3 Ways MSPs Can Help Companies Address Their Greatest Cybersecurity Vulnerability In 2023

By Isaac Kohen, Teramind

Among business leaders, cybersecurity is increasingly a top concern. According to PwC’s 2022 Pulse Survey, 40 percent of executives see cybersecurity as their primary business risk, topping the list of headwinds identified by company executives.

Their worries are warranted. Nearly three-quarters of companies have experienced a cybersecurity incident in the past year, and the financial costs and reputational consequences are becoming too big to ignore.

The average cost of a data breach in the U.S. in 2022 approached $9.5 million and surpassed $4 million globally. Unfortunately, direct financial losses are just the beginning. A data breach erodes brand reputation, causing customers to lose faith in the business and prompting even loyal buyers to look for alternative options.

According to one analysis, a five percent customer churn costs companies nearly $4 million in lost revenue, while the average stock value dropped by 5 percent following a data breach.

This environment creates an opportunity for Managed Served Providers (MSPs) to cater to their customers, providing solutions to their most pressing problems for 2023.

What’s Causing Today’s Cybersecurity Woes

While businesses operate in an incredibly complex digital landscape, their cybersecurity woes are often attributed to a single source: people.

Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 82 percent of data breaches involve a human element. This includes increasingly convincing social attacks, accidental data sharing, and malicious misuse by company insiders. Despite the risks, just one-fifth of companies say they deploy financial or personnel resources to combat insider threats.

Understandably, cybersecurity isn’t top-of-mind for most people as they pursue their professional responsibilities, share information with coworkers, or manage their many online accounts. However, these activities routinely test a company’s cyber readiness.

Employee-related cybersecurity risks rapidly accelerated in the past 24 months as companies embraced remote and hybrid work models that expanded a company’s security perimeter while eroding any remaining barriers between personal and professional lives. One survey found that more than half of employees didn’t understand that using personal technology to access company data poses a cybersecurity risk.

Recognizing that people are a company’s greatest cybersecurity vulnerability, MSPs can augment their approach to deliver value, improve outcomes, and drive sales.

How MSPs Can Help Companies Address Insider Threats

Insider threat detection and prevention are critical components of an effective cyber defensive strategy. MSPs can address that need in several ways.

#1 Provide Awareness Training

Teaching employees to identify and respond to the latest threat trends can keep companies protected against a variety of cyber-attacks.

For example, threat actors send more than three billion phishing emails every day. Many of these malicious messages never reach their intended recipients, but some inevitably arrive in employees’ inboxes. These messages are so problematic that recognizing and reporting phishing scams was a top priority for this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Teaching people to spot these scams can stop a cyber-attack before it ever gains traction.

In addition, MSPs can train teams on data management best practices, device management expectations, and data access and transmission norms.

MSPs are well-positioned to provide expert training that protects companies, ultimately creating happy, repeat customers that support MSP growth and sustainability.

#2 Implement Insider Threat-Specific Software Solutions

Insider threats are a risk to companies of all sizes in all sectors. Organizations must be proactive about guarding against these threats, but most in-house cybersecurity teams say they can’t effectively monitor all vulnerabilities, including insider threats.

Insider threat-specific software solutions identify anomalous or malicious behavior, alerting cybersecurity professionals of a potential problem. Equipped with powerful features that let cybersecurity professionals limit company data movement, prevent malware installations from phishing campaigns, and monitor trusted insiders with access to privileged information, insider threat detection, and prevention software is a difference-making solution that keeps companies secure.

In other words, when MSPs implement insider threat-specific software solutions, they are helping their clients address their greatest cybersecurity vulnerability.

#3 Require Good Digital Hygiene

For too many people, their digital hygiene is in disarray.

For instance, 70 percent of people use the same password for multiple accounts, and more than one-fifth use the same password for every account. Employees are frequently lackadaisical about separating personal and professional technology, and they don’t follow account security best practices like using strong, unique passwords or enabling two-factor authentication.

Companies aren’t helping. Only one-third of companies require two-factor authentication on all accounts, and few prompt employees to update their login information regularly.

Whether MSPs leverage insider threat prevention software to require good digital hygiene or develop other accountability mechanisms, helping clients put their best foot forward is a natural, low-cost way to produce better results.

Conclusion

Business executives understand the multifaceted risks of a cybersecurity incident, and they are increasingly willing to allocate financial resources to solve these challenges. Collectively, nearly 50 percent of business leaders plan to increase investments in cybersecurity, creating an opportunity for MSPs to raise revenue by helping companies address one of their most pressing problems.

At the same time, one survey found that 80 percent of companies are looking to replace their MSPs, creating an opportunity for the best companies to outperform their competition and win new clients.

In a dangerous digital environment, this is a win for everyone.

About The Author

Isaac Kohen is VP of R&D at Teramind, a leading global solutions provider of behavior analytics, business intelligence, and data loss prevention (“DLP”) to help enterprise and government organizations to boost productivity, optimize workflows, and mitigate insider threats. The company launched a new certification program, Teramind Academy to offer in-depth instruction for customers, partners, and any industry professional from HR to security operations center (SOC) analysts who are looking to extend their operational knowledge of the robust Teramind platform and become experts in their professions with insights into the newest industry tools and best practices.