24 Apr Top 5 MSSP Trends To Watch From 2019 To 2021

Digital Defense says diversity and volume of threats is on the rise

– Steven T. Kroll

Northport, N.Y. – April 24, 2019

Larry Hurtado, president and CEO of Digital Defense, Inc. — a leading vulnerability management and threat detection company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas — recently sat down with Cybercrime Magazine for a discussion on top trends and challenges faced by MSSPs (managed security service providers).

Digital Defense leverages AWS (Amazon Web Services) to provide its solution to a global customer base, many of whom are MSSPs.

One client asked Digital Defense to create a special signature to look for a certain type of malware, but it had to be done on a manual basis. “We were challenged by some of the most well-known security organizations in the world, saying that there was no way this malware existed,” says Hurtado. “In the end, it was determined that we were right.”

The team took that experience and designed Frontline Active Threat Sweep — an agentless system that enhances an organization’s existing defense-in-depth coverage by uncovering gaps in their endpoint protection, active threats, and indicators of compromise.

“With our automatic threat hunting capabilities, we’re able to deploy enterprise-wide very quickly,” says Hurtado. “When you deploy in minutes, you can start that sweeping function, see where the malware is, and highlight the users of the system.”

Cybercrime Magazine asked Digital Defense to provide our readers with a 30,000-foot view of the top MSSP challenges and trends for 2019.

CHALLENGES

Challenges MSSPs will face in the years to come include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Threat Volume & Diversity: “Unfortunately, the volume and diversity of threats will keep “MSSPs on their toes” in terms of helping their customers fend off cyberattacks and prevent breaches from occurring,” says Hurtado.
• Skilled Labor Shortage: “MSSPs will face the same difficulties as everyone else in terms of locating skilled security resources to help support their business growth,” adds Hurtado. “Our industry is faced with a labor shortage that we predict will reach 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally by 2021, up from 1 million openings in 2014,” says Steve Morgan, founder and editor-in-chief at Cybersecurity Ventures.
• Brand Awareness Growth & Protection: “MSSPs need to find ways to create differentiated offerings from their competitors and they need to make sure their offerings do what they say they will do in helping to protect the MSSP’s customers from security breaches,” says Rosanna Pellegrino, senior vice president, Business Development & Sales for Digital Defense.
• Complexity Introduced with the Management of Security Multiple Technologies: “Enterprise security is not something that is ‘bolted on’ to business processes and applications — it MUST be woven into the fabric of the enterprise operations and business growth strategies,” says Doug Goodall, managing director for Emtec, an IT consultancy headquartered in Radnor, Pa., with offices throughout North America.

TOP 5 TRENDS

To help address the challenges, MSSPs will be seeking capabilities such as those listed below, which are supplied by Digital Defense:

1. Platform Scalability: MSSPs will be looking for highly scalable solutions with performance capabilities that support demand spikes. Platforms with unlimited vertical and horizontal performance scaling are essential.
2. True Multi-Tenancy: MSSPs will need to make sure the platforms they utilize eliminate inefficiencies wherever possible in order to maximize MSSP profits. Platforms that offer true multi-tenant capabilities are necessary.
3. Solution Accuracy: MSSPs must reduce security analyst fatigue to keep their workforce happy and supporting their customers to the best of their abilities; elimination of tedious work largely focused on addressing system malfunctions will be critical going forward.
4. Single Pane of Glass Enablement: MSSPs must find systems that support single pane of glass management and orchestration capabilities. In order for MSSP security analysts to continue providing effective service to customers, they need highly integrated solutions that provide clear visibility into the security posture of customer environments.
5. Service Gap-Fill: MSSPs will look for complementary professional services that fill in service gaps and enable the quick launch of new offerings to grow their businesses.

“Perhaps the biggest challenge of all for MSSPs lies in finding the right technology infrastructure partners,” says Cybersecurity Ventures’ Morgan. “It’s not just about the technology though. It’s as much about the people. We asked Larry Hurtado to join us, in part, because he’s been with Digital Defense since 2002, and CEO there for the past twelve years. He’s steadily grown the company, which now has more than a hundred employees — with a laser-like focus on partnering with MSSPs.”

– Steven T. Kroll is a public relations specialist and staff writer at Cybercrime Magazine.