RSM US, Stellar Cyber Announce 'Single Pane of Glass' Security For Midmarket IT

The new managed platform offers midmarket IT security services including SIEM, network detection and behavior analytics.

RSM US, a provider of professional services including managed security for the midmarket, announced Monday that it is integrating Stellar Cyber's Open XDR unified security platform into its own security offerings.

"Stellar Cyber is taking a different approach to what's been offered in the market over the last 15 years," RSM defense director and threat operations leader Todd Willoughby, said in a statement.

"Instead of just putting out just one tool, they are addressing the challenge of delivering a complete view of security events across our clients' infrastructure under one pane of glass; and because it's an open platform, integrating clients' new or existing EDR and other security tools and data sources is a non-issue," he said.

RSM provides RSM Defense - a managed security solution that offers threat detection, response and intelligence to clients. With the Stellar Cyber integration, RSM Defense will be beefed up with features including Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Network Detection and Response (NDR), User Entity and Behavior Analytics (UEBA), and more.

The Midmarket's Urgent Need For Unified Cybersecurity

Do you think large enterprises are the primary target of hackers? Think again. A report from McKinsey found that cyberattacks, and specifically ransomware, pose an "existential threat" to mid-sized businesses.

The report also emphasized the importance of holistic, "single pane of glass" security solutions that are within the reach of the midmarket.

Smaller and midmarket businesses have been doing their due diligence with security, however, according to McKinsey: "SMBs and the midmarket have been slightly more active than larger enterprises, and future growth in visibility use cases is predicted to be stronger among these smaller companies."

Another challenge midmarket companies face when it comes to cybersecurity is the hiring and retention of security staff.

"Great senior cybersecurity analysts are tough to find - even if you can find one, they can cost the business upwards of $150,000 a year, and most clients can't afford that," RSM's Willoughby said.

With managed security solutions like the RSM-Stellar Cyber integrated platform, "machine learning capabilities and out-of-the-box detection rulesets" enable him to "level the playing field between newer and more skilled security analysts, making them all fully productive," he said.

Aimei Wei, Stellar Cyber CTO and founder, told MES Computing in a statement about why the new integrated platform is a solution for the midmarket:

"The high-level issue is that over the last 20 years, cybersecurity tools helped companies to find ‘trees.' By this we mean that they were designed to protect you from very specific issues: firewalls for inbound attacks to your IP addresses, then endpoint tools to protect servers and assets, then network tools to look at real-time traffic, SIEMs for collecting logs from IT systems and helping you find trends. It's a lot of work! And there are not enough people to bring all these tools together, causing what some have called "alert fatigue," or, to be a bit more snarky, ‘tab hell,'" Wei said.

Wei, a female founder who Forbes called one who is "reshaping the male-dominated cybersecurity industry," also expounded on the Open XDR platform and what it offers.

"Stellar Cyber offers a unique variation of XDR (Extended Detection and Response) called "Open XDR." It's open in that you can use the tools you have already invested in. Gartner short listed Stellar Cyber last year in their 2023 XDR Market Guide as one of the top 10 XDR companies and the only Open XDR vendor," Wei said.

RSM wanted holistic cybersecurity protection, she said. With this integration, they now have a single platform with a single license, "helping with tool consolidation…and… a more affordable and approachable way to move a security stack forward," she added.