Hiring an IT Security Consultant – Important Questions You Should Ask

Both the skill and audacity of cyber criminals is surging, posing a threat to most small and big business owners. If you are of the opinion that hackers are just interested in the bigger businesses, think again. As per a report released in 2014, 35% of targeted attacks by cyber criminals were done towards businesses which had less than 250 employees, 3 times the amount reported in 2012.

All business owners should focus more on IT security, but there are very few who can afford to keep a team of IT security consultants who can provide the company with the best IT services. In case you’re not confident in the defence capabilities of the system, you should be able to bring in a consultant who can help you with expert assistance. Here are a few questions to ask an IT professional or a company before hiring.

• What sort of IT experience do you have?

While you may come across several consultants wielding resumes with the best credentials, this doesn’t always imply that they have practical experience. If you wish to know whether or not they actually qualify for the job, you have to ask them about their real-life experiences. What sort of IT security experiences do they have? Clarity of speech is vital and this is one aspect which you should check about the IT consultant before hiring them.

• What is the biggest security risk to the company?

There are several experts who think that consultants these days are extremely focused on technology and usually have a habit of advising a solution which is one-size-fits-all. You will need someone who realizes that security is based on a risk approach and who is able to develop tailored policies for the company. The IT professional should make security decisions relying on the risk analysis.

• What is the process of communicating with the work that you do?

There are experts who caution that there are different IT security experts who have a habit of completing their work secretly. If this is the case, how will you get to know at the end of the day whether or not you’ve improved? You can avoid this by asking the consultant to tell you about the work that you’ll do and the different procedures they’ll be recommending. You should also be able to take a look at the bigger picture.

• Will you offer training for my employees?

The role of the consultant is to teach the client how to deal with issues. If you catch a fish for someone and feed them, they won’t learn. If you teach them to fish, they can feed themselves for a lifetime. The goal is for the company to become self-sufficient by the time the consultant is done.

Therefore, when you’re wondering about the ways in which you can hire the best IT consultant for your company, you can take into account the above mentioned questions. Hire them only after getting the best answers.

With extensive research and study, Simon passionately creates blogs on divergent topics. His writings are unique and utterly grasping owing to his dedication in researching for distinctive topics.