For SMEs: What to consider when choosing a cybersecurity solution?

We know that data is the most important part of your business 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 overwhelmed by the sheer number of security options available in 2021. Anxiety is building as you try to find the most effective cybersecurity solution for your business. But what are the key considerations and features you should look for in a cybersecurity solution for a small or medium-sized business?

In this article, you will learn about the main mistakes to avoid and tips to help you decide and find the best cybersecurity solution for your small or medium-sized business.

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 research.

1. Not knowing your own risks

If news of a data breach or cyberattack sends a shiver down your spine, you probably already understand some of the risks involved. 

Cyberattacks can cause data loss, reputational damage, and, of course, financial losses. According to the 2020 Cost of Data Breach Report , sponsored by IBM Security and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, a data breach costs companies in Brazil an average of R$5.88 million .

The vendors of these solutions know how frightening data loss can be, and they also know that some of their potential clients are concerned about breaches, but they are also laypeople in the field and unaware of their own risks. Unethical vendors take advantage of these concerns, offering their product as a solution, even if it doesn't protect against the specific risks faced by the company, causing the buyer to spend time and money on a solution that cannot protect their assets.

When you're buying a cybersecurity solution, it's important to know what the risks are. Are your computers crashing due to viruses? Is there a lack of control over traffic between the internal network and the internet? Are employees clicking on links they shouldn't be clicking on?

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

2. Receiving only insights

Due to the limited budgets of SMEs, it is essential that the acquired solution not only identifies problems but also provides tools to correct vulnerabilities. Small and medium-sized enterprises need action, not just insights, from solutions so that security professionals can be effective in blocking risks.

3. Thinking that you can do everything internally

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

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

Don't be ashamed to seek outside help. Remember that a single breach can cost more than outsourcing part of your cybersecurity operation.

3. Not giving a demonstration

It's always helpful 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 demo, at least try a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, with a full refund if the product doesn't meet your needs and expectations within the first month.

4. Not taking legislation into consideration

Your company likely has to 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 the LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law), 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 with the laws , not harder.

5. Not knowing the opinion of other customers

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

Instead of simply accepting the salesperson's word, seek out some clients and ask them about their experience. You might want to locate clients specifically in your industry and ask how the provider helped them with compliance. You could also find clients who left and ask why.

If you can't find clients on the solution's website, ask the consultant to present you with 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 themselves.

5 Tips to Help You Decide on the Best Cybersecurity Solution

A common misconception about cybersecurity is that simply picking the "latest and best" security solutions from the most well-known cybersecurity companies is a surefire way to protect a business against online threats.

While the best cybersecurity solutions can help, often you're using a 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're choosing the best data security solution for your company?

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

1. Assess your cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities

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

Before choosing a cybersecurity solution, be sure to carefully assess 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 examines all the various components of your network to determine what all the endpoints on 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 your cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as it provides a complete overview of what is on your network.
2. Risk assessment . Here, you assess what's on your network to determine what risks you face – such as what would happen if your primary data center were shut down or if someone gained illicit direct access to your database. Establishing your biggest cybersecurity risks and what their impacts would be can be vital for prioritizing your cybersecurity efforts.
3. Vulnerability assessment . After determining your most significant risk factors, it's important to assess how well protected your network is against various types of cyber threats. Here, you'll check things like outdated security patches on your software, assess the level of cybersecurity awareness in your company, and even run security tests that can expose previously undetected weaknesses.

After conducting all 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 attacks. This will help you in your search for data security solutions, allowing you to 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 along with your business without significantly impacting your resources, while a non-scalable tool may begin to lose effectiveness or impact your company's performance as you expand your operations.

Therefore, when choosing a cybersecurity solution, consider your business growth plans. 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 the task for which the new one was designed? If so, does the new security solution improve upon 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 any way, you should reconsider spending the time and money on integrating a new tool.

However, if support for the older security solution is being discontinued, 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 could improve or diminish 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 running on your network, a poor UX can drive them away. Therefore, it's important to consider how the 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 network assets difficult/time-consuming)?
• How can employees try to circumvent the new security solution?
• What training might need to be implemented to familiarize employees with the new solution?

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

5. Consider providing humane and accessible support

Perhaps you've already had a bad experience buying a product or service, where up until the moment of purchase you received excellent service, but then you were forgotten without any support to help you use or configure the product. This prevents you from enjoying all the features and leads to a frustrating experience.

Quality support, onboarding, and after-sales service are essential for the successful use of a cybersecurity solution. It's not enough to simply have a help page with lengthy texts or a bot that only irritates you. It needs to be human and have channels readily available to assist you as quickly as possible. After all, security is not a secondary issue that can be ignored.

Here are some important points to consider regarding support:

• Telephone support center 5x8 or 7x24
• Customer service via chat or WhatsApp
• Help center with documentation and tutorials
• Help Desk for tracking support tickets via email

Additional considerations when selecting your cybersecurity solution

1. Do they understand the business they are protecting, in other words, do they understand your business?
2. Can they use layman's terms to effectively communicate technical language?
3. Do they provide analogies to help non-technical buyers and end users understand technical concepts?
4. Are they up-to-date with the latest technologies, trends, and issues, such as attacks and threats?
5. Are they subject matter experts and proficient in solutions, services, and processes?
6. Are they highly collaborative in achieving their business goals and objectives?
7. Are they lifelong 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 one that best suits your business and budget. 

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

We are committed to providing our clients 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 at your disposal should you knock on our door. And if you do, our team of security experts will be eager to answer your questions at any time to provide the professional insight and transparency you deserve.

If you'd like to learn more about how we can protect your data from cyber threats, speak to our consultant . Or, if you prefer, request a free trial to see firsthand how our solution works and whether it meets your expectations and needs.