Continuum Opens SOC in Pittsburgh for MSPs
Facility will help partners address cybersecurity skills shortage
Continuum this week announced it’s opening a new security operations center (SOC) in Pittsburgh, giving MSPs another place to go for access to certified cybersecurity professionals, real-time threat detection and response, and continuous monitoring.
The Lowdown: The new SOC will address a key concern among MSPs, other channel players, and enterprises alike: the inability to find and retain skilled cybersecurity talent. This shortage comes at a time when the threats against organizations are growing and becoming more sophisticated, and as the number of endpoints under Continuum’s protection continues to rise.
The Details: The Pittsburgh SOC will join other Continuum sites around the world, including ones in Atlanta and India. The SOC will include around-the-clock response and recovery support, as well as the company’s endpoint and network security solutions.
Tyrone Smith, who has almost 20 years of information management and risk assessment experience, was named the director of SOC operations at the Pittsburgh location. Before joining Continuum, Smith was an information security advisor for FedEx Supply Chain and a senior technical consultant for enterprise security services at security management company ArcSight.
The Impact: Continuum’s MSP partners will get access to more skilled cybersecurity talent and to the myriad solutions in the company’s security toolkit, both important at a time when threats are increasing. Continuum officials said that the number of secured endpoints being protected by its Fortify security solution set has doubled since July 2018.
Background: Security research organization Cybersecurity Ventures is predicting that by 2021, the number of unfilled cybersecurity positions will hit 3.5 million. According to Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), 53% of IT professionals in a recent survey said they were having difficulty finding skilled cybersecurity talent.
The Buzz: “Now more than ever, it’s important to reinforce the global cybersecurity support our MSP partners and their customers require in the face of rising threats,” said Tasos Tsolakis, senior vice president of global service delivery at Continuum. “Our Fortify solution is generating upwards of 20,000 ticket requests per month, and we’ve been able to remediate nearly 2,400 cybersecurity incidents in the past 12 months. This increase further emphasizes the need for a new SOC, as well as a qualified IT security expert like Tyrone Smith to oversee it.”
“As an IT support company, we’re in the trenches of cybersecurity efforts as our customers look to us to solve issues that extend beyond our typical IT services,” Strata IT CEO Keith Stark said. “In this vulnerable landscape, most of our customers are now looking for us to ramp up both our IT and cybersecurity capabilities, which is why Continuum’s new Fortify extension comes at an ideal time for our company and our customers. The Pittsburgh SOC will help strengthen our skillset and services portfolio, and further fulfill our customer needs.”
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