[ISN] Is cloud-based security really cheaper?

http://www.csoonline.com/article/706738/is-cloud-based-security-really-cheaper-

By Antone Gonsalves
CSO
May 21, 2012

Businesses in new study were five times more likely to have decreased 
spending on managing security over three years.

As part of its marketing strategy for selling to small- and medium-size 
businesses (SMBs), Microsoft this week released the results of a study 
on the use of cloud-bases security. The survey of SMBs, whether from 
Microsoft or other vendors, found that they were five times more likely 
to have decreased spending on security over the last three years, as a 
percentage of their overall IT budget. They also spent 32 percent less 
time managing security than those that used on-premise software.

SkyWire, which started using Microsoft's cloud-based security service 
Windows Intune 14 months ago, develops and sells web-based marketing 
tools across several industries, so it makes sense the Internet company 
would adopt cloud-based security.

The switch from on-premise software cut has cut its security costs from 
$90,000 over the last six months, including IT staff, to $330 a month, 
which is the annual subscription cost for Intune, Castleberry says. 
Intune protects the company's laptops, desktops and mobile phones from 
malware, as well as provide updates to Microsoft software.

[...]


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