Rob Lalumondier, vice president of public sector at Sophos, said state and local government agencies looking to protect data and systems from cyberattacks should leverage technology and human expertise by using managed detection and response services.
Lalumondier told the Government Technology magazine that MDR could help agencies focus on their strategic priorities, improve their return on investment and organizational capacity.
When looking for MDR vendors, agencies should consider four factors such as assessing the depth and breadth of such companies’ cybersecurity experience, inquiring about the levels of support and interaction such vendors offer and reading independent reviews, according to Lalumondier.
He said there are two ways agencies can take to make their cybersecurity approach more flexible and these are tapping a single vendor to offer the security tools their organizations need and implementing the “bring-your-own technology” approach.
“Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses, and the right vendor can combine the strengths of those two models. They should also be able to customize service levels for anything from detailed notification to full-scale incident response,” Lalumondier added.