• 30,000 websites are hacked daily across the globe. 
• 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one cyberattack. 
• 20M records were breached in March 2021. 
• Ransomware cases grew by 150% in 2020. 

While facing these trends, CIOs and IT Directors also need to keep an eye on their costs. And that leads to another challenge—whether to keep IT security tasks in-house or rely on a partner with specialized expertise. The dilemma is a lot like all those home projects we seem to have on our To-Do Lists every weekend. There are many things you can try to repair using the Do-It-Yourself approach. And if everything goes just right, you might save yourself some money, and hopefully, you’ve got time left over to relax.

But if something unexpectedly goes wrong, the effort you spend will increase significantly. Let’s say you have a plumbing problem. At first glance, it seems simple enough, but maybe you don’t have the right tools. Or there’s some specific technical expertise required. What if a part that was working breaks unexpectedly? 

The extra effort you put in, or the additional money you spend to bring in a plumber could spiral as you make the situation worse than it was before you started. Meanwhile, your family is waiting to use the bathroom, and your weekend plans have gone out the door!  

Deep Knowledge and Real-World Experience Required 

The same paradigm holds for IT security. If you have IT generalists on your team, they may have some knowledge across a range of security areas such as firewalls, controls, policies, traffic analysis, patching, detection, mitigation, encryption, and access management. But their knowledge in each area likely does not run deep.  

If your IT team includes InfoSec experts, their knowledge probably does run deep in at least two or three security areas. But their real-world, in-the-trenches experience is limited to what happens within your network infrastructure. They may not be aware of current best practices and can’t call upon lessons learned from security issues faced by other similar businesses. With new and more sophisticated cyber attacks emerging all the time, staying up-to-date on current threats can be a full-time job!  

The key for both types of IT professionals is whether or not you and they both understand their limitations. Will you know when they face a situation that’s beyond their skill level? More importantly, will they be able to assess situations before they jump in—when their activities could create bigger problems and add to the costs you will incur to remedy security issues?  

Turn to a Partner to Validate Your Assessment 

That line—where security skills begin and end—is very grey. It can be difficult to determine before it’s too late. That’s why it makes sense to consult with experienced IT security experts before launching a new initiative or responding to a security incident. In other words, before you try to replace your toilet, call the plumber! 

Talking to experienced security experts in advance allows you to sanity-check your assessment of the situation and your ideas for how to proceed. By forming a partnership with a security expert, you can also trust that they will advise you when it’s OK to proceed on your own or with them supporting your efforts.   

Your partner will also know when it makes sense to call them in immediately to make sure your data-in-motion stays protected. This gives you the chance to mitigate any damage that’s already occurred and to bring your systems safely back online as quickly as possible.  

Save Time & Money 

If your business is looking for help with IT security, chances are good you will benefit by forming a long-term partnership, and that’s where Technium can help. We’re ready to serve as your “plumbing” experts to keep your business protected.   

Yes, you can continue to DIY and change the plumbing in your house by hiring an in-house security team and buying the required technology. But if you run into problems, you may find yourself paying twice.   

Just like plumbing, if security is not done right, the water (a breach) will leak everywhere—damaging the home (digital assets) you have worked so hard to build. And even if have the necessary expertise on staff, your team may not have the bandwidth you require. There simply are not enough people to do the job.  

Or…you can hire experts like us who have the time, expertise, and ability to proactively prevent security issues and to efficiently react to any incidents that occur. What’s more, your cost by partnering with us will likely be much less than the experts you would need to hire in-house—by perhaps as much as 33%.  

 You can then reallocate the time you save for your internal resources to more strategic IT initiatives that help your company generate revenue and reduce operational costs.