For SMEs: What to look for when choosing a cybersecurity solution?

We know that data is the cornerstone of your company and that keeping it secure is the foundation of success. You're looking for a cybersecurity solution to protect your data, but you don't know where to start. Finding something that perfectly fits your cybersecurity needs can be confusing.

You're probably feeling lost due to the number of security options that exist in 2021. Anxiety takes over as you need to find the most effective cybersecurity for your company. But, what are the precautions and main characteristics that you should observe in a cybersecurity solution for a small or medium-sized company?

In this article, you will learn the main mistakes to avoid and tips to help you make the decision and find a better cyber solution for a small or medium-sized company.

5 mistakes to avoid when choosing a cybersecurity solution

Choosing a cybersecurity solution can be difficult, but not impossible, as long as you know your own needs and keep an eye out for potential pitfalls. To help you, here are some common mistakes to avoid during your search.

1. Not knowing your own risks

If news of a data breach or cyberattack sends a shiver down your spine, you may already understand something about your own risks. 

Cyberattacks can cause loss of data, reputation and, of course, money. According to the 2020 Data Breach Cost Report , sponsored by IBM Security and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, data breaches cost an average of R$5.88 million for companies in Brazil .

Solution sellers know how frightening data loss can be, and they also know that some of their potential customers are concerned about breaches, but they are also new to the subject and don't know the risks themselves. Unethical sellers take advantage of these concerns by offering their product as a solution even if it does not protect against the company's specific risks, causing the buyer to spend time and money on a solution that cannot protect their assets.

When you're shopping for a cybersecurity solution, it's important to know what your risks are. Do your computers break due to viruses? Is there no traffic control between the internal network and the internet? Are contributors clicking on links they shouldn't?

If you are aware of the risks, (unethical) salespeople cannot push their product as a solution to problems that your company does not have.

2. Receive only insights

Due to SMBs' limited budgets, it is imperative that the solution purchased not only identifies issues, but provides tools to remediate vulnerabilities. Small and medium-sized businesses need action, not just insights, solutions so that security professionals can be effective in blocking risks.

3. Thinking you can do everything in-house

Why spend money on a cybersecurity solution when you have an in-house team, right? If you are a coordinator or IT professional, you must have heard this from your colleagues. Some even think that security should be the role and obligation of the IT department.

While good information security practices are everyone's responsibility, cybersecurity for an entire company is a big job, and your internal team may need tools to manage it. In fact, many companies look to outside help when it comes to security.

Don't be shy about getting outside help. Keep in mind that a single breach could cost more than the cost of outsourcing part of your cybersecurity operation.

3. Not giving a demonstration

It's always useful to try before you buy, especially when you're dealing with something as important as information security. You'll want to test the product internally to make sure it does what it's supposed to do and to understand if it's the right product for your company's needs.

If you can't get a demonstration, at least try a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, with a full refund of your investment, if the product doesn't meet your needs and expectations in the first month.

4. Not taking legislation into account

Your company probably must comply with specific information security laws. Government, finance, healthcare – all sectors have their own regulations, standards and best practices when it comes to information security. You may also be required to comply with specific standards, such as GDPR, based on your location or the location of your customers.

Don't forget these regulations when it comes time to choose a cybersecurity solution. Not all solutions are designed to work with all sets of regulations. You should choose a solution that makes it easier to comply , not harder.

5. Not knowing the opinion of other customers

You read reviews before going to a restaurant or purchasing a product online. There's no reason why you shouldn't do the same check before choosing a cybersecurity solution.

Instead of simply taking the salesperson at their word, reach out to a few customers and ask them about their experience. You may want to find customers specifically in your industry and ask how the provider has helped them with compliance. You can also find customers who have left and ask why.

If you don't find customers on the solution's website, ask the consultant to introduce you to 5 other client companies in the same sector as yours so you can do a quick search. For example, if you are an accounting firm in São Paulo, ask which other firms in the region already use the services and send an email or make a quick call to get their opinion.

No matter what questions you ask, this type of research will tell you things about the solution that you won't get from the vendor itself.

5 Tips to help with your decision to get the best cybersecurity solution

A common misconception about cybersecurity is that simply grabbing the “latest and greatest” security solutions from the most well-known cybersecurity companies is a surefire way to protect a business from online threats.

While the best cybersecurity solutions can help, you are often using a war cannon to bombard an anthill. In other words, there may be another, cheaper solution that could perfectly fit your company's security needs.

The question is: how can you be sure you are choosing the best data security solution for your company?

Well, like many important business decisions, there is a process you can use to optimize your decision to get the best protection without impacting your day-to-day operations:

1. Assess your cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities

Remember the first mistake to avoid? Well, it's also our first tip.  

Before you set out to choose a cybersecurity solution, be sure to carefully evaluate what you need to protect, what your risks are if your protection fails, and how attackers are likely to breach your current cybersecurity measures.

This typically means using three different cybersecurity assessments:

1. Asset audit . An asset audit looks at all of the various components of your network to determine what all the endpoints of your network are, what data and software programs are on those endpoints, and what your overall network looks like. This is the first step in determining what your cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities are, as it provides a complete view of what is on your network.
2. Risk assessment . Here, you evaluate what's on your network to determine what risks you face—like what would happen if your primary data center went offline or if someone illicitly gained direct access to your database. Establishing your biggest cybersecurity risks and what their impacts would be can be vital to prioritizing your cybersecurity efforts.
3. Vulnerability assessment . Once you've determined what your most significant risk factors are, it's important to assess how well protected your network is against various types of cyber threats. Here, you'll check for things like outdated security patches in software, assess the level of cybersecurity awareness in your company, and even run security tests that could expose previously undetected weaknesses.

After running all of these assessments and organizing the findings into a comprehensive report, you should have a solid understanding of what's on your network, what needs more protection, and how vulnerable your network is to attack. This will help you in your search for data security solutions by letting you know what types of protection you need.

2. Consider your plans for future growth

Scalability is a major concern when choosing cybersecurity solutions. A scalable solution can grow with your business without significantly impacting your resources, while a non-scalable tool may begin to lose effectiveness or impact your business's performance as you scale your operations.

Therefore, when choosing a cybersecurity solution, consider your plans for growing your business. Where do you plan to be in a year? How about five years? Consider your long-term and short-term growth goals and how this might impact your cybersecurity needs before choosing any enterprise security solution.

3. Consider your current security tools

Before adding a new security solution to your business network, consider how that solution will integrate with your existing data security measures.

Is there already a data security tool that performs a task the new one was designed to do? If so, does the new security solution improve on the old tool in any way? If you already have a tool that does the same thing and the new solution doesn't improve it in some way, you might want to reconsider spending time and money on integrating a new tool.

However, if support for the old security solution is being phased out, replacing it with another tool that does the same thing makes sense.

4. Consider the “ease of use” of the new tool

Adding a new data security solution will likely have a significant impact on your existing security procedures – which can make or break the usability of your network.

The problem with negatively impacting the user experience (UX) of your business network is that it can make tasks more time-consuming for employee users. Even worse, if you have customer-facing applications that run on your network, poor UX can drive them away. Therefore, it is important to consider how your new data security solution will affect your current security procedures. Some questions to ask include:

• Does the new solution add or remove steps from my current security processes?
• What new information, if any, will employees/customers with user accounts have to memorize?
• How will the new security solution affect network performance (will it cause slowdowns or other issues that make logging in and using assets on the network difficult/time-consuming)?
• How can employees try to bypass the new security solution?
• What training may need to be implemented to familiarize employees with the new solution?

Ideally, you want to make sure that your new cybersecurity solution doesn't impact your current security processes and doesn't overwhelm your network. However, there may be times when you need to balance your need for security with your need for ease of use.

5. Consider humanized and accessible support

Perhaps you have already had a bad experience when purchasing a product or service, where up until the time of purchase you received first-class service and then fell into oblivion without support to help you handle or configure the product. This means that you will not be able to use all the features and will have a frustrating experience.

Quality support, onboarding or after-sales is essential for the successful use of a cybersecurity solution. It's not enough to just have a help page with extensive texts or a bot that just makes you angry. You need to be human and have the channels available to serve you as quickly as possible. After all, security is not a secondary issue that can be left aside.

Here are some important points about support to take into account:

• Telephone support center 5×8 or 7×24
• Service via chat or WhatsApp
• Help center with documentation and tutorials
• Help Desk to track calls via email

Additional considerations when making your cybersecurity solution selection

1. Do they understand the business they are protecting, in other words, do they understand your business?
2. Can they speak in layman's terms to effectively communicate technical language?
3. Do they provide analogies to help buyers and non-technical end users understand technical concepts?
4. Are they up to date with the latest technologies, trends, and issues like attacks and threats?
5. Are they subject matter experts and proficient in solutions, services and processes?
6. Are they highly collaborative to achieve your business goals and objectives?
7. Are they continuing learners with up-to-date skills?
8. Do they solve problems with attention to detail?
9. Can they be your trusted partner?

What should I do now?

Now that you know 5 mistakes to avoid and 5 tips to keep in mind when choosing a cybersecurity company, you're ready to take the next step: finding the best fit for your business and budget. 

At Lumiun, we are passionate about helping our customers and anyone who has questions about cybersecurity in small and medium businesses. Our team is ready to understand your needs and explain how our solution can or cannot help.

We are committed to providing our customers with 24/7 incident response with proprietary threat intelligence that helps us make informed decisions. Our cybersecurity experts are at the top of their game and will be there for you if you knock on our door. And if you do, our team of security experts is eager to answer your questions at any time to provide the professional insight and transparency you deserve.

If you want to know more about how we can protect your data against cyber threats, speak to our consultant . Or, if you prefer, request a free trial to see in practice how our solution works and whether it meets your expectations and needs.