PRO+ Premium Content/Information Security

Virginia's Arlington County government first signed up with a managed security service provider to offload some of the cost and resource burdens associated with maintaining a constant state of cyber readiness. That was more than a decade ago. Over the years, its relationship with MSSPs has since morphed from vulnerability risk assessments to critical security information and event management (SIEM) functions across government departments and offices throughout Arlington, the second largest city in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. MSSPs provide the county with real-time cyber health assessments and immediate breach notification, which is vital to the government's ability to deal with the current threat environment and attack surface. "A firm that offers 24/7 year-round threat monitoring, detection and response can provide [Arlington County] a level of resources it couldn't otherwise create or afford independently," said David Jordan, the chief information security and privacy officer at Arlington County, who has held the ...