Seven Questions to ask a cybersecurity provider

MSP growth Why Your Business Needs to Beef Up Employee Security Awareness. Despite billions of dollars invested worldwide,

Partnering with an MSP for Growth will help you keep up with the updated technology infrastructure critical for organizations to succeed in today’s business environment. Old technology can negatively impact your business. Managed Security service providers (MSSPs) can help in this situation. Otherwise, you are, 

  • Giving cybercriminals a free pass
  • Putting your company in hot water with regulators
  • Reducing overall productivity
  • Causing employee dissatisfaction
  • Upsetting your customers.

The risk of keeping your infrastructure out of date becomes clear once you realize the consequences of ignoring the latest standards. However, it would help if you devoted additional time and effort to making the necessary changes. Although SPs can augment technology expertise and knowledge gaps, finding the right MSSP partner can be challenging, primarily if you’ve never worked with one. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of some of the most important questions you should ask a provider.

Partnering with an MSSP for Growth

Here are seven questions to ask a cybersecurity provider:

  1. Do you offer 24/7/365 support? Unlike your employees, your systems and data do not need to sleep. To prevent downtime, data loss, and cyberattacks, your MSP should provide 24/7/365 monitoring and support. 
  2. Do you perform regular risk assessments? As risk factors constantly change, SPs must perform security risk assessments regularly to stay on top of emerging and evolving threats. Your SP partner’s risk assessment reports should provide an overview of potential internal and external threats.
  3. Do you meet my compliance needs? HIPAA compliance requires SPs to understand and comply with the standard so that they may benefit from it. Therefore, ask them if they are HIPAA compliant.
  4. Can you provide documentation to prove you are compliant and following best practices? An MSP with a record of non-compliance and no best practices can be detrimental. Make sure they follow relevant standards and best practices.
  5. Do you have a disaster recovery (DR) plan? If your SP partner does not have a DR plan in place, they may be unable to withstand an incident. It must be updated and thoroughly tested, even if they already have one.
  6. Is third-party auditing performed to meet cybersecurity and compliance requirements? An SP that invests in a third-party audit can objectively demonstrate that its information systems and processes adhere to stringent requirements in critical areas such as security and compliance. Make sure you don’t overlook this aspect.
  7. Do you have high confidence in your security posture? If so, can you explain why? This is important because cybercriminals will easily break into your network if your SP partner has a poor security posture. 

Partnering with an MSSP offers more than just time and effort savings. To avoid hefty penalties and damage to your reputation, it’s crucial to understand how your provider plans to shield your company from the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats. Cyology Labs can be your secret weapon against cyberattacks. They provide a proactive approach to security, constantly monitoring your systems for vulnerabilities and responding swiftly to threats. Outsourcing your cybersecurity needs allows you to free up your internal resources to focus on core business operations.

Today’s businesses must have a solid incident response plan against ever-evolving cybersecurity threats. However, to build an effective response plan, you need expertise, resources and advanced tools. Consider leveraging the support of a managed service provider like us. Not only can we secure and optimize your network, but also help your business achieve sustained growth. Ready to transform your network challenges into opportunities? Contact us today to schedule a no-obligation consultation at www.CybersecurityMadeEasy.com

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Terry Cutler

I’m Terry Cutler, the creator of Internet Safety University, an educational system helping to defend corporations and individuals against growing cyber threats. I’m a federal government-cleared cybersecurity expert (a Certified Ethical Hacker), and the founder of Cyology Labs, a first-line security defence firm headquartered in Montréal, Canada. In 2020, I wrote a bestselling book about the secrets of internet safety from the viewpoint of an ethical hacker. I’m a frequent contributor to National & Global media coverage about cyber-crime, spying, security failures, internet scams, and social network dangers families and individuals face daily.