Skilled, Certified Staff

Forrester said the technical know-how, experience and security certifications at an MSSP are an important component when engaging clients or being evaluated by potential clients. The research firm said the most successful MSSPs have staff with at least five years of experience and one advanced security certification. Standard device management and security information and event management expertise is a must, but skills must extend to the management of breach detection systems and other platforms that provide security analytics and threat intelligence capabilities. For example, some MSSPs are building up know-how with managing Splunk deployments and adding on security components to address threat detection. Forrester cited Silversky, recently acquired by BAE Systems, for its security operations centers staffed with 120 engineers and its newly created threat intelligence research group.