How to Use Real-Time Visibility to Pinpoint Attacks and Improve IT Efficiency 

Today’s IT environments have never been more complicated. With the ever-growing implementation of new technologies and the large volume of information handled, IT security teams face the daunting task of understanding what is happening in the corporate network and monitoring the operations running on assets and applications to keep their systems safe and support business continuity.

Most IT security teams spend a disproportionate amount of time keeping their systems healthy and checking what’s happening inside the corporate network, primarily because chaotic practices, weak or poorly enforced processes, and insufficient technology obscure clues to resolution.

SMB organizations, in particular, are actively looking for solutions to manage and implement tools that provide the visibility to allow them to efficiently see across day-to-day operations of applications, networks, and users and target those entities that reflect anomalous behavior to detect internal misuse of the corporate network and systems.

What is the better approach for SMBs to address visibility needs?

A company can accumulate massive amounts of data that IT professionals cannot handle instantly. Companies need to monitor their infrastructure usage to identify anomalies caused by inbound and outbound network connections, suspicious behaviors that might be threats, data leaks, or corporate resource misuse, compromising the entire system’s security.

In the light of this scenario, SMB organizations look for solutions that provide quick IT insights to get visibility into their assets and applications that allow them to make decisions to increase security. One common way enterprises increase visibility is by using a Security Information and Event Management tool — SIEM for short. A SIEM solution at its core aggregates and normalizes log and event data from across an entire network, making it easier to identify and respond to attacks, compromised data, and security threats.

However, many SMBs feel a SIEM solution is out of reach for their organizations for three main reasons: complexity, expertise requirements, and costs. Without a deep understanding of the types of activities captured by logs, time, infrastructure, personnel, and financial investment, SIEM deployments can cause serious trouble for small-to-medium-sized businesses.

For SMBs, complex deployments require the right solution — one that factors in how the organization will be using it as well as the unique needs of the company. Solutions designed for large enterprises aren’t usually right for smaller organizations. What, then, is the right alternative?

Helping SMBs gain real-time visibility and strengthen security posture

IT pros must regain valuable time as much as possible. Managed Security Providers (MSPs) can help them with this mission by providing actionable insights and advice. Resource-constrained teams need security and IT operation recommendations across all applications and assets within their environment to maintain robust IT & security hygiene.

MSPs deploying a high-grade visibility tool for their clients can help them get an accurate view of the systems in the client's environment, the software they are running, the users involved, and security intelligence to reinforce end-user security posture.

The following are some of the main benefits that customers experience when implementing this type of solution:

Customers worried about how to improve operational efficiency of IT professionals can leave IT operations and monitoring to those MSPs with the ability to deliver additional protection and services to their customers, so they will not need an in-house team — saving time, costs and reducing resource burdens.

Guest blog courtesy of WatchGuard Technologies. Read more WatchGuard guest blogs here. Regularly contributed guest blogs are part of ChannelE2E’s sponsorship program.