IT Security To Be Outsourced
August 2004
IT security is becoming an outside job as more firms turn to managed security service providers (MSSPs) to protect their assets. According to new research, up to 90 percent of all IT security will be outsourced by the end of the decade.In a report issued last week, Matthew Kovar of analyst firm the Yankee Group suggested that to free resources to focus on their core business and address regulatory requirements, firms will increasingly turn to security outsourcing specialists.
Services for email scanning and spam filtering have already proved popular, but Yankee expects additional activities will be farmed out. "It is much deeper than just email and spam," said Ritchie Jeune, head of Evolution Systems, which offers patch management and intrusion detection services. "It's a specialist subject and the cost to do it yourself is immense."
Although some firms have questioned the wisdom of exporting data, Yankee and other experts believe security will join in the offshoring trend. "Outside of regulatory structures - such as Switzerland and Luxembourg for banks - the resistance seems to be breaking down," said Jay Heiser, of advisory group TruSecure. "You can't think of a major security problem that has been outed by an MSSP. The only thing that could change the trend is for a level of automation to appear that makes it unnecessary."
Lawyer and IT Week columnist George Gardiner said the UK Data Protection Act can affect firms using offshore facilities, but added that firms' data controllers can export data if they take due care.
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