Security as a service (SECaaS) is a

business model A business model describes how a Company, business organization creates, delivers, and captures value creation, value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-pub ...

in which a

service provider A service provider (SP) is an organization that provides services, such as consulting, legal, real estate, communications, storage, and processing services, to other organizations. Although a service provider can be a sub-unit of the organization t ...

integrates their security services into a corporate infrastructure on a subscription basis more cost-effectively than most individuals or corporations can provide on their own when the

total cost of ownership Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirect costs of a product or service. It is a management accounting concept that can be used in full cost accounting or even eco ...

is considered. SECaaS is inspired by the "

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike o ...

" model as applied to

information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

type services and does not require on-premises hardware, avoiding substantial capital outlays. These security services often include

authentication Authentication (from ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an Logical assertion, assertion, such as the Digital identity, identity of a computer system user. In contrast with iden ...

anti-virus Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name ...

anti-malware Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name ...

/spyware,

intrusion detection An intrusion detection system (IDS) is a device or software application that monitors a network or systems for malicious activity or policy violations. Any intrusion activity or violation is typically either reported to an administrator or collec ...

, Penetration testing, and security event management, among others. Outsourced security licensing and delivery are boasting a multibillion-dollar market. SECaaS provides users with

Internet security Internet security is a branch of computer security. It encompasses the Internet, browser security, web site security, and network security as it applies to other applications or operating systems as a whole. Its objective is to establish rules ...

services providing protection from online threats and attacks such as

DDoS In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host co ...

that are constantly searching for access points to compromise websites. As the demand and use of

cloud computing Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

skyrockets, users are more vulnerable to attacks due to accessing the Internet from new access points. SECaaS serves as a buffer against the most persistent online threats.

Categories of SECaaS

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is an organization that is dedicated to defining and raising awareness of secure cloud computing. In doing so, the CSA has defined the following categories of SECaaS tools and created a series of technical and implementation guidance documents to help businesses implement and understand SECaaS. These categories include: * Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR or BC/DR) * Continuous monitoring * Data loss prevention (DLP) * Email security *

Encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

* Identity and access management (IAM) * Intrusion management * Network security * Security assessment * Penetration testing *

Security information and event management Security information and event management (SIEM) is a field within computer security that combines security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM) to enable real-time analysis of security alerts generated by applications an ...

(SIEM) * Vulnerability scanning * Web security

SECaaS models

SECaaS are typically offered in several forms: * Subscription * Payment for utilized services * Freeware, Some features free for additions have to pay: Examples include AWS, nmap.online,

IBM Cloud IBM Cloud (formerly known as Bluemix) is a set of cloud computing services for business offered by the information technology company IBM. Services As of 2021, IBM Cloud contains more than 170 services including compute, storage, networkin ...

* Free of charge: Examples include Cloudbric,

CloudFlare Cloudflare, Inc., is an American company that provides content delivery network services, cybersecurity, DDoS mitigation, wide area network services, reverse proxies, Domain Name Service, ICANN-accredited domain registration, and other se ...

, and Incapsula.

Benefits

Security as a service offers a number of benefits, including: *Cost-cutting: SECaaS eases the financial constraints and burdens for online businesses, integrating security services without on-premises hardware or a huge budget. Using a cloud-based security product also bypasses the need for costly security experts and analysts. *Consistent and uniform protection:SECaaS services provide continued protection as databases are constantly being updated to provide up-to-date security coverage. It also alleviates the issue of having separate infrastructures, instead of combining all elements in one manageable system. * Constant

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

definition updates that are not reliant on user compliance * Greater security expertise than is typically available within an organization * Faster user provisioning *

Outsourcing Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another ...

of administrative tasks, such as log management, to save time and money and allow an organization to devote more time to its core competencies * A web interface that allows in-house administration of some tasks as well as a view of the security environment and ongoing activities

Challenges

SECaaS has a number of deficiencies that make it insecure for many applications. Each individual security service request adds at least one across-the-'Net round-trip (not counting installer packages), four opportunities for the hacker to intercept the conversation: #At the send connection point going up #At the receive connection point going up #At the sending point for the return; and #At the receiving point for the return. SECaaS makes all security handling uniform so that once there is a security breach for one request, security is broken for all requests, the very broadest

attack surface The attack surface of a software environment is the sum of the different points (for " attack vectors") where an unauthorized user (the "attacker") can try to enter data to, extract data, control a device or critical software in an environment. Ke ...

there can be. It also multiplies the rewards incentive to a hacker because the value of what can be gained for the effort is dramatically increased. Both these factors are especially tailored to the resources of the nation/state-sponsored hacker. The biggest challenge for the SECaaS market is maintaining a reputation of reliability and superiority to standard non-cloud services. SECaaS as a whole has seemingly become a mainstay in the cloud market.

Cloud-based Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

website security doesn't cater to all businesses, and specific requirements must be properly assessed by individual needs. Business who cater to the end consumers cannot afford to keep their data loose and vulnerable to hacker attacks. The heaviest part in SECaaS is educating the businesses. Since

data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...

is the biggest asset for the businesses, it is up to CIOs and CTOs to take care of the overall security in the company.

References

External links