Blog 2 in the aaS Series
Looking to hire 20 new employees? That’s so 2018. Also, if you’re hiring in cybersecurity, it may be extra difficult to do. In 2020, there were over 350,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions in the United States alone, according to a survey by (ISC)2, and a shortage in cyber professionals continues into 2022.1 Enter XaaS solutions. From jobs-as-a-Service to a full-fledged Security Operations Center (SOC-as-a-Service), the as-a-Service industry is showing us you may not need more people to survive in today’s threat landscape – only more innovation.
The cyber labor shortage exaggerates old problems
Globally, there are over 3 million open cybersecurity jobs, with no one to fill them. And, the gap in cyber jobs is expected to grow by 20% to 30% in the next few years according to the CEO of (ISC)2, an international nonprofit offering cybersecurity training programs.2Consequently, The Bureau of Labor Statistics cites “information security analyst” as the 10th fasted growing occupation in the next 10 years, outstripping the average occupational growth rate by over 25%.3 Most companies are feeling the pinch, and 56% of respondents to a recent (ISC)2 survey state their companies are now at risk due to the cyber jobs shortage.1
This is, of course, in the context of the way cybersecurity is “usually” done – hiring teams of on-hand staff to monitor hundreds (if not thousands) of security alerts, keep up with burgeoning IP traffic and keep an ear to the ground for the latest rampant malware campaigns – and how to combat them. This means midnight phone calls to the sys admin when a critical certificate expires and business stops, and more cyber threats meaning more cyber staff. However, “as the industry works to grow its labor force, it could be a huge opportunity for service and software provider companies that can help firms beef up their cybersecurity protocols without hiring their own teams.”2 See how.
XaaS does jobs you can’t hire for
You have a working security team right now – great, keep them. You’ll need someone to run the machines, hire the XaaS solutions and communicate with leadership about what’s going on. But, as you face more online vulnerabilities, more liable endpoints and more resultant threats, you no longer have the option of hiring more cyber staff. So what do you do? Well, industry professionals were asked these same question, and here’s how they responded:4
Top problems brought on by the cyber staffing shortage:
● (27%) Unable to stay aware of all threats to network
● (30%) Not able to keep up with risk assessment due to time
● (28%) Staffing shortage resulted in oversights to process and procedure
Top tech solutions to the cyber staffing shortage:
● (37%) Will use cloud service providers
● (37%) Will automate cybersecurity tasks and existing processes
● (35%) Will use “automation” and “intelligence” in solution selection criteria
● (33%) Will use Security SaaS
Interestingly, cloud security computing was the most sought-after skillset, and 40% of study respondents noted plans to develop theirs in the next two years.1 Find a cloud native XaaS solution that can give you a full picture of what’s going on in your cloud-based services.
Why choose Port53 as your XaaS provider
What sets us apart from other XaaS services is our standards-based methodology. Know that your security strategy will not only be complete, but compliant. Our framework based gap analysis is what makes Port53 unique among other SaaS solutions.
Here’s how we work
1. We do a holistic diagnosis of your security stack and compare it against a specific industry framework (NIST, HIPAA, CMMC, PCI or other)
2. We let you know where you fall on the maturity scale and present you with a roadmap to achieving full maturity of that framework.
3. We provide enterprise-grade XaaS solutions at SMB prices to close that gap (including our Managed XDR and 24/7/365 coverage)
Here’s how we benefit you:
1. SOC-as-a-Service. Don’t have a team? Need a bigger team? Hire ours and receive 24/7/365 monitoring and an enterprise level security operations center built over the Cisco SecureX platform.
2. Proactive threat hunting. We don’t sit and wait for the threats to come to you. Instead, we are proactively penetration testing and vulnerability scanning to discover any weaknesses in your security stack before the bad guys.
3. Shadow IT protection. Use our Cloud Risk Assessment to find unsanctioned apps lurking in your Shadow IT.
4. Affordable SMB/MSE pricing. We bring a full Security Operations Center, typically the purview of large enterprises and offered at enterprise-level prices, down to the affordability of a small business. Now anyone can compete using enterprise grade tools.
5. Cloud native tooling in the Cisco environment. With so many companies saving on traditional software by moving services to the cloud, our cloud native solution provides security protection to your services in the cloud – and helps make sure they’re standards compliant.
Many companies are coming up short in the cyber staffing shortage, and innovative XaaS solutions are increasingly being used to “catch up.” Smaller enterprises “cannot attract and retain these people when the competition for them is so high” and, as a counter, companies like “Amazon [are] out there waving around bags of cash.” XaaS solutions are closing that gap by lessening the need for so much talent and putting the burden instead on technology and automation.
XaaS: an edge on the competition
Port53 offers a cloud native, enterprise level SOC-as-a-Service that has industry compliance baked into your security roadmap. Offered at SMB prices, it allows anyone to compete. Increasingly lean and cost efficient security models like ones provided by XaaS solutions will soon become the standard, and clunky, staff-heavy models will be outdated. For that reason, smaller businesses might even have the advantage. With the right XaaS solutions on their side, smart organizations can face the challenges of cyber staffing and not only survive, but come out on top.
Learn more about our XaaS offerings.
Sources
1. “(ISC)² Study Reveals the Cybersecurity Workforce Has Grown to 3.5 Million Professionals Globally,” (ISC)2, 11 November 2020, https://www.isc2.org/News-and-Events/Press-Room/Posts/2020/11/11/ISC2-Study-Reveals-the-Cybersecurity-Workforce-Has-Grown-Globally, accessed February 2022.
2. Duffy, Clare. “Wanted: Millions of cybersecurity pros. Salary: Whatever you want.” CNN Business, 28 May 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/28/tech/cybersecurity-labor-shortage/index.html, accessed February 2022.
3. “Occupational Outlook Handbook,” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 September 2021, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm, accessed February 2022.
4. “A Resilient Cybersecurity Profession Charts the Path Forward: (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, 2021,” (ISC)2, 2021, https://www.isc2.org//-/media/ISC2/Research/2021/ISC2-Cybersecurity-Workforce-Study-2021.ashx, accessed February 2022.
Recent Comments