New research from Kaspersky has found the majority (92%) of managed service providers (MSPs) in North America are currently planning to add new services to their cybersecurity portfolio, with threat intelligence being the top choice (49%). As perceived competition in the market has risen since 2019, pricing, quality of protection, and ability to offer additional services have also become key factors for choosing a cybersecurity vendor.
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Cybersecurity is one of the most prominent areas of growth for MSPs, according to various industry experts. It presented the biggest opportunities for growth in 2021 in addition to remote workforce setup, with 65% of MSPs reporting security service revenue growth as a result. According to Gartner, threat intelligence “is a key aspect of security architecture that helps security and risk management technical professionals detect, triage, and investigate threats.”
Among various threat intelligence services, the most interesting choices for MSPs is APT reporting (30%), threat campaigns and techniques of APT actors. This is followed by threat data feeds (35%) and threat lookup (23%) to help to improve incident response. Other services that providers look for include malware analysis (44%), security assessment (43%) and targeted attack discovery (44%).
By expanding their portfolio with cybersecurity services, MSPs can strengthen their position in the competitive market. In 2021, the majority (70%) of providers reported an increase of their client base since 2019, and a third (29%) see the competition from other MSPs as the most serious business challenge in comparison with only 19% in 2019.
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Industry competition also determines the requirements for cybersecurity vendors. When it comes to choosing a vendor for the service, the number one criteria for MSPs is competitive pricing (41%), followed by quality of protection in tests (41%) and the ability to offer additional services (40%). These areas should allow MSPs to build the best threat intelligence offering for their customers.
“Managed service providers understand the business need to combat security risks in an increasingly complex environment,” says Mikhail Kolchin, head of MSP business at Kaspersky. “Today, when a reactive approach to cybersecurity is not enough, MSPs have to seriously address the choice of threat intelligence (TI) service providers. High-quality TI implies a range of characteristics, such as possession of a rich context that creates intelligence from data and provides additional value. It also implies support from a recognized team of experts with proven experience in uncovering complex threats, and the smooth integration of services into a company’s existing security operations.”