Partnering with Israeli automated vulnerability scanning specialist Beyond Security, and marketing the Web-based service under the Beyond Security Australia banner, Janteknology MD Glenn Miller said the service is a way of reducing the cost of ownership of IT security.
-Prior to the introduction of this online automated vulnerability scanning service, the process of vulnerability scanning has been very expensive, often costing end-users many thousands of dollars," Miller said. -In introducing this service into the Australasian marketplace, I believe we are providing a valuable, cost-effective service which will enable any organisation to better manage its IT security risks."
However, whilst many IT companies may look to outsource security due to lack of internal skilled resources, there's a balance to be met between what services are outsourced and what are retained in-house, according to Miller.
-By all means outsource the stuff that has the high cost of ownership if that's practical," he said. -But putting it all out there, physically remote from your own control and your own systems and relying on the integrity of someone else's security for your own security is nonsensical," especially when the big problem for organisations looking to outsource is outsourcing with people who are truly competent, he added.
In light of this, Miller says that automated vulnerability scanning, which checks for more than 750 known vulnerabilities and is constantly updated as new exploits are discovered, provides a way for an organisation to -independently" audit service level agreements with a managed service providers (MSPs) during the current trend towards outsourcing security services.
-Clearly if all of these vulnerabilities exist and they're responsible for them then you've got something to beat them over the head with," Miller said. -Which is a damn site more efficient and a damn site less costly than beating up a security provider after a disaster has occurred," he added.
In the current climate of increased cyber crime risk, new malicious codes and the ongoing discovery of vulnerabilities in existing software, organisations need to have a very clear picture of the state of their IT security, according to Miller, because at the end of the day it's the IT manager and the managing director of an organisation who are going to be -strung up by the shareholders and the board because they breached security," he said.
-They will ultimately be responsible and organisations will be held accountable for third-party consequential damages. It's only a matter of when not if."
