Alert fatigue is more than just an operational headache; it’s a critical security risk. When teams are overwhelmed, real threats can be missed amid the noise. Worse, alert fatigue can lead to slow response times, desensitization to high-priority incidents, and burnout among security professionals.

So how can organizations cut through the noise and focus on what matters most?

The Problem with “More” in Cybersecurity

Modern IT environments demand layered security architectures. While each layer is necessary, every added system brings more alerts. Some of these are redundant. Others are false positives. Many are just informational, offering little context or next steps.

Without proper integration and correlation, alerts multiply without clarity, creating:

• Unmanageable alert volumes
• Duplication across tools
• Lack of prioritization or context
• Manual triage bottlenecks

These issues make it hard to detect and respond to real threats effectively

Why Alert Fatigue Is a Security Risk

• Critical Alerts Get Buried: Security teams may overlook or ignore critical events when overwhelmed by low-priority notifications.
• Slower Response Times: Investigations are delayed as analysts sort through thousands of alerts manually.
• Increased Risk of Human Error: Repetitive alert triage leads to cognitive overload, increasing the chance of misclassifying a real threat.
• Burnout and Talent Retention Challenges: Alert fatigue contributes to burnout and the ongoing talent shortage.

Strategies to Manage The Noise and Focus on Threats

To combat alert fatigue, organizations must improve how they filter, correlate, and respond to alerts.

Implement Advanced Correlation and Contextualization

Not every alert deserves the same level of attention. Incident Response and Remediation platforms or Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions should correlate data from multiple sources, identify patterns, and highlight alerts that are part of a broader attack sequence.

Look for platforms that:

• Enrich alerts with threat intelligence
• Connect seemingly isolated incidents
• Suppress redundant or low-confidence alerts

Prioritize Alerts Based on Risk

Risk-based prioritization uses factors such as asset criticality, threat actor tactics, and potential business impact to score alerts. This allows analysts to focus first on what poses the greatest risk to the organization.

Solutions with built-in machine learning and behavioral analysis can improve prioritization over time.

Automate Repetitive Triage Work

More mature security teams are automating and orchestrating repetitive tasks such as:

• Validating indicators of compromise (IOCs)
• Gathering context from threat intel feeds
• Containing endpoints or isolating users automatically

This reduces analyst workload and improves consistency in incident response.

Establish Clear Alert Routing and Escalation Workflows

Ensure that alerts are routed to the right team members based on skill set, urgency, and severity. Set thresholds for automated escalation when a certain alert volume or severity is met.

Defined playbooks and runbooks streamline response, reduce confusion, and ensure critical alerts aren’t dropped.

Continuously Update Alerting Rules

Security environments change, and so should alerting thresholds and detection rules. Regularly review what’s triggering alerts and fine-tune your systems to reduce noise. Engage with MDR (Managed Detection and Response) providers to ensure configurations align with evolving threats.

Thrive’s Approach to Reducing Alert Fatigue

At Thrive, we help mid-market and enterprise organizations cut through cybersecurity noise with a managed detection and response service that goes beyond basic alerting. Our SOC analysts work 24x7x365 to:

• Aggregate data across tools and environments
• Use AI-driven correlation and prioritization
• Provide only actionable alerts backed by full context
• Automate containment and escalation where appropriate

Thrive doesn’t just flood your inbox with notifications. Thrive helps you identify and act on real threats fast, while filtering out the noise that clutters your inbox and wastes your team’s time.

Alert fatigue isn’t just annoying — it’s a serious obstacle to effective cybersecurity. To fight back, organizations must shift from raw alert generation to smart alert management, combining automation, correlation, and expert oversight. By filtering out the noise, your team can concentrate on what matters: stopping threats before they cause damage.

Contact Thrive to learn how we can help you reduce alert fatigue and improve your security outcomes.

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Cybersecurity threats are an unavoidable reality for businesses of all sizes. Today, protecting your IT environment requires more than just basic security measures. While most organizations understand the importance of fundamental cybersecurity practices, such as enforcing password policies and filtering out phishing emails, many remain unaware of critical security gaps that could leave them vulnerable to attacks. This is where a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment matters most to your business.

The Cybersecurity Basics Most Organizations Understand

Most businesses recognize the need for foundational cybersecurity practices. These include:

• Implementing Security Policies: Organizations generally enforce password management policies, requiring employees to use complex passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to prevent unauthorized access.
• Phishing Awareness & Email Filtering: Businesses typically educate their employees on identifying phishing emails, and many deploy email security solutions to filter out potentially malicious messages.
• Firewalls and Antivirus Software: Standard security measures are put in place, including firewalls and antivirus software, offering a baseline level of defense against known cyber threats.

While these are essential first steps, they are no longer enough to protect against modern cyber threats. Many businesses remain exposed to risks they may not fully understand or know how to address.

The Cybersecurity Threats Most Organizations Overlook

Despite best efforts, many organizations fail to account for deeper security challenges. Here are three critical risks that often go unnoticed:

1. Lack of Next-Gen Endpoint Protection

Traditional antivirus solutions are able to detect known malware, but they often struggle against advanced cyber threats that use sophisticated tactics to evade signature-based detection. Next-gen endpoint protection employs artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioral analytics to detect suspicious activity before it leads to a security breach. Without advanced protection, organizations are highly vulnerable to ransomware, zero-day exploits, and fileless malware attacks.

2. Over-Reliance on a Single Point Solution

Many businesses adopt a single security tool or platform and assume they are fully protected. However, a robust cybersecurity framework requires a multi-layered approach. Relying solely on firewalls, antivirus software, or email filtering leaves organizations exposed to threats that are able to circumvent these defenses. A comprehensive strategy should integrate network monitoring, endpoint detection and response (EDR), security information and event management (SIEM), and proactive threat intelligence.

3. Lack of Evidence-Based Cyber Policy Review

Having a cybersecurity policy in place is one thing, but ensuring it is effective through continuous review is another. Organizations often neglect to conduct regular security assessments, leaving them blind to potential vulnerabilities. Without documented evidence of security measures and periodic evaluations, businesses may struggle with compliance requirements, incident response planning, and regulatory audits.

Thrive’s Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

Why a Risk Assessment is Critical

A cybersecurity risk assessment is a systematic process that identifies, evaluates, and addresses potential security risks. It provides a clear picture of an organization’s security posture and helps prioritize risk mitigation strategies.

A thorough risk assessment includes:

• Identifying critical assets and evaluating their vulnerabilities
• Assessing potential threats and their likelihood of occurrence
• Analyzing existing security measures and identifying gaps
• Providing actionable recommendations to enhance cybersecurity resilience

The Danger of Gaps in Perspective

One of the biggest cybersecurity challenges businesses face is the inability to recognize what they don’t know. Without a comprehensive assessment, organizations may believe they have adequate security measures in place while unknowingly leaving themselves exposed.

Common gaps include:

• Assuming compliance equals security: Meeting regulatory standards does not necessarily mean an organization is secure.
• Failing to test defenses: Security policies and tools need to be regularly tested through penetration testing and red team exercises.
• Neglecting insider threats: Employees, whether malicious or negligent, can pose significant risks to data security.

The Cost of Cybersecurity Negligence

Ignoring security gaps can have severe consequences for businesses, including:

• Financial Losses: Cyberattacks can lead to costly downtime, legal fines, and reputational damage.
• Data Breaches: A single breach can compromise sensitive customer and business data, leading to legal liability and loss of customer trust.
• Regulatory Penalties: Organizations failing to meet cybersecurity regulations face fines and restrictions.
• Operational Disruptions: Cyber incidents can bring business operations to a standstill, causing missed opportunities and productivity losses.

The Benefits of Identifying and Addressing Security Gaps

Conducting a cybersecurity risk assessment and addressing security gaps offer numerous advantages:

• Enhanced Security Posture: Identifying weaknesses allows organizations to implement stronger security controls.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring adherence to industry regulations helps avoid penalties and improves trust.
• Cost Savings: Preventing cyber incidents is far less expensive than responding to a breach.
• Improved Incident Response: A well-prepared organization can quickly detect, contain, and remediate security threats.

Understanding the limitations of traditional security practices, investing in next-generation endpoint protection, adopting a comprehensive security approach, and conducting regular risk assessments are essential for businesses to safeguard critical assets. By identifying and closing security gaps, organizations can protect themselves from costly cyber incidents and ensure long-term resilience in the digital age.

Stay ahead of emerging threats—download the Gartner Top Trends in Cybersecurity for 2025 report to discover the key strategies shaping the future of cybersecurity.

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Proactive IT Management vs. Passive Monitoring

Many Managed Service Providers (MSPs) focus solely on monitoring — sending alerts when something goes wrong — leaving businesses scrambling to resolve the problem themselves. This is passive, waiting for things to happen.
Thrive’s approach is different: we don’t just notify you about an issue; we take action. Our next-gen managed services are designed to eliminate IT headaches, ensuring that your business remains secure, resilient, and productive.

Step 1: Discover and Identifying Issues Before They Escalate
The first step in Thrive’s proactive approach is early discovery. Through advanced monitoring, AI-driven insights, and personalized guidance from our team of experts, we go beyond basic alerts to detect system anomalies, threats, and inefficiencies before they turn into critical problems. Our 24x7x365 Security Operations Center (SOC) and Network Operations Center (NOC) continuously analyze system performance, security risks, and compliance gaps, ensuring real-time insights that help businesses stay ahead of potential disruptions. With around-the-clock monitoring and operations, we provide swift detection and response, minimizing downtime and strengthening overall resilience.

Step 2: Respond and Take Immediate, Decisive Action
Unlike traditional monitoring solutions that merely notify IT teams, Thrive actively responds to issues as they arise. Our 24×7 Security Operations Center (SOC) works to address security threats, network disruptions, and performance issues in real time. Whether it’s mitigating a cyberattack, preventing system downtime, or troubleshooting application failures, our response is swift and decisive.

Step 3: Remediate By Fixing the Root Cause, Not Just the Symptoms
Thrive goes beyond temporary fixes. Once an issue is identified and addressed, our experts work to remediate the root cause. This means resolving security vulnerabilities, optimizing system configurations, and implementing best practices to prevent recurrence. Our remediation process ensures that businesses don’t experience repeated disruptions due to unresolved underlying issues.

Step 4: Solve By Delivering Long-Term IT Stability
At Thrive, our goal isn’t to put out fires; it’s to ensure IT stability and resilience. Through continuous improvement, strategic guidance including our vCIO services, and best-in-class managed services, we help businesses build a stronger IT foundation. Whether it’s cloud migration, cybersecurity enhancements, or ongoing system optimizations, our approach focuses on long-term solutions rather than quick fixes.

Why Thrive’s Approach Matters

Businesses today require more than just a passive monitoring service. They need a true IT partner that actively protects, enhances, and optimizes their IT environment. Thrive’s comprehensive approach ensures:

• Minimized Downtime: Issues are addressed before they disrupt operations.
• Stronger Security Posture: Threats are detected, contained, and mitigated in real time.
• Improved IT Efficiency: Automated and human-led remediation keeps systems optimized.
• Peace of Mind: Businesses can focus on growth, knowing their IT is in expert hands.

Monitoring alone is no longer enough to keep businesses running smoothly. Contact Thrive to learn more about our proactive IT management approach that works to ensure organizations stay secure, resilient, and future-ready. Instead of waiting for issues to disrupt your business, partner with Thrive to experience a next-level IT strategy that actively keeps you ahead of the curve.

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Managing Microsoft 365 can be challenging for mid-market businesses, especially when it comes to security, compliance, and data protection. Without a clear governance strategy, organizations risk inefficiencies, unauthorized access, and compliance violations.

This guide provides practical insights and best practices to help mid-market companies take control of their Microsoft 365 environment. Learn how Thrive can help your business manage access, enforce policies, and safeguard sensitive data while ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Download now to strengthen your Microsoft 365 governance strategy.

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Stay ahead of evolving threats with Thrive’s Mid-Market Company’s Cybersecurity Guide. Tailored for growing businesses, this guide covers essential strategies to protect your IT infrastructure, avoid common security missteps, and meet compliance standards.

Learn how Thrive’s next-gen managed services deliver scalable, cost-effective solutions to safeguard your business and maintain peace of mind and ensure business growth and continuity.

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In today’s digital-first landscape, a growing number of Canadians rely on technology to drive their operations. However, with greater tech reliance comes heightened vulnerability to cyber threats. Organizations need to implement multi-layered cyber resiliency and disaster recovery solutions for effective prevention, detection, incident response, and recovery from downtime.

Under-estimating the requirements, likelihood, and consequences from cybersecurity attacks, data breaches, and malicious insider threats can result in potentially business-ending events.

Building a robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP) with IT disaster recovery strategies that are tailored to meet modern cybersecurity demands requires a blend of strategic foresight, advanced technology, and flexibility.

Understanding the Current Cyber Threat Landscape

Cyber threats continue to evolve at an alarming rate. Ransomware, phishing attacks, data breaches, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) incidents are increasing daily, often targeting critical infrastructure. Specifically, Canadian businesses spent $1.2 billion recovering from cybersecurity incidents last year, double what was paid a couple of years earlier. Canadian organizations, particularly small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), face challenges maintaining strong defenses due to limited resources and a lack of cybersecurity expertise. For example, RCMP’s cybercrime investigative teams experienced ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining staff with the needed technical skills, resulting in a 30% position vacancy since January 2024, affecting their capacity to address cybercrime.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, there have been over 21,604 reports of fraud in Canada with over $284 million stolen since the start of 2024. The risk of downtime, data and monetary loss, and reputational damage makes having a robust business continuity plan essential.

The Role of Business Continuity Planning in Cyber Resilience

Business Continuity Planning involves creating systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to a company’s operations. For Canadian businesses, a well-crafted BCP ensures critical business functions continue operating during and after a disaster—whether it’s a natural event, cyberattack, IT system failure, or sudden disruption to your workforce or critical third-parties. Effective BCPs must now include comprehensive strategies for maintaining cybersecurity, data integrity, and IT infrastructure resilience.

Cyber resilience is a key component of BCPs because business disruptions are more likely to come from cyber incidents than physical ones, like a natural disaster. However, traditional approaches to BCP, which focused solely on backup systems and disaster recovery, are no longer sufficient. Organizations must focus on agile solutions that incorporate robust cybersecurity measures into their continuity planning.

Offering More Choices for Greater Cyber Resilience

The backbone of a strong IT continuity plan lies in offering businesses choices—choices that ensure they can tailor their strategies based on specific operational needs and risk profiles. Canadian businesses are looking for flexibility in the following key areas:

Cloud-Based vs. On-Premise Solutions: Different managed Cloud solutions provide Canadian businesses with greater resilience by diversifying their IT infrastructure. Cloud-based backups, for instance, ensure that businesses can recover critical data even if local systems are compromised during a cyberattack. Offering options to choose between Cloud-only, or on-premise allows businesses to implement a tailored approach that best suits their needs and budget.

Managed Services for Cybersecurity: Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) offer businesses the ability to offload critical cybersecurity functions to experts. By partnering with an MSSP, businesses gain access to advanced threat detection, incident response, and compliance management. MSSPs also ensure that companies stay current with the latest security patches and updates, further strengthening BCP. Advanced MSSPs like Thrive, which provide next-generation cybersecurity solutions, are key to ensuring cyber resilience. Thrive’s integrated approach to cybersecurity management helps organizations defend against advanced threats, mitigate risks, and recover from attacks quickly.

Autonomous Penetration Testing: Autonomous penetration testing is a cutting-edge service that Canadian businesses can leverage to strengthen their cyber resilience. By continuously identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in IT systems, businesses can ensure that their BCP remains aligned with current cyber risks. This proactive approach helps organizations to stay ahead of potential attacks, giving them more control over their cybersecurity posture.

Managed Detection and Response: MDR services are a human-led approach to cybersecurity aimed at detecting and mitigating threats to networks, cloud infrastructure, servers, and SaaS applications in real time. Thrive combines cutting-edge technology with the expertise of skilled cybersecurity professionals to provide frontline protection from costly cyber threats such as ransomware, phishing, and crypto-jacking.

Endpoint Detection and Response: Specifically designed as a proactive security solution for workstations and servers, EDR reduces security risk by detecting malicious activity, preventing malware infection, and disabling potential threats. EDR can be difficult to implement and utilize to its full potential without experienced IT support resources who can quickly respond to threats to endpoints when they happen.

Scalable Disaster Recovery Solutions: Not all businesses require the same level of disaster recovery preparedness. Small businesses may need basic backup and recovery solutions, while larger enterprises might require more robust systems that ensure minimal downtime. Scalable managed disaster recovery services allow companies to pay only for the resources they need, with the flexibility to scale as their business grows.

Scalability also extends to cybersecurity solutions such as real-time network monitoring, automated vulnerability scanning, and penetration testing, which can be adapted as companies’ needs evolve.

Strengthening Business Continuity Through Collaboration

Canadian businesses are also realizing the importance of collaboration when it comes to continuity planning. Cyber resilience is not achieved in isolation; it requires coordination across teams, departments, and external partners. For example, partnering with third-party cybersecurity firms and MSSPs, like Thrive, ensures that companies have access to the latest security tools and expertise. Thrive has deep experience in applying NIST and CIS frameworks and best practices for businesses and organizations of all sizes and industries.

Moreover, the collaborative efforts between the private sector and the Canadian government, through initiatives such as the CyberSecure Canada certification, help SMBs implement recognized cybersecurity standards. This certification helps businesses strengthen their cybersecurity posture while providing assurance to their customers and partners.

By adopting flexible, scalable, and collaborative approaches, businesses can not only survive a cyber incident but also thrive in an increasingly complex threat landscape. With the right mix of tools and strategies, Canadian businesses can ensure that their IT infrastructure remains robust, responsive, and ready for whatever challenges lie ahead. Contact Thrive today to learn more about how our Canada-based managed services can help your organization stay resilient against ongoing cyber threats.

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The State of Manual Penetration Testing

Traditional pen testing involves cybersecurity professionals simulating an attack to identify weak points in an organization’s network. These tests, often conducted quarterly or annually as part of an overarching vulnerability management plan, provide a snapshot of a company’s system weaknesses and identify vulnerabilities at a specific moment. However, as cyber threats evolve rapidly and become more sophisticated, these infrequent tests can leave businesses exposed between test cycles. Additionally, manual pen testing requires significant company resources, both in terms of time and expertise.

Challenges with Manual Penetration Testing:

• Infrequent Testing: Cyber threats are constantly evolving, and manual tests are often conducted too infrequently to keep up. This leaves gaps where newly discovered weak points and vulnerabilities could go undetected until the next scheduled test.
• Time-Consuming: A traditional pentest can take days or even weeks to complete, depending on the size and complexity of the system. This delay can slow down the remediation process, leaving businesses vulnerable for longer.
• Resource Intensive: Skilled cybersecurity experts are essential for effective manual penetration testing, and the process often diverts internal resources. These professionals must be well-versed in the latest attack vectors and testing methodologies, which can make the tests costly and difficult to scale.
• Human Error: Despite their expertise, penetration testers are still human and can make mistakes or overlook system weaknesses, especially when dealing with large, complex systems and the myriad of security tools companies already utilize

Thrive’s Autonomous Penetration Testing: A Smarter Solution

Thrive’s autonomous penetration testing service offers a modern, scalable alternative to traditional manual tests. Using advanced algorithms and automation, Thrive’s black box solution continuously simulates attacks on your network, identifying weaknesses and vulnerabilities in real-time, while ensuring that no gaps go unchecked between testing cycles.

How Autonomous Penetration Testing Works:

Autonomous penetration testing (pen testing) is designed to provide organizations an affordable, unbiased, and thorough view of their system. Highlights include:
Regular Testing: Unlike manual tests that happen periodically, autonomous penetration testing operations can be run more frequently, providing up-to-date insights into your security posture. As new weaknesses emerge or your system changes, they’re identified immediately, allowing for a proactive approach to risk management.

• Faster Results: Automation significantly reduces the time it takes to conduct a penetration test. What could take a manual tester days or weeks to uncover, Thrive’s pen testing can detect in hours. This speed translates into faster remediation, minimizing the window of opportunity for attackers.
• Cost-Effective: By leveraging automation, Thrive’s service is more scalable and cost-effective than manual penetration testing. Organizations can run more frequent tests without needing to allocate additional internal resources or hire expensive external experts.
• Reduced Human Error: Thrive’s pen testing eliminates the risk of human error. With sophisticated machine learning algorithms and a comprehensive approach to testing, every potential vulnerability is thoroughly examined and flagged for remediation.

Actionable Remediation Insights

The true value of penetration testing isn’t just in identifying system weaknesses but also in providing a clear path to remediation. Thrive’s autonomous penetration testing service delivers detailed remediation guidance that outlines the vulnerabilities found, along with actionable recommendations to address each issue.

The test results dashboard gives you a digestible way to review prioritized vulnerabilities based on the level of risk they pose to your business, ensuring that the most critical issues are addressed first. It also shows the attack path in which a real-world cyber criminal can take to get into your system, giving you a high-level view of how seemingly small weak points can lead to catastrophic breaches. With clear guidance, businesses can take the necessary steps to patch vulnerabilities and weak points of entry, improve security configurations, and reduce their overall risk.

Boost Your Security Posture with Thrive

The cyber threat landscape is constantly changing, and businesses need a solution that evolves just as quickly. Thrive’s autonomous penetration testing service offers a proactive, cost-effective way to uncover weaknesses in your system and provide clear, actionable steps to mitigate risk. By adopting this automated approach, businesses can strengthen their security posture, stay ahead of emerging threats, and ultimately reduce the likelihood of a successful cyberattack. Download our definitive guide to autonomous penetration testing today!

Don’t wait for the next manual penetration test to uncover hidden vulnerabilities. Contact Thrive today to learn more about how our autonomous penetration testing service can help your business stay secure and stay ahead of threats.

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As cyber adversaries become more advanced, the need for proactive and continuous security measures is crucial for organizations. Autonomous penetration testing has emerged as a cutting-edge solution to this pressing challenge, providing businesses with a robust and efficient means to identify vulnerabilities and system weaknesses before they can be exploited.

Download our definitive guide to autonomous penetration testing that dives into the importance of why businesses need to adopt autonomous penetration testing as part of their cybersecurity plan, implementing a penetration testing plan for your business, what to do with your testing results, and more.

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What is Cyber Insurance?

Cyber insurance, also known as cyber liability insurance, is a specialty insurance that aims to cover the financial losses that organizations have as a result of ransomware attacks, data breaches, and other cyber incidents. Having cyber insurance can lessen the financial impact of a breach, which costs organizations an average of US$4.35 million per breach, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach report. Due to the rise in payouts from security breaches, insurers have increased their cybersecurity requirements for companies before they can get coverage. Having cyber insurance can protect organizations with the following coverage:

• Financial loss due to business disruption
• Incident response, system repairs, forensic investigations and other services after an attack
• Legal expenses
• Cost of notifying customers of hacks where personally identifiable information (PII) has been compromised
• Ransom payments
• Public Relations to deal with reputational management post-breach

How Businesses Can Meet Cyber Insurance Requirements

There are many ways in which companies can improve their cybersecurity posture and meet more rigorous insurance requirements at the same time. Having a solid IT framework can help prevent attacks before they happen, and also make your organization a low risk insurance candidate.

For companies trying to match up to potential cyber insurance requirements, Thrive recommends following the CIS 18 Critical Security Controls which provides a roadmap for establishing basic cyber hygiene and then the steps to mature your approach. Of course, you will also want to understand the specific needs of your insurer and ensure you’re meeting those, but the CIS controls are a great starting point for insurance as well as complying with other regulations and standards as part of a cybersecurity compliance program.

To first understand your cybersecurity posture, conducting a cybersecurity risk assessment can help you understand potential gaps and weaknesses. A comprehensive risk assessment can also help prioritize areas that need immediate attention and align your security measures with the specific risks your business faces.

Other ways to improve your cybersecurity posture include:

• Patch Management and Vulnerability Remediation
• Advanced Threat Detection and Response
• Data Encryption and Secure Communication
• Employee Training and Awareness
• Compliance with Industry Standards
• Regular Data Backups

How Thrive Can Help

Working with a managed service provider, like Thrive, provides organizations with the specialized knowledge and tools needed to enhance their cybersecurity program and meet insurance requirements.

Thrive provides comprehensive, 24x7x365 services to help get your organization’s cybersecurity stack prepared for any attacks or breaches that may try to compromise your systems. Thrive offers Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services that aim to proactively detect and mitigate threats in real time. Additionally, Thrive provides patching and vulnerability management services to ensure that your systems are up-to-date and best protected.

Strengthening your cybersecurity program is a multifaceted process that requires a combination of technical controls, employee training, and compliance with industry standards. By implementing these best practices, businesses can not only reduce their risk of cyber incidents but also meet the increasingly stringent requirements set by cyber insurance providers. In today’s threat landscape, a proactive approach to cybersecurity is essential for safeguarding your business and ensuring that you are fully covered in the event of an incident.

Contact Thrive today to learn more about how an MSP can help you boost your security posture and get you cyber insurance ready.

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• CIO/CISO
• Infrastructure and Operations
• MSSP/MDR/EDR

According to the Gartner report, How Midsize Enterprise CIOs Create an Effective Cybersecurity Operations Strategy, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) offer a strategic solution to this problem by providing outsourced IT professionals with specialized expertise, ensuring that MSEs can protect their IT infrastructure effectively.

The Cybersecurity Challenge for MSEs

MSEs often operate with constrained budgets and limited staff, making it difficult to allocate sufficient resources to cybersecurity. The demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals far exceeds the supply, driving up salaries and making it even harder for MSEs to compete with larger organizations for top talent.

47% of MSE CIOs and the most senior IT leaders use external managed services to handle skills gaps in both cyber and information security -2023 Gartner MSE Baseline survey

A small internal IT team without satisfactory support and resources can lead organizations to have many business-halting cybersecurity issues, such as:

• Lack of security measures across the organization, such as access controls, threat detection, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) setups
• Increased vulnerabilities due to lack of scheduled assessments regular updates, like OS and 3rd-party application patching
• Risk of not meeting regulatory requirements, which are constantly changing and require an agile approach to cybersecurity

How Managed Service Providers Bridge the Gap

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Managed Detection & Response (MDR) can offer a more comprehensive solution to these security challenges by providing outsourced IT professionals who bring specialized cybersecurity expertise to the table, across all industries. According to Gartner, by 2026, 70% of midsize enterprises’ security portfolios will be outsourced, up from the 40% of outsourced security portfolios today. Here’s how MSPs can help MSEs maintain a robust IT stack:

• Access to Expertise: MSPs allow access to cybersecurity experts who stay up-to-date with the latest threats and security technologies. Partnering with an MSP allows MSEs to tap into a wealth of knowledge without the overhead costs associated with hiring full-time staff.
• 24x7x365 Monitoring and Support: MSPs offer round-the-clock monitoring and support, ensuring that any suspicious activity is detected and addressed promptly, so that businesses can operate as usual. 24x7x365 vigilance is critical in mitigating the impact of potential breaches.
• Scalable Solutions: As MSEs grow their businesses, their cybersecurity needs may evolve. MSPs provide scalable solutions that can be tailored to meet changing requirements and can adapt to the needs of their clients.
• Regulatory Compliance: MSPs have extensive experience in helping businesses comply with industry regulations. They can assist in implementing the necessary controls and documentation required to meet compliance standards, reducing the risk of costly penalties and reputational damage.
• Cost-Effective: Hiring a full-time cybersecurity team can be expensive for MSEs. MSPs offer a cost-effective alternative by providing access to top-tier cybersecurity talent on a subscription basis. This allows MSEs to benefit from expert services without the financial burden of maintaining an in-house team.

How Thrive Can Help

Hiring an MSP, like Thrive, can be the answer for many MSEs looking to build out their IT infrastructure, without having to hire FTEs. Unlike security vendors that only focus on MDR, Thrive can provide companies with IT outsourcing that taps into experts in all three roles: CIO/CISO; Infrastructure and Operations; and MSSP/MDR/EDR. With Thrive, MSEs have access to first-in-class solutions that will allow them to feel confident in their security framework so they can focus on meeting their business goals. With Thrive, organizations have access to:

• vCISO: Thrive’s virtual CISO offering aims to design, develop, and maintain a customized Information Security Program that complements your business’s overall strategy and risk tolerance
• Infrastructure and Operations: Thrive works with you to tailor a cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure plan to help meet your business goals. Thrive’s team of experts work round the clock to help bolster your IT operations with solutions, such as vulnerability management.
• Managed Detection and Response (MDR): Thrive’s MDR solution continuously monitors your network, endpoints, and other critical assets for signs of suspicious activity or security breaches
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Thrive’s 24x7x365 support from our Security Operations Center (SOC), ensures that after the EDR solution identifies gaps in your IT stack, our experts move in to remedy the issues, ensuring business continuity

Contact Thrive today to learn more about how our managed IT services can help your organization better round out your IT stack.

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