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Recent spurts in cyberattacks have constantly been innovative in hacking organisational data. A weak security posture makes your business vulnerable to malicious attacks for data breaches and ransomware, which can affect your reputation and sensitive data.
Organisations and service providers have constantly been identifying vulnerabilities and mitigating the scope of a cyberattack. For example, Microsoft spends around $20 billion on enhancing its security offerings, safeguarding the various products in its ecosystem, and enhancing its existing capabilities.
Maintaining a robust security posture is paramount as businesses progress towards digital transformation by expanding their technology stack. While considering the management of your IT needs, it’s worth noting that many businesses find significant advantages in opting for Managed IT services. The expertise, scalability, and round-the-clock support provided by a dedicated Managed IT service provider often prove to be a more efficient and cost-effective solution.
Alternatively, should you choose to maintain an internal IT team, ensuring they possess the right skills and domain expertise becomes crucial.
As a business owner, you need a fully equipped team to handle security, incident management, threat identification, and mitigation.
Here are the top 10 skills your IT team needs to secure your business operations.
1. Security Tools Expertise
It’s essential that your IT team is current with the latest trends and practices in cyber security and has the required understanding to use internal and external security measures in your technology stack. You must equip your IT Team with the required skills to maintain a strong security posture by investing in extensive training and skill enhancement. The most modern security models, such as Zero-Trust and Data Loss Prevention (DLP), are essential strategies to consider. This approach is worthwhile because staff gets the best advantage in the dynamically changing cyber security domain. Often, businesses rely on basic security tools, set them to default, and consider the job done. The problem with this is that the valuable granular information they gather needs to be appropriately analysed and the insights implemented, which requires extensive expertise. Identifying and fixing defects and vulnerabilities is a preventive measure that saves downtime and security breach remediation costs.
2. Security Analysis
Just as cyber threats are increasing exponentially, the demand for security analysts to thwart them is rocketing. Experienced analysts know what data to tap and what to ignore to reduce complexities. They know how to interpret that data, identify the conditions where an attack could occur, and minimise the detrimental effects. Modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data analytics, and Machine Learning help security analysts identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities. If security enhancement is a potential solution you are investing in, hiring a best-of-breed security analyst is strongly advised. A required exercise is to periodically analyse your IT infrastructure and applications for loopholes and vulnerabilities and fill the gaps wherever needed, such as with a Vulnerability Assessment service offered by New Era Technology.
3. Project Management
Security projects are diverse, and finding IT security managers with proven success will become more difficult in the future. Often the role of a security project manager is linked to systems and network administrators, which limits the scope of the activities they perform. There is an essential need to have a well-defined approach to enterprise security led by a dedicated security manager. Such an approach is necessary, as security and governance are not one-time activities and need continuous monitoring and management.
4. Incident Response
The quicker a threat gets identified, the better the chance of mitigating it. Incident response is vital, as finding resources to keep up with evolving threats is challenging. Organisations often contract with external security specialists to rectify and remediate security incidents, such as with New Era’s Disaster Recovery service. An early incident response will limit the damage caused by the breach and put your operations back on track. Employees who understand the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model and the private, public, and hybrid cloud environment must determine the right services and integrate those with existing infrastructure. Only with a solid overall understanding of the IT security ecosystem can incident response mitigate the effects of any breach.
5. Automation
The best strategic decisions are made based on business intelligence and data analytics. The rapid rate at which threats evolve makes it increasingly difficult for traditional security teams to keep up the pace. Automated solutions use Machine Learning and AI to identify and rectify attacks before overwhelming damage happens. Supporting follow-up work can then be performed by IT staff. The skills required by IT security professionals are the ability to parse the information gathered from business intelligence and make appropriate decisions with those insights.
6. Data Science and Analytics
Employees with analytics experience, particularly with Algorithms, Machine Learning, AI, and Predictive Analytics, are equipped to leverage the Big Data environment. These skills are particularly relevant for the e-commerce, and BFSI (Banking, Financial Service, and Insurance) sectors, where customer behavior gets monitored. Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics give futuristic insights into the effects of any vulnerability. Extracting what’s pertinent from the noise requires honed data analytical skills. Ensuring secure networks from the outset saves money in the long run. It involves designing or investing in solutions that adequately protect data, information, and users. A security analyst must understand the new designs and have experience in testing systems. They should have a deep understanding of all the business systems in the company and know what data is critical to an organisation and what cannot be lost.
7. Scripting
With scripting, IT professionals integrate numerous elements and replicate repetitive tasks saving time and resources. Python and Perl are some examples of scripting languages that interface with security platforms. Scripting helps understand programming logic basics, vital for security professionals who configure and manage networks and systems. Scripters and developers are needed to solve complex problems, particularly for security purposes. Otherwise, you can also outsource the process of configuring, operating, and managing networks, such as with our Programmability and Automation service, which optimises service delivery with scalable deployment and agility.
8. Nurturing
IT security professionals who think like cybercriminals and understand their motivations and methods are more likely to successfully anticipate, identify, and mitigate attacks such as spear phishing. Network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) can flag suspicious behaviour, but experience and knowledge are required to deal with it. Also, being calm under pressure and knowing how to react with the proper protocols can be crucial in stemming the flow of any compromised data and mitigating the cost of a security breach. In such scenarios, trained Ethical Hackers are in huge demand, as they work with security professionals to identify potential vulnerabilities that malicious hackers can exploit.
9. Post-mortem and Deep-level Forensics
A security team must know how to create and update a safety framework when network components change or new threats emerge. The framework also outlines the process for managing the breach and the subsequent steps to take in the event of a breach. When a security incident occurs, it is an opportunity to learn from experience. The ability to perform a forensics and malware analysis following an event leads to better management and prevention of future such incidents.
10. Passion
Security solutions are effective only if those responsible are passionate about their work. An IT security professional needs the drive to constantly learn about new advancements in security technologies and the evolving threat environment. Being passionate about the domain and networking with related online communities to continually improvise and innovate is the critical requirement of a cyber security professional. The skills required for an IT team to effectively deliver security services are insights driven by our vast experience in the networking and IT security domain.
In conclusion, keeping an internal IT staff may be a great advantage for your company, given that they have the necessary training and experience. However, it’s important to recognise how quickly technology is developing and the growing complexity that goes along with it. While you enable your internal team, take into account the revolutionary benefits that Managed IT services provide. Your company’s IT skills may be significantly increased by the specialised expertise, proactive support, and scalable solutions offered by managed IT providers. This will help you remain competitive in the dynamic business environment of today.
Ready to Elevate Your IT Team’s Performance to Match Today’s Tech Landscape?
If you are looking for a reliable technology partner to enhance your in-house security capabilities or need a Managed IT service seamless and efficient approach to technology management toward business growth with confidence, contact us now, and we will be glad to help.
Information for this blog post was sourced from Nasdaq.
