By Vendor

Cybersecurity is like a noisy concert.

In the background, accomplished musicians are constantly tuning their instruments and listening for both known and emerging tones that indicate cyber risks and threats.

In the front is a wall of audio dissonance created by wailing synthesizers – security information and event management (SIEM) systems producing constant alerts – that make it hard to listen to and detect a pending cyberattack.

Global companies can attack cyber noise by hiring an around-the-clock cybersecurity monitoring team (the musicians) to listen, read and update the “sheet music” or alerts and reports generated by SIEM systems.

This team understands how to see the signals in the noise and work cooperatively in concert to drive rapidly to results.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) typically don’t have the budget to hire, develop, and retain the robust 24/7 security team they need to combat cybercrime.

IT leaders at these firms have also read the alarming statistics that the global cybersecurity workforce will be short 1.8 million professionals by 2022.

Even if SMEs can acquire top talent, they may not have the bandwidth to respond swiftly to the latest threats.

In EventTracker’s 2017 Threat Monitoring, Detection and Response Report, which surveyed 400 cybersecurity professionals, one in four said their teams were slow to respond to advanced threats.

That’s concerning because cybersecurity is an industry where speed of response is everything.

Is there a better way for SMEs to launch a world-class cybersecurity program with experts who can listen, detect, and remediate the true cyber alerts and threats in a world of noise?

The good news is yes, it’s possible.

Here’s how your SMB can rapidly evolve from leveraging the in-house talents of a cybersecurity soloist or small group, like an orchestral quartet, to an in-house and outsourced cybersecurity orchestra: Hire a co-managed SIEM service.

A co-managed SIEM service helps achieve all four of cybersecurity professionals’ top four goals, according to the survey:

· 44 percent want to improve threat investigation and analysis

· 43 percent want to improve proactive threat hunting

· 41 percent want to improve blocking threats

· 36 percent want to automate incident response

A comprehensive SIEM service combines technology, intrusion detection, vulnerability scanning, flow analysis and honey net deception capabilities with a fully managed security service to achieve these goals.

The cybersecurity skills gap is not closing.

But a co-managed solution can be the platform your company needs to bridge that gap.

If you are ready to turn a wall of cybersecurity noise into a symphonic concert of actionable intelligence, this may be an approach to consider.

Guy Cunningham is vice president of alliances at Netsurion, a managed data and network security services provider, and its subsidiary, EventTracker, which specializes in security information and event management (SIEM) solutions.