Cybersecurity is recession-proof. Thanks to CSaaS

Recessions are painful. In an economy where everyone is hit equally in a recession, cyber attackers have a heyday and make bank. The global financial crisis of 2008 forced banks around the world to tighten their ability to handle another disaster.

A recession will have a ripple effect on the organization’s security budget. They will let the cybersecurity staff go and delay software upgrades and patches.

With limited staff and barely any attention to cybersecurity in these scenarios, how can organizations protect themselves? Affording cybersecurity in a recession is possible with subscription-based Cybersecurity as a Service that’s all-inclusive.

What is Cybersecurity-as-a-Service (CSaaS)?

CSaaS is an outsourced cybersecurity management model. Instead of handling cybersecurity in-house, you outsource it to a cybersecurity firm on a pay-as-you-go basis. On top of that, there’s flexibility in choosing what cybersecurity services you need, which is attractive to small businesses. 

Usually, a CSaaS vendor offers foundational managed security technologies, such as threat and vulnerability management, endpoint security, and cloud security. CSaaS allows your organization to have multiple cybersecurity resources with varying levels and areas of expertise. And since it’s ‘as a service’ everything is done for you – from tool implementation to configuration and remediation. 

Finding a single resource with all-encompassing knowledge and experience in web application security, vulnerability identification, meeting compliance requirements, detecting, and responding to cyber threats is going to be difficult.

Cybersecurity should be an ongoing process, which is where CSaaS holds value. CSaaS is a subscription-based cybersecurity that lets businesses access various security services as their business scales. 

You will get the following with a CSaaS subscription:

• Experienced cybersecurity experts.
• Security assessments.
• Security solutions that are unique to your business.
• Threat Intelligence that protects and remediates weaknesses.
• Remediate security incidents with strategies and solutions.
• Immediate remediation services for any issues that might happen.
• Effective ROI tracking for your security investments.
• Cyber insurance for breach-related costs.

Why is CSaaS a better alternative to traditional security products, especially during a recession?

CSaaS brings the best cybersecurity technologies to the market and delivers them in the form of a fully managed solution, which includes security staff, tools, and the process to make it work. If you were to buy services separately, you would end up paying individual and much steeper costs.

Besides reducing costs, CSaaS also provides you with a cohesive view of the organization’s risk exposure. It eliminates the need to hire in-house security experts. During times of a recession, this will result in savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Let’s look at a few numbers to validate our claim that CSaaS reduces your IT security costs by a considerable margin.

According to Glassdoor, when hiring a cybersecurity analyst in the US, you will have to shell out around $82,200/year on average. This is for just one cybersecurity analyst. For better care of your IT security needs, you would require a few more cybersecurity experts on board with your team.

Even conservatively estimating the requirement, you might have to shell out somewhere around $300,000 just to pay the salaries of the employees. If you are starting out, you would also need to get cybersecurity tools and set up the necessary infrastructure. All of this can leave a gaping hole in your budget during a recession. 

The best alternative here is to take a CSaaS subscription. The average cost of CSaaS is well within your budget, recession or no recession.

The best part is that you can get started for free with the entry-level, no-cost MyCyvatar plan.

You don’t have to set aside a huge sum of money all at once. During a recession, the first instinct is to tighten your purse strings and not to spend on anything that might be remotely considered recklessly extravagant.

Unfortunately, organizations across the globe are guilty of equating cybersecurity as a luxury. With CSaaS around, it will be irresponsible to not spend on your IT security, even during a recession. You will have a team of security experts who will be assigned by the CSaaS vendor to take care of your IT needs.  

The reassuring part of CSaaS is that it covers every security problem that might arise in your organization. You can increase your security cover with CSaaS based on everything that is necessary.

The CSaaS vendor will be able to advise you on the services that you require based on your size, budget, and security requirements.

While your existing IT provider may be able to offer a few services, the capabilities of a CSaaS provider are much more. There will be a conflict of interest if your company’s IT provider also manages to assess your cyber risk, as they will be evaluating the effectiveness of the network that they set up.

The CSaaS vendor assesses the security controls you have implemented to address your cybersecurity defense- process, people, and technology. In their monthly management report, they send your cyber risk score, which shows how each service performs and provides recommendations.

While most organizations require a fully managed CSaaS solution, you can also make do with individual subscriptions of certain modules. Add more subscriptions to modules as and when necessary for your cybersecurity needs.

Why should you spend on cybersecurity during recession?

Cybersecurity is an indispensable cost of doing business. It’s no longer a luxury, it’s a business necessity. Companies that have critical infrastructure should increase their cybersecurity spending during recessions.

There was a time when the budget for IT security was always an afterthought, but not anymore.

CSaaS and recession can go hand-in-hand as businesses will stop worrying about not being able to afford cybersecurity services during such times.

Here are a few reasons why you should spend on cybersecurity during a recession:

1. Cost savings

During times of recession, the spending capacity of businesses reduces as they are cautious, even if their industry isn’t affected.

CSaaS saves money for organizations in two ways:

1. Reduces the risk of a data breach 
2. Reduces the costs associated with a data breach. The average data breach cost is $4.24 million.

Hiring a CSaaS means that you will get built-in cybersecurity experts at your disposal who will take care of information security, network infrastructure, risk management, and everything related to your organization’s security.

2. Cyber insurance coverage

Most CSaaS vendors offer cyber insurance as a part of the deal. With this type of insurance, the organization gets protection against financial costs that might incur in any information security incidents.

Cyvatar’s Cysurance pays for up to $100,000 of breach-related costs.

The standard insurance that businesses carry doesn’t cover security incidents unless specifically specified. Even if they do, it only covers the damage or loss of equipment. 

Cyber insurance covers the cost of security incidents that affect integrity, confidentiality, and events that impact networks and IT systems. 

Peace of mind during a recession

The last thing you want to worry about during a recession is whether your IT systems, company infrastructure, and network are secure.

Why? Because the bigger worry is staying afloat when the markets have crashed. Also, dealing with a security issue can be much more crippling than amplifying your sales and marketing efforts to increase your bottom line.

While the ‘upcoming’ recession will affect many industries, it is safe to say that cybersecurity specialists and companies will not have to worry much as every organization is dependent on its services.

According to TechGig, since cybersecurity professionals are important for business continuity and guarding sensitive information, they are immune to any kind of recession. This is a clear indicator of the fact that cybersecurity holds a significant role in the safety of an organization irrespective of market volatility.

A data breach might result in fines, not to mention the dip in sales and less reliability in you as a brand. Getting your cybersecurity on point with a CSaaS is the ideal step, even if there is no recession.

When there is a recession looming large over the heads of the leadership team, cybersecurity might look like an afterthought. Do not make that mistake.

Even if you don’t have an internal team in place, you can get a cybersecurity subscription with CSaaS. The experts will take care of what is necessary.

One of the best parts about using the services of a CSaaS vendor is that you can get your cybersecurity support up and running immediately. No learning curve is required as the entire onus of cybersecurity is on the CSaaS team.

CSaaS is pandemic proof

When organizations across the globe witnessed a massive and extremely sudden shift to Work From Home (WFH), many of them weren’t ready for it.

They had to implement security measures on a war footing to ensure employees were connected to their network securely.

With CSaaS services being provided over the cloud, continuity was ensured during the uncertain phase of the pandemic.

Meet regulatory and compliance standards

Monitoring your compliance standards for regulatory purposes like SOC2 Type 2, FISMA, ISO, PCI DSS, GLBA, SOX, HIPAA, etc., is pivotal for effectively running your business. It becomes all the more important to be compliant with regulatory standards during a recession.

A CSaaS vendor will ensure that your assets are protected by risk management and compliance expertise. Regulations keep changing rapidly, and being compliant with them requires immense knowledge and expertise.

They have to implement security controls, maintain visibility into sensitive data within the network, report any data breaches, automate data collection for compliance reporting, assist with audits, and report cybersecurity incidents to regulators.

It is difficult for an organization to thrive when they have to bear the cross of meeting regulatory and compliance requirements without adequate support. 

Helps scale your business

The best thing about CSaaS subscriptions is that they will only provide you with what you need at this moment for your business.

Therefore, you will only be paying them for what you are using right now, and as your business and cybersecurity requirements grow, they will add more services. This helps keep your costs low and allows you to grow your business at a pace that you are comfortable with.

When you add more technology to your business operations, you increase your cyber risk. Even if you end up adding more staff on your payroll or extra tools, you may not be able to grow your business at the rate that you want.

A fixed in-house model might seem too costly, especially during a recession, which is when you want to cut back on costs everywhere. CSaaS provides you with the flexibility to only get the most required cybersecurity protection.

How do you choose the right CSaaS provider during a recession?

When you have a well-designed CSaaS plan for your business, no matter whether you are small or large, it will provide you with instant benefits.

There is no solitary CSaaS solution that is offered to everyone uniformly. Each CSaaS service provides a custom approach to your business.

The CSaaS vendor you choose should be based on the needs of your organization and must align with your risk tolerance.

Here are a few questions that you need to ask while choosing the right CSaaS service provider:

1. Do you need specific hardware or software to work with the CSaaS team? 

If you could use the existing devices and software in your organization, it would greatly reduce your overhead. When asked to purchase new software or hardware, you might want to inquire why exactly they would require you to buy it, so that you can make an informed decision. 

2. How easy is it to implement CSaaS for your organization?

You don’t want to indulge in a CSaaS provider who requests you to spend hundreds of hours understanding how to work with them efficiently. Get to know how it will be to work with them and work together only if the learning curve is short.

The program should be implemented in such a manner that there is little interaction between both parties unless there is a need to sign off on something or there is a grave issue at hand.

3. What kind of instructions will they send?

The remediation solution that they offer should have actionable steps that are easy to implement. If there are no clear instructions, it will not help your cause at all, and you will fail to protect data. During the time of a recession, this can prove dangerous if you don’t thwart the threats. 

4. How long is the onboarding process?

In a recession, you want to set up your cybersecurity solutions without delay. Not only that, most businesses want to have a fast-maturing cybersecurity program to meet compliance requirements. Find a solution that is in line with your timeline requirements.

Cyvatar’s CSaaS saves the day

What’s worse than a recession? Your customers are boycotting your brand because you have lost your reputation and credibility by falling prey to cyber-attacks.

Imagine if they could have been averted had you outsourced your cybersecurity needs to an external service provider such as a CSaaS vendor. CSaaS is recession-proof. 

The cost of cybersecurity during the recession is pretty low if you consider what will transpire when you are the victim of a cyber attack.

Do you have any other concerns not listed here that are key factors in deciding if CSaaS is what your business needs? Reach out to us and share a few details and our cybersecurity experts will help bring more clarity.