Security threats Toolkit

Story: London hospital systems still disrupted by virus

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Minimizing Security-Related Total Cost of Ownership

Thinking about this incident raises the question of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of security solutions and the implications arising from incomplete protection.

We understand that isn’t just a matter of protecting the technology ecosystem, it is a question of doing so without raising costs. In today’s economy, though, the stakes have been raised. Nowadays security managers aren’t just expected to keep security-related problems at bay as cost-effectively as possible. They are also counted on to find ways to reduce the TCO of all IT assets by minimising risks, reducing network complexity and optimising resources.

In the last decade, experts have dashed off dozens of equations and analysed countless line items trying to calculate the long-winded value of IT asset TCO. Fundamentally, though, are two types of costs: direct costs and indirect costs. Time after time, experts have shown that the readily evident direct costs (such as buying software and hardware) are often overwhelmed by equally expensive indirect costs (such as running and troubleshooting said software and hardware). “For an average enterprise, indirect cost elements may contribute 50% or more of the overall TCO.” according to Gartner.

To calculate the TCO in today’s security environment, one must not only factor in the cost of technology and staff, but risks and potential lost values from not putting them in place. Hidden indirect costs could include lost productivity of end users and the time sunk by IT personnel responding to malware.

Security implementations in 4 major areas can reduce IT TCO dramatically, effectively paying for direct costs of these technologies by reducing the overall bottom line.

They are:
1. Endpoint Protection
Centrally defining and controlling a trusted application environment protects against unauthorised and malicious software and reduces TCO by minimising the amount of time staff spends reimaging machines and reacting to infections.

2. Data Protection
Offering effective data security by centrally defining trusted users and removable devices, while controlling, encrypting and auditing the inbound and outbound flow of information, mitigates the risk of data loss and brand equity, thus lowering your TCO.

3. Vulnerability Management
By detecting risks and deploying remediation automatically using a market-leading vulnerability management solution, organisations with complex environments can increase efficiency and cut TCO.

4. Reporting and Compliance
Automated reporting and compliance features embedded within vulnerability, endpoint and patch management tools reduce the cost of proving to the auditors that an organisation’s practices are uptodate.

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