Security as a Service ARTICLE

Security as a Service
Keeping in line with the shift of applications being ported on the pay-per-use model, so too are security solutions being delivered out from the capital expenditure account into the operational expenditure. Once a purview of IT departments, with strong service level agreements in place, CIO’s are finding it easier to outsource the security function as well.
P J Nath, Executive President, Enterprise Solutions, Sify Technologies points out that as investments in managed security services by the Medium Enterprises is growing at a much faster pace than traditional security solutions, it’s the Banks and financial institutions that have accepted the remote MSS delivery model with ease.
He also feels the government’s initiative to move away from paper work to having the information available centrally by automating all manual activity has resulted in a huge centralized IT infrastructure and application setup. In which security becomes an integral part as critical information transaction takes place. It’s increasingly seen that government organizations are outsourcing their IT services with MSS being part of it, though it is still early days in this segment.
This is in keeping with the trend that has been set by local Telco’s, who were the first off the block to outsourcing their entire IT infrastructure so that they could be more focused on their service delivery business.
Cisco’s Gupta feels that in the case of SMBs, the trend shifts towards outsourcing security management. A Pricewaterhouse Coopers 2007 report says that the SMB segment would increasingly look at use of outsourced security management of their first line of defense including firewall, IDS and incident reporting services. Additionally, a recent survey by Forrester estimates that 30% of SMBs outsource their enterprise applications and 59% of those are concerned about the security of their data. In India, outsourcing of security is still a tough decision for network managers.READ MORE
RAJPUT HARENDRASINGH