A MSP + A MSSP = Adaptive’s Cyber Security Plans

img blog A MSP A MSSP Adaptives Cyber Security Plans r1

Over the past year, we, at Adaptive Office Solutions, have made a dynamic change to our business model. Because of the cyber threats that skyrocketed with the onset of COVID, we have gone from “just” being a Managed Service Provider (MSP), to being the industry leader in Cyber Security for businesses in the New Brunswick province. 

Recently, (and for the rest of 2022) we have been doing cyber security assessments for clients and it has come to our attention that the majority of our clients are not fully aware of:

1) The Difference Between a MSP, a MSSP and Adaptive’s Cyber Security Plan

2) What the (soon to be extinct) Bronze, Silver and Gold MSP Plans covered 

3) What those plans do NOT cover – Our legacy plans (Bronze, Silver, and Gold) are end of life plans. They are no longer offered to new clients and are being phased out.

4) Why a cyber security plan is absolutely critical at this time in history

Let’s start with the differences between MSP and MSSP Plans. 

BTW, Some people refer to Cyber Security Providers as Managed Security Service Providers or (MSSP). For the purpose of this article, we’ll use that term, but as you’ll see, that acronym doesn’t fully capture the entire range of the services that Adaptive’s Cyber Security Plans offer.

Let’s start with a birds eye view of the difference between a MPS and a MSSP…

Managed Service Provider vs. Managed Security Services Provider

In excerpts from an article by Foresite, they wrote, “You care about the security of your business and the data of your customers, and you know how important it is to work with security operations providers you can trust. It can be hard to understand the difference between MSSPs and MSPs, or why your company needs both services. Let’s take a look at the difference between these two commonly confused assets to your business.

MSPs and MSSPs are different services. Let’s take a look at the main differences between the two, and then discuss which makes the most sense for your company’s IT needs.

MANAGED SERVICES PROVIDER (MSP)

A Managed Service Provider, or MSP, is there to manage and monitor the health of your business’s technology. This provider ensures that your company has what it needs to run smoothly. The work of an MSP affects both those inside and outside of the company. Your Managed Service Provider looks over your data and makes sure that it’s available to both employees and customers who need it. When you have a problem accessing your data, or other technological issues, your MSP can work with you to make it right.

Your Managed Service Provider is focused mainly on technology administration. An MSP is in charge of granting permissions to employees based on their roles and responsibilities, onboarding new employees in your tech system, recording, and providing log data, and troubleshooting when there is an incident.  

When a company implements a new application, an effective MSP can help minimize onboarding issues. When there are tech performance issues or usability problems, your MSP can step in and take care of the issue.

Your MSP is an important part of your IT solutions. They can provide infrastructure, application, and basic network security support. They aren’t the end-all be-all for your technology needs, though. To keep your data safe and secure, you need to implement an MSSP as well.

MANAGED SECURITY SERVICES PROVIDER (MSSP)

If an MSP is the mayor of the internal technical workings of your company, an MSSP is a fortress surrounding your company, keeping your data safe. While an MSP can go a long way in making sure your employees can share data, use tech systems easily and get the data they need, an MSSP provides cybersecurity monitoring and management.

Employees and customers need different levels of access to your data. Your MSSP can make these customizations in order to keep your business secure and ensure only the clients who need to view your data have access. Whether all employees need access to only specific types of data, or if certain employees and customers can be grouped to get access in the same way, your MSSP will work with you to devise solutions to keep your data away from people who should not have access.

While an MSP is focused on usability and performance, an MSSP is focused on security. Your MSSP is responsible for preventing, detecting, and responding to threats before they wreak havoc on your data. Sadly, data breaches are common in this day and age. A breach can ruin a customer’s trust and a company’s reputation. It’s key for the success of your business that you keep your data protected 24/7. 

An MSSP also understands that there are many security and privacy regulations that companies must follow. MSSPs are experts at ensuring a company is doing all that it needs to do to comply with regulations. MSSPs provide many services to your business, including customized solutions, security monitoring and alerting, threat intelligence, security device management, end to end encryption, and incident response.” 

That was a great overview, but what are the nuts and bolts of each plan, and can’t your company have both? 

What is an MSP?

In excerpts from an article by Acronis, they wrote, “At the start of the dot-com era, the faster internet speed allowed IT professionals to troubleshoot programs and applications from a remote location. This helped launch the managed IT services industry in the early 2000s. IT professional services and consulting organizations started to hire and maintain a staff of IT experts to provide technical services to organizations from a central location.

Today, an MSP provides defined, remote IT services to organizations that cannot afford and/or do not have the internal expertise to manage their systems, databases, and applications in-house. Adopting managed services can save an organization both time and money, ensure that the organization stays current with technologies, and let the organization focus on objectives critical to running the business.”  

*** Adaptive Office Solutions’ MSP Plans include:

What is an MSSP?

The article continued, “In the late 1990s, internet service providers (ISPs) began offering their clients managed firewall appliances and services. This kick-started the concept of managed security services and, over time, MSSPs evolved their portfolio to focus exclusively on system and data security. The evolution of cloud services also created an additional line of business for MSSPs. 

Today, similar to why they turn to MSPs, organizations engage MSSPs because they cannot afford and/or do not have the internal expertise to manage system and data security.

MSSPs provide security monitoring and management services to organizations to ensure they are protected from cybersecurity threats. The types of services MSSPs can offer include: threat monitoring and intrusion detection, firewall management, patch management, endpoint protection, and penetration testing as examples.

What are some examples of Managed Security Service Providers?

These are just some examples of the managed security services the MSSPs offer their clients:

  • Managed detection and response (24/7) to ensure the security of systems and data
  • Incident management and response to detect and respond to an attack
  • Security asset management to continuously identify an organization’s IT assets and ensure they’re accessible only by authorized personnel.
  • Firewall management, configuration, and monitoring to ensure a secure network
  • Managed endpoint detection and prevention to block threats at the device level
  • Managed network security to identify and respond to network threats
  • Managed threat detection to detect and isolate advanced threats that evade existing security solutions
  • Patch/vulnerability management to ensure that operating system and application patches are installed on a timely basis
  • Virtual private network (VPN) management to ensure a business has a safe, encrypted, online connection to the corporate network
  • Managed risk assessments and compliance 
  • Close attack vectors to network, mobile, and web environments
  • Security awareness to ensure the organization is prepared for cyberattack at all levels
  • Cyber breach forensic services to identify incidents, and collect, analyze, and report 
  • An incident response team to plan for and response to incidents on behalf of a client”

*** As we mentioned, Adaptive is not JUST a MSP or a MSSP. Here’s What you get with our Total Solution Cyber Security Plans…

FULL MSP COVERAGE 

PLUS… 

Differences between an MSP and MSSP

The article continued, “While MSPs and MSSPs both provide third-party services to businesses, their focus is very different. An MSP delivers network, application, database and other general IT support and services while an MSSP is exclusively focused on providing cybersecurity services. While MSSPs provide proactive cyber security planning and services, a MSP is more reactive – they are called when hardware or software isn’t functioning properly.

To effectively provide network support, a MSP uses a network operations center (NOC), to manage network-related incidents to reduce downtime. 

MSSPs typically have a high-availability security operations center (SOC) which continuously manages and monitors systems and data security for its clients. 

The Challenges with MSPs

The services MSPs offer depend on the customers they serve. For example, SMBs can engage managed service providers for basic IT needs (e.g. email solutions, data storage, hardware repair, software updates) and/or specialized offerings, like basic data protection.

Despite their advantages, Managed Service Providers may also come with challenges. For example:

  • Many MSPs only offer partial data security services, such as firewalls and anti-malware. If you are looking for a provider of cybersecurity service, consider a managed security service provider (MSSP).
  • Most MSPs manage their clients’ IT infrastructures remotely. A client will pay extra if they need on-site support..
  • Not every MSP can support all technologies and applications so you will need an alternative solution or service to support out-of-scope services.”

Businesses can no longer solely rely on out-of-the-box cybersecurity solutions like antivirus software and firewalls. Cybercriminals are continually developing new, sophisticated ways to hijack data, demand ransom payments, and steal identities. When your network suffers from unknown security gaps, hackers can easily gain access to your entire network infrastructure, resulting in data loss, costly downtime, and irreparable damage to your business and reputation. 

At Adaptive Office Solutions cyber security is our specialty. We keep cyber crime at bay by using analysis, forensics, and reverse engineering to prevent malware attempts and patch vulnerability issues. By making an investment in multi-layered cybersecurity, you can leverage our expertise to boost your defenses, mitigate risks, and protect your data with next-gen IT security solutions.

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