If you're like me, you hate making decisions. This explains why, for example, I leave the choice to my girlfriend on nights when we order in. As a self-proclaimed foodie, she welcomes the challenge and is perfectly content sifting through the numerous food delivery apps on her phone. I may nod or shake my head when asked to entertain an option, but generally I'd just prefer her to select - and I'll find something on the menu that I'd like to eat. The occasional craving aside, if it were up to me, I'd be ordering from the same couple of restaurants every night.
The aggravation, anxiety and mental paralysis that can result from having to make decisions is a real thing. But inevitably decisions have to be made. And oftentimes there are bigger, more consequential stakes at play than deciding from where you are going to chow down.
For more significant purchasing decisions - especially in the corporate world - it's appropriate and often required to apply considerable due diligence. For security professionals specifically, the choices from whom to buy solutions has swelled to record heights. (As context, the recently concluded Black Hat conference featured 270 vendors in its expo hall. And that's still a fraction of what one would find at the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco).
A rational way to cut through all of the noise, especially for organizations that lack the necessary skills and resources to handle all or some of their security tasks on their own, is to partner with a managed security services provider (MSSP). An MSSP can serve as one-stop-shop for customers seeking a comprehensive portfolio of technologies, intelligence and visibility. But it doesn't have to be your only stop either. A modern MSSP should give you options for which subtasks to offload, what service level you receive and what feedback loop activity you want so you can stay in control.
