Warnings to managed service providers to keep their IT protection up to date and to introduce new security guidelines are piling up. More recently, government regulators, including those in the UK and US, have reported an increase in malicious cyber activity explicitly targeting managed service providers. This is a development that will continue. A comment from Kay-Uwe-Wirtz, Regional Account Director Barracuda MSP.
The reason for this is obvious, given that MSPs have direct access to their customers' networks and applications. Criminals who have successfully compromised an MSP using their infrastructure as a starting point are able to launch all sorts of malicious attacks against customers or other organizations. National and international security organizations as well as the new guide of the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) MSPs recommend the following best practices to protect themselves.
More protection for MSPs
- Prevent compromise with mitigations against common attacks
- Monitoring and logging, as well as endpoint detection and monitoring of network defenses
- Securing remote applications and enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Development and application of incident response and recovery plans
- Proactively manage supply chain risk through security, legal and procurement groups and resource prioritization
In turn, it is recommended for MSP customers to implement comprehensive security event management and ensure that MSP accounts are monitored or audited. They should also make sure that the MSP contracts include backup services.
Thought of the backup service?
Full implementation of these recommendations would likely increase the cost of delivering services for most MSPs. However, a successful attack on the infrastructure of a service provider can result in costs that are incomparably higher as a result of non-compliance.
With inflation rising and technology supply chains still reeling from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the last thing many MSPs want to talk about is another round of rising costs. However, a successful ransomware attack can be at least as costly. The costs for restoring the system are only one side of the coin, the other concerns possible liability issues for the security gaps used due to insufficient advice from the MSP. Not to mention immense reputational damage and a potential revenue hit for the MSP.
MSPs increasingly under attack
MSPs need to take very seriously the warnings that they are increasingly a prime target for cyberattacks - which can ultimately affect their small and medium-sized customers as well. Therefore, service providers should also leverage the security solutions they offer their customers for their internal operations, such as the latest AI-based monitoring and containment tools. The following steps can help with the implementation:
- Use of a security-oriented, regularly updated Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM).
- carrying out more regularly Security audits.
- On AI and machine learning based security solutionsto improve email and network monitoring and initiate automated mitigation and response strategies.
- Checking the Incident Response Plans taking into account current guidelines and the latest threats.
- Evaluation of own abilitiesto quickly secure customer networks and restore service in the event of a breach.
- MSPs are attractive targets for cyberattacks, especially given the current geopolitical volatility. However, service providers who invest in time, training and adequate technology are literally on the safer side of being unknowingly accomplices in criminal attacks.
About Barracuda MSP To thrive in today's ever-evolving cyber threat landscape, managed service providers must run their business as a security-centric enterprise. Barracuda MSP enables IT managed service providers to easily scale their business with a combination of multi-layered security and data protection solutions, award-winning support, and MSP-friendly prices. Barracuda MSP's industry-leading IT security solutions are trusted by nearly 5.000 IT service providers worldwide.