Last Updated on December 21, 2022 by Symple IT Solutions
In this day and age, cybersecurity is an incredibly important asset that every business should have at their disposal. The challenging part is choosing the right outsourced IT support for your business.
Many cyber attacks and threats are specialized to specific regions or industries. This means that it’s not enough to choose an IT security expert who is too general in his or her expertise. A cybersecurity consultant with prior experience in the field is familiar with the specific threats and attacks your company faces.
Summary
There are several factors to consider when hiring a IT security company:
- Expertise and experience
- Services offered:
- Methodologies and approaches: Determine whether the company uses industry-standard approaches and methodologies, such as those recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
- Cost:
- Reputation: m past clients.
- Responsiveness:
- Flexibility:
- Certifications and accreditations:
- Legal and compliance requirements:
Head over below to learn about the factors in more details.
If you are considering hiring a IT security consultant in Ottawa, Canada ask them you are considering to describe their prior experiences and outcomes. If they aren’t able to do this in a way that is clear, it’s warning signs. Any security professional worthy of their reputation can spot common threats as well as explain the solutions and provide preventive steps in straightforward English.
Small businesses, in particular, don’t have the same amount of capital to invest in large and expensive in-house managed IT departments. The infrastructure most likely exists, but hiring and keeping trained and highly skilled IT personnel on top of constantly updating hardware and software systems is where a lot of businesses tend to fall short. Plus, in-house IT departments can’t offer the same level of consistent data protection, monitoring, and cybersecurity as a third-party IT security service for your business can.
IT security is a complex field. It can be quite difficult to find a reputable IT security consultant that has the knowledge and experience to suit your needs. The benefit of hiring an IT security consultant in Ottawa is that they are certified to offer support with a range of IT security solutions. By using a cybersecurity consultant, you can gain access to a team that is made up of experts in both the company they work for and the field of IT security. This blog will look at what you should be looking for in a IT security consultant in Ottaw
What Are IT Security Services?
IT security services provide in-depth bespoke cybersecurity and monitoring services to protect your sensitive company and customer data from malicious hackers. Data breach protection is of the utmost importance for all e-commerce, brick-and-mortar, and hybrid establishments. In the event that your company is subject to a data security breach, the outcome could be catastrophic for your business. Hence, you have to do everything in your power to prevent that from happening. Working with a reputable IT company in Ottawa offers online security on three main fronts:
- Internet protection
- Network protection
- End-point protection
Cybersecurity stats for small businesses
- When it comes to website malware attacks, no small business website is immune, even the government agencies. 31% of total malware attacks were targeted toward WordPress based small biz sites. [Source – Wp Hacked Help]
- By 2023, Cisco analysts estimate that DDoS attacks will grow to 15.4 million. That’s more than double the 7.9 million attacks in 2018.
- SMBs lost $212,000 in 2021 due to cyber incidents that affected suppliers with whom they share data
- Small Businesses Are the Target of 43% of All Data Breaches [Source: CNBC]
- Data Breaches Cost SMBs an Average of Nearly $3 Million Per Incident [Source: IBM]
- Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyberattack Attempts per Week in 2021 Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyberattack Attempts per Week in 2021 (darkreading.com)
- Malware Is the Most Common Threat, Comprising 18% of Attacks on SMBs [Source: Tech Republic]
- 56% of Small Business Owners Aren’t Worried About Being Hacked in the Next 12 Months [Source: CNBC]
- 43% of Cyberattacks Target Small Businesses [Source: Accenture]
- 30% of small businesses consider phishing attacks to be the biggest cyber threat.
- 40% of Small Businesses That Fell Victim to a Cyberattack Experienced 8+ Hours of Downtime [Source: CISCO]
More References
- Small Business Insights: Inflation now the No.1 concern for small businesses – QuickBooks
- Symantec Security Center
- 2022 Study: 50% of SMBs Have a Cybersecurity Plan in Place | UpCity
- Cyber Insurance Stats: 64% of businesses unfamiliar with coverage | AdvisorSmith
- How Much do SMBs Really Spend on Cyber Security?
- 43 Percent of Cyber Attacks Target Small Business
Hiring A Cyber Security Firm For Your Business
When it comes to hiring managed IT services in Ottawa, there are several crucial factors that need to be taken into consideration. Aside from ensuring that the proper cybersecurity measures will be employed to protect your company and customer data, the company you select should have a reputation for being one of the best in the industry. Here are a few factors to look for to help you determine whether or not that’s the case.
Commitment to employee training
A security consultant’s plan must be designed to identify and eliminate security threats and not just update some security flaws. A security strategy cannot be complete without ensuring your employees are on the same level.
Even with the top security tools like firewalls software, monitoring, and the like the most important factor in a secure strategy is your employees.
Solid action plan
Security consultants who are competing for your company’s business needs to be able to offer an organized and clear plan of action that meets the specific needs of your company. The strategy they choose should be simple and devoid of terminology or sales-oriented promotion of a particular product.
Make sure you get specifics on how they’ll be communicating with you throughout the process – from the initial assessment to the implementation. Learn what they’re expecting from you and your employees and whether they’ll continue to provide support after the solution is implemented. Also, don’t forget to ask who will be performing the actual work. For instance, will it be an existing team of experts or is it a brand rookie employee?
It could be beneficial to talk to the people who you’re considering to talk about instances they’ve failed, as well as what they learned from those failures. Anything that can help you gain the complete picture of who you’re hiring will be beneficial at the final.
Level of Experience
Cybersecurity firms offer varying levels of service depending on the specific needs of your company. Senior and junior level IT specialists have a different range of skills and expertise to bring to the table, so it’s always important to be as detailed as possible when describing the cybersecurity issues you’re having.
Based on the information you provide, the IT company you’re working with can dispatch your case to the technician with the appropriate skill and experience level to resolve the issue. This service structure helps to optimize and make service delivery more efficient.
Look for specific qualifications such as Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Cybersecurity Fundamentals Specialist (CFS), or Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) when hiring an IT company in Ottawa. Senior managed IT service consultants should also ideally have at least five years of experience in the field, and they should be familiar with your cybersecurity software systems.
IT Requirements for Your Business
Don’t wait until it’s too late to obtain the level of cybersecurity you need to protect your business from harmful data breaches, malware, and other types of cyberattacks. Take a pre-emptive approach instead by assessing your current and projected future IT cybersecurity needs. This will prevent and prepare you for potentially costly cyberattacks that can cause irrevocable long-term damages to your business’s reputation.
Once your reputation is tarnished, it’s hard to regain the trust of your customers—especially when the security of their sensitive data is on the line.
Professional managed IT services in Ottawa will work closely with your existing IT infrastructure and team to provide the highest level of security required to keep your data safe at all times along with 24/7 monitoring and support.
Expertise in Assessing Network Security
Network security creates a barrier around your organization’s computer network and related systems. It consists of the processes and systems that are in place to prevent malicious hackers from gaining access to confidential and sensitive company data such as customer information, transactional details, authorization keys, etc. Aside from acting as impenetrable barriers to prevent hackers from accessing sensitive information, network security systems also feature multilayered authorization keys that prevent hackers from misusing or modifying the data being protected.
Safeguarding your company data by applying multifaceted and multilayered complex network security systems requires the highest level of expertise.
Cost of IT security service
For a lot of small- and medium-sized businesses, cost is one of the main deciding factors when it comes to hiring a professional IT security service. Many businesses simply can’t afford to take on the overhead costs involved in hiring a permanent in-house IT security team. In addition to putting more people on your payroll, you also have to invest in continuous IT training courses to update the knowledge and skills of your IT personnel. Moreover, the cost of purchasing new technological systems and installing the required infrastructure is extremely expensive.
Hiring an outsourced IT service in Ottawa makes a lot more practical and financial sense. IT specialists receive top-notch training at the expense of the company that hires them and they have all of the advanced equipment and resources available to them, so you don’t have to pay for anything but the services.
Risks You Want to Avoid
Take steps to avoid certain risks that your business simply can’t afford to take on in a financial or pragmatic sense. Start by creating an automated standard risk management plan to help you identify, overcome, and avoid certain issues altogether during the process of hiring an IT security service for your business. Asking the right questions based on your organization’s specific requirements and expectations can help you perform a thorough risk assessment.
Service and Communication Quality
Your level of satisfaction with the professionalism of an outsourced IT support provider is just as important as their capability to protect your data. Just like in any relationship, communication between both parties is absolutely key. Vendors should be able to aptly communicate and explain their processes or potential security issues with you in a way that you can understand. If that’s not the case, then you need to find a new vendor.
Get Professional IT Security Services for Your Organization in Ottawa
You can officially end your search for “IT support services near Ottawa”.
Symple IT Solutions makes cybersecurity simple for you. We offer on-demand, flexible, and fully managed expert IT services that are custom-tailored according to the needs of your company. Contact us today to learn more.
