MSPs Should Require Risk Assessments

Cybersecurity threats are evolving everyday, requiring businesses to update their security postures regularly or else fall victim to cyber crime. The best way to reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim is by have a risk assessment performed on your MSP or business.

Risk assessments provide a real-time breakdown of the vulnerabilities (inherent weaknesses) and threats (external hostile actors) to your business. As businesses grow and cybersecurity threats evolve, it is important that risk assessments are done on a regular basis (no less than every other year) to improve and prioritize your security investments.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) should require their clients to perform a risk assessment so both the MSP and the client can prioritize the finite money and time they wish to spend on protecting their business and its computing infrastructure and the data it contains. 

The Many Benefits of a Risk Assessment?

The benefits to risk assessments are many. Here is a breakdown of why CyberHoot is such a strong proponent of cybersecurity maturity assessments (including in our product) and why they should be required by all Managed Service Providers for themselves and their clients.

Regular risk assessments can:

1. identify gaps in your security program whether those are physical, administrative, or technical in nature.
2. manage remediation efforts knowing your spending your finite time and money on your most critical risks.
3. For MSPs, knowledge of your risk assessment can win the confidence of prospective clients who see it as a strength.
4. For MSPs, offering a risk assessment to your clients as a part of your “package” can improve win ratios as clients struggle to differentiate between multiple MSPs. 
5. of your clients’ environment will generate new project revenue for your MSP as you work to mitigate critical risks
6. educate your clients about the things they didn’t know they didn’t know with respect to cybersecurity. For example most businesses are oblivious to the benefits of a company procured and orchestrated password management solution.
7. reduce MSPs liability. According to MSSPAlert, “more than two-thirds (69%) of SMBs that use an MSP say they’d hold the MSP at least somewhat accountable in the event of a cyberattack—and 35% would hold them solely accountable”.
8. protect your MSP and your client from costly support issues, incidents, and downtime. 
9. improve client satisfaction due to a more robust and functional IT infrastructure/network  that “just works”.
10. Uphold the reputation of the MSP and the client.

Requiring a risk assessment as a part of an MSPs’ package can significantly help your business grow and reduce risks. Regularly conducting risk assessments will only benefit the MSP and its clients. Requiring these assessments will help build relationships with current and future clients, and ensure the MSP is aligned with each customers specific needs. 

Sources:

MSPs and Customer Risk Assessments: Make Them Mandatory

The Value of a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment: Why Your Business Needs One

Learn more about risk assessments and the steps they entail by watching this 8 minute video: