Quick Guide: Security as a Service (SECaaS)

Security as a Service (SECaaS) allows organizations to outsource challenging security tasks like log monitoring and management, incident response, and reporting to a third party or Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP).

A Security as a Service provider can offer an array of unique capabilities that accelerate your organization's security operation maturity.

There are many different areas a SECaaS provider can cover. Depending on your organizational needs and your compliance and regulatory requirements, your organization might consider some of these common offerings:

• Threat Monitoring and Attack Defense — 24x7x365 advanced monitoring, analysis, and investigation of threats
• SIEM & Log Management — Collect, normalize, and store logs from virtually any technology or IT asset
• Incident Response & Event Investigation — Containment and eradication of threats & minimization of breach impact
• Managed Security Assets — Continuous monitoring and updates to your infrastructure for optimization
• Threat Protection Services — Active threat detection and protection against zero-day and targeted attacks
• Vulnerabilitity Management Service — Manage and monitor configuration changes, patches, and vulnerabilities
• Data Loss Prevention — Prevent or protect users from sending sensitive information outside the corporate network
• Identity and Access Management (IAM) — Manage and monitor user access to resources and applications
• Security Assessment & Auditing — Navigate requirements, identify processes needed, and maintain compliance
• Web Application Security — Manage the security of websites, web applications, and web services
• DDoS Mitigation — Manage the impact of Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks on the network(s)
• Encryption Management — Create and deploy cryptographic keys to protect data in use, in transit, and at rest
• Email Security Services — Manage the inflow of messages to corporate inboxes to mitigate phishing attacks

As you can see, a SECaaS provider can fill gaps in many areas. You may already have resources to handle some of these areas but perhaps you can pick up additional competencies through an MSSP.

When outsourcing security functions, many organizations benefit. First, cost-savings can be substantial when outsourcing your security to a third-party provider. The costs required to staff, train, and build a SOC that operates on a 24x7x365 basis can be prohibitive. Companies can leverage SECaaS to replace CAPEX costs on hardware and software with a monthly OPEX expense through a security provider. Upfront and sunk costs are greatly reduced in the SECaaS model.

A SECaaS provider can proactively hunt for threats and use proprietary and open source threat intelligence feeds to detect the latest threats. One of the major benefits of working with a security service provider is that they work with cutting-edge security solutions. They can offer your organization access to the latest SIEM tools, next generation endpoint protection, advanced security analytics and heuristics, artificial intelligence, and more.

Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) tools can require many manual hours for the review of logs nad alerts. If your organization has a difficult time finding IT and security professionals to manage and monitor IT infrastructure security, then a SECaaS provider may be a helpful solution.

SECaaS allows you to overcome many technology adoption barriers as well. Once you purchase a security solution, your security team must learn how to configure the new device or software properly. With a security provider, a trained and experienced security provider can configure and deploy your solutions in minutes versus days.

Another benefit of using a SECaaS provider is your time to vlaue. Leveraging SECaaS means you accelerate the maturity of your security operations in a fraction of the time it would take to hire, train, and deploy security resources and devices.

The SECaaS vendor's team should offer you years of experience in the cybersecurity field. The third-party team should offer tailored security strategies and offer insightful research on the latest threats.

A reputable SECaaS provider will improve how your organization detects and responds to threats as well as continuously monitoring infrastructure assets. The security provider should also have strong skill sets in SIEM and security analytics.

The SECaaS provider needs to offer the latest tools and technologies in security. When interviewing a potential security partner, make sure to ask about the solutions that are used to monitor, detect, and respond to security incidents and events.

A SECaaS provider must understand any compliance or regulatory challenges that apply to your organization's industry. Experienced and certified security providers will have experts across PCI DSS, HIPAA, FISMA, SOX, ISO, FFIEX, and others. Regulatory environments change frequently, so it's essential that your provider cna help you meet compliance requirements.

Lastly, as you onboard with your chosen SECaaS provider, you need to know how issues are handled and resolved. Ask about the escalation paths for a security event and exactly how the security provider handles it.

 

Security as a Service is now a contemporary area of information security. Organizations faced with a lack of time and resources can significantly improve their security posture through a SECaaS provider. If you'd like to know more on building versus buying a Security Operations Center, speak to one of our security experts today. We'll work with you on your security strategy, so you can evaluate the best model for your business.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: This post was originally published in 2023 and republished on June 18, 2025. Some details may have changed since the original publication; please explore our latest resources or contact our Cipher experts for the most current information.