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insights and expertise in a wide variety of vital security issues, effective solutions, and essential
products.

MSSPs that are full-service information assurance firms will also typically support capability
teams across various security specialties, including threat and vulnerability management, audit
and compliance, design and architecture, and much more. Thus, the right MSSP can provide a
higher-level of expertise and value to your organization than trying to hire (and rehire), develop
and maintain a full-time in-house department and personnel.

State-of-the-Art Infrastructure

The best MSSPs will have an established dedicated Security Operations Center (SOCs) that
are physically hardened sites with state-of-the-art infrastructure managed by trained personnel
and security analysts. These SOCs are also frequently government certified for secure data
handling and controls. This certification requires regular audit and assessment of logical and
physical security controls in place, as well as security clearance requirements for all staff
working within the SOC. This provides a level of assurance and infrastructure resiliency that
would be difficult, or even impossible, for organizations to replicate in-house.

Rapid Deployment

Often the challenge most organizations must tackle while developing an in-house security
management capability comes down to time-to-value. When implementing a service in-house,
organizations are faced with installing and configuring hardware and software, integrating the
devices within their environment (especially if the system doesn’t perform the way it claims in
the product literature), the steep learning curve that often comes with automating the security
information, and understanding the organization’s security priorities.

Service deployment by an MSSP, on the other hand, can typically be much faster. The service
may not require remodeling of enterprise network infrastructure, customer technical expertise,
or server management. Depending on the underlying technology used by an MSSP, they may
also be in a position to begin monitoring data and threats right away. The ability to integrate
various data sources, regardless of its type or manufacturer, also means minimal set-up costs,
little or no cost to replace existing IT assets, and a significant flexibility in how you apply
technology.

24-Hour Responsiveness

Most MSSPs offer real-time security monitoring and services 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. Information security solutions and technologies such as firewalls, intrusion detection and
prevention systems (IDS/IPS), virtual private networks (VPNs), and vulnerability assessment

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