Breaking Through the Security as a Service Cloud

Security as a Service (SECaaS) adoption is on the rise, with 37.5% of companies using a hosted security application, primarily messaging security, and an additional 10.4% evaluating such services. Unlike Software as a Service (SaaS), which is typically deployed for specific functions (such as customer resource management), SECaaS applications provide enterprise wide functionality. As a result, security planners must closely scrutinize service provider’s ability to meet performance and reliability Service Level Agreements (SLA): evaluating the architecture and infrastructure of the service provider. And, the optimal architecture differs by type of service. For example for latency sensitive communications, such as web, a highly distributed multi-tenant environment is required to maximize performance while, for email security, where storage and archival of data is a concern, a dedicated, concentrated infrastructure approach is optimal to ensure segregation of customer data. The bottom line: looking at a map of dots showing SECaaS provider points of presence is insufficient; security planners must look under the hood.