The Role of Managed IT Services in Preventing Cyber Attacks

A cyber attack can spell disaster for your organisation and, in a surprisingly large number of cases, the consequences of this fall entirely on a single person’s shoulders. To be clear, those responsible for securing an organisation’s infrastructure and data are responsible for failures in those defences. But, an overwhelming number of breaches and costly attacks happen because a single person is responsible for the entire organisation’s security.

Let’s look at why that’s a problem, and why opting for managed IT services can be the best way to reduce the likelihood of cyber attacks happening in the first place.

Constraints on one-person teams

A key problem we’ve found, often when organisations come to us in IT support emergencies, is that the sole person responsible for the organisation’s security has been systematically overstretched to the point that they’re not actually able to implement changes that would protect the organisation.

Regardless of how much an individual actually knows about cyber security, there are only a certain number of hours in a day. This model of overstretching a solo in-house employee seems to make sense when you only look at the budget sheet, but it’s the same false economy as cutting corners on your home’s foundations.

Everything can look fine until it isn’t – and even simple breaches can result in data losses or ransoms that can require spending hundreds (if not millions) to regain. In some cases, malicious actors aren’t even after a financial profit but are simply looking to damage your organisation’s operations. This is all, of course, without mentioning the reputational cost of a breach – both from customers and partner organisations.

The benefits of managed IT services

Managed IT services are those that are managed by an external organisation such as ITRM. Contrary to the usual perception that outsourcing core responsibilities results in lower quality, outsourcing IT services to a specialist cybersecurity company helps you access resources & knowledge that would have previously been unattainable by hiring a single team member.

There are many benefits of managed IT services but the core benefit, really, is that it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing relationship. Most organisations, for example, like to retain an in-house individual or small team to oversee many of the strategy & day-to-day tasks, but partner with a managed IT expert to access the benefits of working with a wider team.

Usually, this also comes at a more affordable price because experts aren’t required to be active all day, every day, for each client. The experts in our teams, for example, are able to implement as many changes as possible for your organisation in order to prevent the likelihood of successful attacks, and are then on hand to jump in and secure your systems in the event of a successful attack.

What’s more, this then lets you tap into real expertise for the particular areas where it’s needed – and this, in turn, reduces the actual impact of a “successful attack”. In other words, implementing world-class security systems, opting for robust team training, and having experts on hand means that a “successful” attack is likely to have only got past the first layer of defence without having actually accessed any sensitive data and without having rendered any systems inoperable.

Invest in robust systems

Working with a managed service provider should be seen as a true partnership – it’s an investment in your organisation that pays numerous dividends over time.

As leading IT service experts in London, Kent, and Essex, we’re always on hand to advise – let’s talk about securing your organisation. In the meantime, for more expert cybersecurity advice, keep up to date with our blog.