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Security Advisory Services: A Smart Cybersecurity Strategy

July 11, 2022
IT Security, IT Services

It bears repeating: you can never have too much IT security. The problem is many organizations often don’t have enough ─ or at least not enough of the right kind. That includes best practice IT security strategies such as:

• Zero trust security is a cybersecurity strategy in which security policies are applied based on context established through least-privileged access controls and strict user authentication rather than assumed trust. Using zero trust security as a cybersecurity strategy yields a simpler network infrastructure, a better user experience, and improved defenses against cyberthreats.
• Defense-in-depth is the practice of using layers of security, such as firewalls, secured gateways, authentication, and intrusion detection systems, to protect internal networks from external attacks. By including redundancies and using security defenses across solutions, you’re better positioned to close IT security gaps and repel potential attacks.

Limited staffing, budget constraints, lack of in-house security expertise, competing priorities, and other factors are usually to blame. It's not an easy situation to rectify. Building an internal security operations center (SOC) would be an optimal solution, but isn’t realistic for many companies.

There’s the challenge of properly defining the SOC operating structure and model to make the right staffing decisions. Competition is fierce for security experts with the required skillsets, education, and experience. Researching, selecting, implementing, and managing the appropriate tools and technologies take time and money.

Tap into SOC Expertise

One option is to employ managed security services, specifically security advisory services. US Signal is among the cloud services providers that offers these resources. Customers can take advantage of the knowledge and expertise of US Signal’s SOC team on an as-needed basis for a variety of security-related services.

Doing so can help organizations create and implement defense-in-depth, zero-trust security and other strategies to best meet their IT security needs. The following is an overview of what’s available and how contracting for the services works.

Security Advisory Services

• Staff Augmentation – Block Hours. One of the most valuable and flexible services US Signal offers is the delivery of blocks of hours that enable customers to use an allocated amount of SOC hours each month to augment their internal security teams. US Signal’s SOC team members can deliver a variety of cybersecurity services such as vulnerability management program assistance, daily log review, incident management, endpoint security platform management, SIEM management, and tuning, firewall rule analysis, PCI internal segmentation scanning, best practice configuration reviews, update department procedures and playbooks, and security platform implementation.

• Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCISO). When you don’t have a CISO on staff – or just need a little more high-level expertise, you can enlist US Signal’s IT security experts to serve as your own. This allows you to focus on larger business objectives while improving your organization’s security posture. Depending on your needs, vCISO services may include an interim CISO, strategic and tactical roadmap development, risk management strategic planning, security posture assessment, executive and board advisory services, security program leadership, compliance, and regulatory advisory services, training strategy development, and governance, risk, and compliance program development.

• Policy and Procedure Development. These services are typically procured as a one-time engagement during which US Signal’s SOC team takes an in-depth look at your organization’s current policies and procedures, evaluates their effectiveness, and revises or creates new standards to implement throughout your organization. Services may include data flow mapping, development of compliance-based policies, policy and procedure gap analysis and recommendations, annual policy updates, the development of various policies (i.e., Information Security, Acceptable Use, Privacy, BYOD, etc.), and the creation of social engineering programs.

• Assessments. A variety of IT security assessments can be conducted on a one-time basis or as part of an ongoing engagement. Options include the NIST Cyber Security Framework (“CSF”) Assessment, Security Program Maturity Assessment, Security Framework GAP Analysis, Phishing-Social Engineering Assessments, Risk Assessment, and Ransomware Assessment.

How the Services Work

A service agreement, with an accompanying SOW, is developed that outlines the specific service or services to be performed and the relevant pricing. While every customer engagement is different, pricing for US Signal’s security advisory services is usually based on an estimated number of hours and an hourly rate. In some cases, a one-time fee may be applicable for services such as policy development or the deployment of a security solution. Recurring augmentation services can be purchased on a month-to-month or annual term, with price breaks for annual agreements.

The Benefits

Procuring security advisory services offers many of the same advantages as contracting for managed security services in general. That includes freeing up internal IT resources for strategic initiatives and other responsibilities, improving the overall security posture, operating expenses instead of capital expenses, more predictable costs, and more. But what’s particularly beneficial about what US Signal offers is the flexibility.

Services can typically be customized to your specific needs. For example, if you want an in-depth review of your organization's current security posture, US Signal offers a variety of different assessments that can be conducted. Interested in building out a best practices-driven cybersecurity strategy without having to hire a chief information security officer? Use US Signal’s vCISO services to develop specific policies, design and build a security architecture, and more.

If your needs change, so can the services. Rather than selling you off-the-shelf IT security services, we take the time to understand your goals and business requirements – current and future. That enables us to help make the most suitable recommendations, build the most effective solutions and help you develop the most appropriate cybersecurity strategy.

IT Security at Your Service

You can learn more about specific US Signal’s security advisory services here, as well as take advantage of a wide variety of free cybersecurity resources from US Signal here. Or contact us for more details or to set up a consultation with one of our IT security experts.