Cloud-based cybersecurity can provide services that many small to midsized businesses could otherwise not afford, says one cyber expert.
“Cloud-based cybersecurity solutions can offer significant advantages over on-premise systems for small to midsized businesses,” says Edward Chang, second vice president of cyber risk management at
Travelers.
“First, they can provide better security, by allowing businesses to take advantage of advanced security technologies and expertise that they otherwise could not afford. Second, they can be more flexible and scalable—users can be added on demand, and the services often work across a variety of different platforms. Third, the services are easy to setup, with relatively low startup costs, particularly when compared to designing and implementing a comparable on-premise system.”
Want to learn about small and midsized business cloud-based cyber protection? Access a free Symantec and Travelers webinar here!
The thing with cloud-based cybersecurity, Chang says, is that it actually increases your protection.
“Simply put, the cloud enables cybersecurity services to be smarter, faster, and more reliable,” he explained. “They can be smarter, because they can detect attack patterns from cybersecurity data gathered across the internet. They can be faster, because updated security intel can be incorporated across a network on a continuous basis—not just daily, weekly, or even monthly. And finally, they can be more reliable, because they are simpler and rely less on manual intervention, making them less prone to error.”
If an SMB’s data is hyper-sensitive, there may be occasions where using a cloud-based system may not be the best cyber solution. However, on balance, when weighed up, most SMBs would find benefit in a cloud-based cybersecurity system, Chang says.
“One concern that businesses may have about using cloud-based cybersecurity is that it can expose sensitive data to the cybersecurity service provider. This is a legitimate concern,” he noted. “Businesses need to give consideration to the types of data that will be involved. Obviously, it’s critical to use a reputable service provider, and sometimes the use of encryption can help to address this concern. In a few cases, however, the data may be so sensitive that using a cloud-based service may not be the best solution.
“Another concern is the risk for disrupted business operations if there is an outage at the cloud-based security provider. This is not really a new concern, however, since most SMBs are reliant to some extent on third-party providers. The question is really whether using a cloud-based service increases that risk, by adding another third-party provider, or decreases the risk, by improving the overall security posture of the business. On balance, most SMBs are likely to find that using a cloud-based cybersecurity service significantly reduces the risk of experiencing a cyber-related business interruption loss.”
Want to learn about small and midsized business cloud-based cyber protection? Access a free Symantec and Travelers webinar here!
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