The authors of malware and the people behind hacking attempts of all types are – whether you like it or not – pretty sharp. In many cases, these bad actors can evade cybersecurity protections just a few months old, meaning that defences must be kept up to date with the latest in methods and threat intelligence. Politically and financially-motivated attacks have grown this year, with entire national government departments crippled by DDoS attacks. If even high-level public sector assets can be compromised, enterprise-scale businesses are at increased risk despite having the resources to defend themselves with in-house security teams’ expertise.

For any business, that’s a big ask. Threats are now actively evasive: they will imitate normal network activity around the organisation thus evading detection, often for many months, before being triggered and dropping their payloads. In Q3 of 2022, hacks to install illicit cryptocurrency mining agents tripled in numbers over the same quarter the previous year, to over 150,000.

Growing Cyber Resiliency

To improve cyber-resilience, it is imperative that organisations can quickly detect, analyse and actively respond to cyber-threat so as to mitigate and contain these risks. Organisations are gravitating towards cybersecurity solutions that give them faster time to value, are outcome-based, in terms of time to detection, and respond.

With more and more companies undergoing digital innovations and transformation, the number of attack surfaces for hackers increases and so does the number of tools used to manage these increased attack surfaces. Think mobile devices, remote work productivity solutions, mobile applications etc. This increases the complexity of managing all the different cybersecurity solutions in an integrated fashion.

How organisations can protect against advanced, evasive threats is an ongoing problem, and statistics across the board globally shows that the issue is exacerbating. Certainly, it’s beyond the ability and resources of companies who don’t have funds to pay the salaries of highly-experienced cybersecurity experts, especially amid the global crunch in cybersecurity talents.

For those without sufficient in-house expertise, using a third-party cybersecurity service is a wise business decision. However, for companies that already have an internal security team, scaling that resource quickly is, in many ways, as challenging as taking on that first cybersecurity hire. Onboarding new personnel, providing training and pastoral care – nothing happens quickly and the process burns resources in administrative tasks. It’s in those periods, where provision isn’t adequate, that companies are most at risk. Third-party cybersecurity services provide the necessary elasticity and scalability here, filling the need for constant vigilance. In addition, a lack of in-house expertise will hinder expansion plans since it will be limited by cybersecurity concerns as acquisitions and expansions can bring a greater threat surface. Therefore, leveraging managed cybersecurity services makes business sense: a scalable, pay-as-you-use, 24/7 service that provides as much or as little coverage as required, when it’s required.

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Think large, think safe

It’s wise to choose outsourced cybersecurity services from a trusted vendor who can provide transparency to its products, internal processes and business operations. Cybersecurity firms that specialise in protecting their clients from the dark arts of malware, ransomware, and hacking of all sorts, bring the very latest in protections to the table. That’s an invaluable service for organisations that want to concentrate on growing the business, giving their customers the best experiences, and their freeing companies’ ability to scale, seize opportunities and move quickly.

Using a third-party provider for cybersecurity services means that as companies grow and explore new markets, they don’t have to put the brakes on while resources can be found to keep up the required levels of continuous protection. And with practically every business opportunity today comprising a significant technology element, business growth has to be supported by enterprise-grade cybersecurity protection, regardless of the size of the individual organisation.

Today’s managed detection and response providers use a combination of their own worldwide threat intelligence networks with on-site system monitors and active agents. Together, these methods can find the attacks using the very latest black hat techniques – things that are all but invisible to home-grown cybersecurity measures.

Global companies like Kaspersky operate Security Operation Centres in multiple geographies, gathering real-time intelligence around the clock and cataloguing the latest hacking techniques and attempts as they happen in real-time. This information is then used to protect every business under its stewardship, large and small alike.

Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response (MDR) proactively responds to threats before it escalates into a full-blown cyber-attack – in the case of malware code lying hidden – and, as soon as malware payloads become apparent. With the very latest in detection methods and the knowledge of the best means of combating problems, the MDR solution helps protect companies on every front.

Enterprise-level protection is available for organisations from the startup to the multinational, and it’s a service that will grow as the company does. As a mandatory business cost, companies can choose between building their own in-house cybersecurity team or leveraging the ready-made expertise available right now.

Many companies choose to use the Kaspersky MDR service as an additional resource to bolster cyber protections and in-house knowledge which they already have and to provide quick response with predefined, pre-tuned process and response procedures. The beauty of a third-party service is that it’s always there, scalable and elastic: organisations simply use what they need, when they need it.

And at a time when on-going cyber threats are evidently dynamic and sourcing for cybersecurity talent is incredibly challenging, being able to turn to a trusted third party is clearly the intelligent choice.

As Malware and ransomware authors get smarter, so should organisations make smarter choices. Consider Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response to partner in your cyber security journey. Find out how to protect your growing organisation with the enterprise-grade, award-winning platform by downloading this whitepaper and getting in touch with a local representative.

Join the APAC & Global Outlook: Threat Landscape and Predictions Webinar on January 18 to learn more about current cyber trends and forecasts of potential developments in cybersecurity in 2023 and beyond.