How To

Outsource IT with Caution

Theresa Grant, director of information security for Dow Chemical, answers readers' outsourcing questions.

What is your company's risk tolerance?

What is the cost versus the benefit?

Are the greatest economy of scale benefits internal or with a security service provider?

What is the outsourcing strategy of the organization?

Does your internal audit organization have the tools or capacity to manage the outsourcing relationship?

Do you have the necessary internal security expertise and resources, or will you benefit more from looking outside the organization?Q: Which functions of IT security could be effectively outsourced and which should be retained? A: Infosecurity functions that could be effectively outsourced include administrative tasks, server administration and security monitoring. Companies should retain any activities that relate to their governance framework or that are driven by risk assessmentssecurity policies, requirements, strategy and othersand functions that require privileged access.

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