By Neil Roiter. Senior Technology Editor, Information Security magazine
23 Mar 2009 | SearchSecurity.com
More than 60% of midsized and large enterprises in the U.S. and Western Europe are either outsourcing or considering outsourcing at least part of their security operations, according to a recent survey.
The Symantec survey of 1,000 companies with a median size of 10,000 to 25,000 employees showed that about a quarter were now using managed security service providers (MSSPs) or some other form of outsourced security. Another third are either evaluating outsourced security or plan to do so over the next 12 months.
Dollars and head counts don’t tell the whole story, however. Many companies reported difficult finding and hiring people with the required security skill sets. Accordingly, nearly half the respondents cited access to expertise as a reason to adopt or evaluate outsourcing.
The findings mirror Symantec’s own experience, says Grant Geyer, vice president of managed services at Symantec.
”Customers come to us for three reasons,” Geyer said. “They don’t have staff or expertise to handle security in house; they have the staff, but want to keep them focused on more strategic projects; or they have had a breach, have a gap identified and quickly need to shore up the walls.”
Not surprisingly, reducing overall costs and mitigating security risks were also frequently cited reasons for outsourcing. Enterprises also cited (in descending order) predictability in expenses, the burden of regulatory requirements, focusing in-house IT resources on the core business and easing staffing challenges.
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According to the WSJ, “Anticipating the demand, defense companies are bolstering training, buying smaller firms and hiring former top government officials. The move into the cyber-security field could offer new revenue streams for the contractors and help offset declines stemming from budget pressures on the Defense Department’s traditional weapons systems.”
