5 Things to Look for in an IT Security Consultant

Organisations are continually at risk of security breaches and cyber attacks, through deficits in their own systems, people and processes and potential vulnerabilities in their environment that are leaving them exposed to malicious threat actors.

Preventing breaches and attacks is the first step to ensuring the safety and security of everyone in your workplace, and that of your customers’. An IT Security Consultant can help you determine what you need to do and can recommend the right solutions to safeguard your systems  (software, and hardware), and identify and remediate any vulnerabilities in your networks and business processes.

When hiring a consultant, these guidelines will help you ensure you get the quality and service your business requires:

1.  Experience – A cybersecurity company with extensive experience in providing IT security consultancy will have the supporting credentials and qualifications to verify their authenticity. These are generally displayed on their website, but you should conduct your own checks and balances to ensure their legitimacy. Customer testimonials and business longevity can also be a key indicator of experience in a desired field.

2.   Services – The goal of an effective IT Security Consultant is to help you manage and prevent data breaches and cyber-attacks both now and in the long run. They should be able to create bespoke security systems to suit your organisation and transform your approach to cybersecurity. Delivery of services and solutions should be seamless.

3.     Reliability – An IT Security Consultancy should have a knowledgeable and experienced team of in-house experts who can share their best-in-class expertise with your organisation. They should be easily contactable, readily available and offer solutions that are balanced, flexible, and allow you to focus on core business activities, while meeting compliance, regulatory, and security requirements. 

4.     Approach – Get to know the consultants’ approach to providing cybersecurity solutions to their clients. It’s important for the IT security consultancy process to be tailored to your needs with solutions that are customised to your IT environment. 

5.     Good Reviews – Do your research! More and more businesses are sharing their experiences (both good and bad) online, and in turn are relying on the feedback of others to assist in the decision making process when it comes to engaging quality consultants. It’s important to remember that while reviews can be extremely valuable, they can also be misleading. Ensure your information has been reliably sourced before giving it weight.


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