While the cyber threats facing businesses are becoming more sophisticated and complex, oftentimes, it’s the foundation of security practices that leave the most significant gaps in the modern security posture.

MSPs know this issue better than most organizations.

Security threats are everywhere, and most experts agree that it’s no longer a matter of if but only a matter of time until a company is breached. The mentality of “I am too small” or my “business is of no value to cybercriminals” is no longer true.

The majority of successful attacks are random, and the attacker doesn’t know who was breached until after the attack has occurred. However, companies should take steps to prepare, and fortunately, an increasing number of organizations are stepping up their defenses.

It’s Time To Mitigate The Weakest Link

A company’s employees, the ones entrusted to keep operations running, are often the weakest link in any security plan.

According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), ransomware attacks have increased by 82% from 2019 to 2021. Yet, this is only a fraction of the incidents, as many victims continue to hide the fact they were a victim or, even worse, pay the ransom.

Organizations are starting to realize that they are, in fact, targets of cyberattacks. They also come to terms that the manual approach to security is not feasible to deliver the results required in today’s modern world.

Modern security requires accountability, which requires data to make informed decisions. Companies simply can’t protect against what they don’t know.

Some traditional IT providers operated like fire departments, constantly putting out fires while smaller ones burned, sometimes undetected. Without processes and automation, it’s nearly impossible to get ahead of the risks, identify possible concerns and resolve the problems before a fire can start.

Organizations are, however, sitting on a map showing them the path to safety: their data. But they need to know how to read it and act on what it says.

Given the growing threats to the marketplace today, automating documentation is the only way to achieve this outcome. Whether a simple security patch or significant software upgrade, accountability requires automation to ensure teams complete every task correctly and timely.

It’s Time To Stop Being Reactive And Start Being Proactive

Today’s security approach requires that businesses take more proactive measures. The good news is that MSPs have a powerful tool at their disposal to help them face the challenge for themselves and their clients head-on: deep data.

Interpreting historical data to drive security measures is a business imperative. Automating this process empowers companies to monitor more data more deeply to identify threats before they emerge.

MSPs can run in a “known state” by unifying, connecting, and transforming all their IT systems data into an asset, which they can use to inform and guide their actions.

Harnessing data gives organizations visibility into when and where changes occur over time and help them anticipate what’s next. It provides a force multiplier on performance by lifting the complexity burden, automating the mundane, and leading to answers faster. 

Ultimately, it all comes down to MSPs educating their customers and working with them to implement the right processes.

A small business could expect to pay $25,000 or more for a cyberattack. As many organizations today are feeling financial constraints amid rising costs, no organization needs to add a cyberattack line item to their budget.

The threats the world faces are not going to subside. Organizations must put automated security measures in place before falling victim to a malicious attack.

Read the article at MSPInsights