information security as well as business continuity by outsourcing security services. Apart from these, it facilitates cost –effectiveness, ...
... direct attention to their core competencies, 24/7 service and stay up to date with respect to network security.

Managed Security Services are categorized into six services and they are:

1. On-site Consulting
MSSP provides customized help and support not only in evaluating business risks but also in developing effective security policies and process as per the requirements of the companies. Apart from that, MSSP provides assistance in assessing security architecture and design, integrating security products and managing onsite incident response and forensics.

2. Remote Perimeter Management
MSSP takes care of the installation, upgradation, and configuration changes of VPN, firewall and intrusion detection hardware and software.

3. Product Resale
Certain MSSP provides product resale service, even though it is not a managed service, as a means for generating more revenue. As part of this service, the security provider offers value-added hardware and software for a variety of security-related tasks.

4. Managed Security Monitoring
As the name suggests, this service involves the monitoring and interpretation of the system integration events happening throughout the network. The system events can be malicious attacks, anomalies, unauthorized behavior, and denials of service (DoS). The security provider also performs trend analysis to identify a pattern or trend from the events.

5. Penetration and Vulnerability Testing
In this service, scans and hacking attempts are carried out occasionally. The motive behind such testing is not security assessment but to find out the vulnerabilities within the network.

6. Compliance Monitoring
It involves the process of monitoring event logs in order to find out the changes made to a system that violate any formal security policy. This helps to identify those administrators who grant themselves too much access to the system in order to use the information for corrupt purposes.

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