Page 112 - Cyber Defense eMagazine August 2024

intimately understands SAP and Oracle infrastructures and will work with you directly to ensure your
environment is secure, compliant, and delivering real and competitive ROI.

But as a CISO, we know that it’s not as easy for you to just click your fingers and swap out your software
support provider, and we know there are many questions – and assumed issues – that you may have
around moving your support away from your vendor’s in-house offering. Whether you’re concerned about
security, compliance, cost effectiveness, or interoperability, let’s have a look at why and how third-party
software support might have the edge over your vendor’s in-house support.

Security

This is, we believe, the number one hurdle when it comes to looking at alternative software support
providers for ERP systems, and we understand why. But what if we told you that your enterprise’s overall
security posture could improve with the support and expertise from a third-party software support
provider?

With third-party support, your provider takes a bespoke approach to your security and compliance
requirements. Take vulnerability management, for example.

As it stands, your existing vendor may offer patches to fix open-door vulnerabilities. But these patches
are delivered to you only after the vulnerability is discovered: an approach that resembles sticking a band-
aid on multiple wounds instead of minimizing the threats that caused the injury in the first place. This can
be evidenced by the recent discovery that a seven- year-old Oracle patch failed to fully address a security
vulnerability, which is now being exploited publicly.

Your enterprise probably already takes a comprehensive approach to its security and vulnerability
management, proactively testing and remediating your internal and external attack surfaces and working
to improve any gaps in your security infrastructure. So why wouldn’t you want to work with a partner who
adopts this very same, full-stack approach to security and vulnerability management?

Compliance

Compliance is a top priority for information security teams, and your risk, legal, business management
and continuity colleagues rely on you to get it right. Whether it's meeting government regulations on
cybersecurity and data protection or adhering to specific industry standards for financial reporting and
legal compliance, you must ensure your software system doesn't expose the business to non-compliance,
regulatory penalties, or data breaches.

We often hear that fear of non-compliance deters enterprises from considering third-party support. Fear
not: working with a third-party software support partner could enhance your compliance objectives. These
partners provide comprehensive support to ensure your software environments meet all regulatory
requirements, offering tailored guidance on frameworks like GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, and more. They
achieve this through proactive monitoring, timely updates, and in-depth audits to identify and rectify
compliance gaps.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – August 2024 Edition 112
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