Why Consolidation Should be Your #1 Cybersecurity Priority in 2023 

Why Consolidation Should be Your #1 Cybersecurity Priority in 2023

Organizations today are overwhelmed with choices when it comes to security tools and technologies. In 2019, the average business had 75 security tools in its environment. As organizations continue to rapidly adopt emerging security technologies, they are inadvertently complicating their operations and placing data silos in their blind-spots.

How can businesses expect to scale their security program when a single, unified view of their infrastructure doesn’t exist? The impact on the business is too high to ignore and businesses are starting to notice. Luckily today, 78% of CISOs only have 16 or more security tools in their environment, and only 12% have 46 or more. 

Many businesses are finally realizing that consolidating security tools allows for a stronger security posture.

Here’s why consolidation should be your first priority for 2023: 

What is a consolidated security architecture?  

Security consolidation is the process of reducing the total number of security processes and technologies used by an organization within their security environment. A consolidated security architecture is a multi-layered approach to cybersecurity that uses the same log technologies, threat detection, and threat intelligence to protect all attack surfaces withing your security environment. 

It is designed to resolve the growing complexities of multi-technology security networks by offering a variety of benefits including an increase in efficiency, a single pane of glass that allows for greater visibility into your network and the maximization of ROI.  

For example, the Difenda Shield is an cybersecurity suite of modules that integrates and extends the capabilities of Microsoft Security tools and technologies. It gives companies the tools they need to stay vigilant, agile, and collaborative through a single pane of glass.  

Overall, the goal of a consolidation is to simplify the management of your security program with a few core security tools that can increase the visibility and automation capabilities of your program. 

Why is Consolidation Trending for 2023?  

Moving into 2023, security leaders are worried about operational inefficiencies and the lack of integration within complex security environments. An effective cybersecurity strategy requires adopting a unified approach that targets the people, processes, and technologies—and that is exactly what consolidation aims to do. 

Consolidation offers businesses the opportunity to alleviate the challenges many security teams continue to face as they struggle to manage security operations with complex tooling and integrations. Done right, consolidation can help reduce tooling costs, visibility blind spots and the management burden on stretched security teams. 

As finances are put under greater pressure in 2023, security leaders may be asked to find ways to be more efficient, increase ROI, and reduce overhead costs. When looking at your security program, consolidation should be a no-brainer.  

Especially when most businesses are struggling with:  

  • Tooling duplication/overlap,  
  • High operational costs,  
  • Complex integration requirements and configurations,  
  • Decreased visibility,  
  • Losing custom development efforts,  
  • Navigating security silos, and  
  • Meeting stringent compliance and audit requirements.  

The trend toward consolidation prioritizes knowing what you have, better understanding your data and its value to the business, and greater visibility into your vulnerabilities so you can better protect your network -you can’t protect what you can’t see. 

What you can achieve with enhanced integration and consolidation:  

  • Integration of Tribal Knowledge: IT and security are integrated by design. By consolidating your security tools, you allow for more open collaboration and broader business impact.  
  • Improved controls: The ability to align your program to regulatory frameworks is easier when there are fewer tools needing customization. Often, your security tools will align to one framework by design.  
  • Enhanced Compliance: By consolidating your security environment with Microsoft Security, for example, you can achieve 70% compliance out-of-the-box. 
  • Ease-of-Management: Improve productivity and collaboration across your entire operation. See where you are and where you need to go under one pane of glass.

But when talking about consolidation it’s not just a tech issue, it’s a business issue. 

The Difference Between Digital Transformation and Consolidation  

When it comes to the consolidation of security tools, digital transformation is the business decision by which a company forms a strategy to improve business operations and meet evolving business demands.  

The objective of digital transformation is to drive growth and improve operational efficiency throughout the entire business. And when it comes to security technology, what will work for the DevOps team likely won’t work for HR or marketing. 

Because of this consolidation will likely be a long process for most businesses. An effective digital transformation and consolidation strategy must begin with: 

  • Gaining buy-in from top management, 
  • Understanding the business context and current pain points,  
  • Technology gap assessments and compliance checks,  
  • Defining a long-term business and security vision, and  
  • Developing a structured transformation approach and detailed plan based on predefined metrics.  

Business leaders must evaluate their current tools and strategize new business processes to better align their internal personnel, security processes and technology.  

Digital transformation is a business decision where consolidation is likely a byproduct. But the need for consolidation is also a great place to start the conversation.  

Top 5 Benefits of a Consolidated Security Program 

Overall, a consolidated security program leads to a more proactive security posture. How? Let’s break it down:  

  • Reduced vulnerability: With every new security tool or technology you are inviting more gaps and increasing threats into your network. By using one tool or fewer tools you can reduce your attack surface.  
  • Increased internal bandwidth: A large number security products mean more complexity and more room for error, ultimately leading to distraction, misconfiguration and a less robust security posture. With a consolidated tool, your team can spend less time navigating data silos and more time on what actually matters – protecting your business.  
  • Increased visibility: Not only can policies and procedures be set up in one location, but their results can also be seen in one central location.  
  • Operational efficiency: Instead of implementing thousands of database objects on multiple platforms, then maintaining them, you only need to make changes in a single location. Managing all data access and security policies from a single location improves your operational efficiency. 
  • Reduce total cost of ownership. A consolidated security environment requires fewer resources to operate and monitor. This streamlined approach frees up internal security resources to detect and respond to threats faster. 

When an organization has a high amount of data use, platforms, and users, security management on a consolidated platform makes sense. It simplifies processes and increases visibility. But most importantly, it lets security teams better control security processes and access sensitive data more efficiently. 

So, Why are Some Businesses Still Hesitant to Consolidate Their Security Tools? 

For years, the security industry was dominated by the best-of-breed mentality; literally meaning getting the best product for each security activity. Logically thinking, this should lead to the best security posture. But as we have outlined above, that’s no longer true.  

The best-of-breed strategy is feeding unneeded complexity within security operations yet, many business leaders continue to resist consolidation. Why? Security leaders don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket.

But a consolidated security program and a single-vendor solution are not the same thing. 

A Single Vendor Solution is Not The Answer 

Microsoft 365 is one example of a consolidated security solution that provides comprehensive protection against today’s cyber threats. By combining the power of Office 365 and Windows 10, Microsoft 365 provides a unified platform that helps organizations defend against attacks while also improving productivity. 

But that’s not all, when coupled with Difenda, Microsoft provides a holistic approach to security services and technology that prioritizes your success at every stage of your security journey. From 70% compliance right out-of-the-box to proactive threat intelligence, consolidating with Microsoft will make your program exponentially easier to manage. But Microsoft Security is not a one-and-done answer. They can’t and shouldn’t do everything.  

Think ‘jack of all trades, but master of none’. Without an assorted set of security technologies your business will still be at risk. Your security program needs a diverse set of people, processes and technologies to uncover and patch vulnerabilities. You just don’t need 75.  

Finding the balance and only consolidating overlapping technologies is key.  

The Approach to Consolidation 

We know that security leaders are making decisions in favor of consolidation. 60-70 percent of Microsoft Security customers (mostly in Canada) have already invested in E5 licenses that provide security tools and capabilities that already exist within their network.  

The problem is that people are not assessing their current environment and getting rid of their overlapping tools. Many businesses with Microsoft Security E3 or E5 licenses are failing to:  

  • Optimize their licensing spend,  
  • Deploy all their tools, and  
  • Integrate their security capabilities without losing previous custom development efforts.   

That’s where Difenda comes in. In collaboration with Microsoft Security, Difenda has developed tools and systems that help you experience the adoption and maturation of nearly the entire suite of Microsoft Security Products. The End-to-End Microsoft Security Roadmap is designed to help you simplify and consolidate your security environment by:  

  • Identifying effective Microsoft products and services to help you reach your goals,  
  • Deploying the technology you have already invested in, and   
  • Understand which Microsoft products and services address your technical and business needs.  

With the End-to-End Microsoft Security Roadmap, develop tailored guidelines for your company to do more with less. Learn more in our latest customer win! 

Whether just getting started or already deployed, Difenda can help you maximize your Microsoft Seucirty Investments and consolidate your tools. Get your End-To-End Security Roadmap.

Still not convinced? Discover the top 5 reasons CISO’s are choosing the consolidate now.

Our Partners

Penetration Testing Whitepaper

Threat Intelligence

Subscribe to receive insider threat intelligence from Difenda’s front line security analysts in our 24/7/365 SOC.

Ken Perkins

Biography coming soon.

Megan Miller

Megan Miller’s energy and passion for learning flow into all aspects of her work. As the Growth Manager, North America, she brings a background in sciences which she has transitioned to the tech sector in her role at Difenda.

With a Bachelors of Science in Geology, Megan is a lifelong learner who is voracious about learning anything she can get her hands on about cybersecurity. Her positive energy has built a sales strategy with a focus on expanding in the United States while nurturing the Canadian presence. She is responsible for recruiting and training the sales team. Together with the company’s leadership, she creates the sales process and the company’s product strategy in order to better serve the customer base. This ensures that our customers have a highly trained and highly motivated team to help them every step of the way, Megan has completed Microsoft SC-900 training and working towards mastering Microsoft.

Whether at work or play, Megan is fully committed. She took her love of hockey all the way to the semi-professional level as a competitive hockey player. Megan loves all things sports including water skiing, scuba diving, cycling, and snowboarding. She also enjoys time with family and reading about alternative energy, innovation, and cybersecurity.

Natasha Phanor

As the Microsoft Partner Manager at Difenda, Natasha Phanor is responsible for driving growth within our Microsoft Partnership. With six years in the industry, she offers a fresh, energetic approach, and the ability to focus on our customer’s needs throughout the entire process. Natasha has the innate ability to foresee customer needs and solve problems before they arise, which creates a smooth road for each customer she encounters.

As the recipient of the Outstanding Services Partner of the Year Award in 2018, it is clear that Natasha responds quickly to customer needs, creates a platform for understanding a customer’s business requirements, and walks them through the process to ensure their complete satisfaction.

In her spare time, Natasha is as energetic and passionate as she is on the job. A self-proclaimed foodie-extraordinaire, she enjoys dinner parties, traveling, downhill skiing, hiking, biking, and reading. Natasha has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in Dance, from Ryerson University.

Lisa Templeton

Lisa Templeton is the perfect combination of human empathy and technological prowess. In her role as People Services Manager, she takes care of our team members to support them in their daily work, as well as on their personal life paths. Happy employees make for happy customers, and Lisa excels in giving our employees the tools they need for success in order to become the best possible versions of themselves. Along with employee formation, she shines in the service delivery support domain to continuously improve the process. Her 24 years of experience in IT Operations and Service Management help her create quality and efficiency at Difenda.

Having attended the Information Systems Management certificate program at Ryerson University, and with various other certifications to her credit, Lisa is perceptive and innovative when it comes to information technology, but also sensitive to the needs of her human constituents. Responsible for achieving the first privately owned company HDI Support Center certification in Canada, she has also designed and implemented Service Management excellence programs and 24×7 IT Operations departments for multiple IT organizations, and has created corporate rewards and recognition programs to keep her employees engaged and motivated.

On the personal side, Lisa passionately supports the cause of breast cancer research, having lost her mother to the disease. She reads voraciously in her spare time, and enjoys the art of home renovation. The summer months also bring time on her boat and exploring new hiking trails.

Miranda McCurdy

Miranda McCurdy uses her myriad super powers in all aspects of her job and personal life. As the Marketing Director at Difenda, Miranda McCurdy brings over a decade of experience to the table, which includes expertise in all facets of operations, brand management, and content marketing, as well as a multitude of successful strategies for the ever-expanding digital world. She is an expert at simplifying the message the company is trying to send, filling in gaps in the information, and strengthening the content in order to create compelling narratives that strengthen the brand and developing programs that bring teams together.

With several Addy Awards issued by the American Advertising Federation Cleveland to her credit, and her never say die attitude, Miranda understands both the broader picture and the minute details that are needed to successfully market a product. With her abilities to harness both the talent needed to spread the message, as well as to create the message itself, she is an integral cog in the company’s ability to communicate with customers and other stakeholders.

When she is not building a brand, she shares her ability to fill the gaps in her community by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, and the Charleston Food Bank. In her spare time, Miranda spends time with her family, enjoys fitness and health, paddle boarding, reading, and arts and crafts.

Juliana Zaremba

Connections are the name of the game for Juliana Zaremba. As Strategic Partnerships Director, she is responsible for Difenda’s channel partnerships and the development and ownership of the channel partner program. She is also responsible for the global Microsoft Partnership, including the creation of strategic plans with MSFT contacts that will facilitate the continued growth of the business and establish certification and training protocols in all security technologies. Her role is multifaceted, as she acquires partners, manages relationships with them, and develops strategies that will provide cutting edge security solutions to our customer base. Another integral aspect of her job is to facilitate growth.

With a Bachelor’s in Math from the University of Waterloo and 14 years of experience from her previous roles at Herjavec Group and CDW, her cutting edge focus and ability to develop long-lasting relationships and strategies provides world class security solutions to our customer base.

Juliana thrives on connections outside of work as well. She is a philanthropist and contributor with Women4Change based in Hamilton. This group of local women is passionate about supporting local causes, and she focuses her efforts around Women in STEM. She is also a member of Club Italia in Niagara Falls and supports their youth events throughout the year.

When not managing the Microsoft Global partnership, Juliana enjoys reading, often reading several books at once. Juliana enjoys exploring the Niagara Escarpment with her family, as well as sharing meals and experiences with her extended family. Juliana’s competitive nature has her always trying new things, like Whoop band challenges and Peloton.

Jeffry Jacob

Biography Coming Soon