Service Levels for MSSPs: Elevating Security-Specific Services

Introduction: The Critical Role of Service Levels in Managed Security

Today’s managed service providers (MSPs) play a crucial role in safeguarding businesses against cyber threats. As the complexity and frequency of these threats increase exponentially, it’s becoming critical for MSPs to both establish and maintain robust service levels.

This is where professional services automation (PSA) and remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools come into play: to assist MSPs to track and report service levels back to customers.

Once the right tools are in place, the next critical step for an MSP is to define service level agreements (SLAs) for each service. In this blog, we’ll examine the importance of setting service levels specifically for security services, how service levels for security services differ from traditional service levels, and how MSPs can leverage them to provide superior protection and value to their clients.

1. The Foundation: Understanding Traditional Service Levels

Standard Service Levels in MSPs

Traditional service levels in MSPs typically encompass a range of metrics that are tracked and reported through PSA and RMM tools. These metrics often include:

1. Incident response time: The time taken to acknowledge and begin addressing a reported issue.
2. Threat detection and mitigation time: The duration between detecting a potential threat and implementing measures to neutralize it.
3. Uptime and availability: The percentage of time that systems and services are operational and accessible.
4. Compliance adherence: Ensuring that services meet relevant industry standards and regulatory requirements.

Additionally, a key aspect of maintaining service levels is regular reporting to customers. Usually, MSPs provide monthly reports that outline performance against the above metrics, offering clients full visibility into the value and quality of services provided.

2. The Importance of Security-Specific Service Levels

Security services in particular face distinct challenges that set them apart from traditional IT services. This is primarily due to the dynamic, high-stakes nature of cyber security and the fact that vulnerabilities and attack vectors constantly emerge, requiring continuous updating of security measures and expertise.

Additionally, security incidents demand immediate attention, as even minutes of delay can lead to significant damage. This makes for potentially severe business impact, including financial losses, reputational damage, and legal consequences, which all raise the stakes considerably compared to other IT issues.

Risks of Inadequate Security Service Levels

Failing to establish security-specific service levels can lead to several risks including:

1. Delayed response to critical security incidents.
2. Inadequate protection against evolving threats.
3. Compliance violations and potential legal repercussions.
4. Damage to client trust and reputation.

3. Raising the Bar: Setting Security-Specific Service Levels

Once MSPs have established security-specific service levels, it is important for them to remember to also consider:

1. Client industry and regulatory requirements: Different sectors may have specific compliance needs that influence service level requirements.
2. Types of threats and vulnerabilities: The nature of potential threats can vary based on the client’s business and IT infrastructure.
3. Client’s risk tolerance: Some organizations may require more stringent service levels due to the sensitive nature of their data or operations.
4. Differentiating security service levels: Security service levels should go beyond traditional metrics to include time to detect and classify threats, speed of escalation for critical security events, the frequency of vulnerability assessments and penetration testing and time to implement security patches and updates.

Examples of Security-Specific SLAs

Security-Specific Service Level Agreements must set clear, measurable standards for performance and responsiveness in critical areas of security management. An example of this might be:

1. Critical security incidents responded to within 15 minutes.
2. 99.99% uptime for security monitoring and detection systems.
3. Monthly vulnerability scans with reports provided within 48 hours.
4. Critical patches applied within 24 hours of release.

And similar…

4. Empowering Security: Supporting Solutions for Enhanced Service Levels

Understanding MDR’s Role in Security Service Level Achievement

Managed detection and response (MDR) is a comprehensive cyber security service that combines advanced technology with human expertise to help managed security service providers (MSSPs) consistently meet and exceed their security service levels. By leveraging a unified suite of security tools and expert analysis, MDR enables organizations to maintain robust security postures while demonstrating measurable service level achievements to their clients.

At its core, MDR integrates several critical security technologies:

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

As a fundamental component of MDR, SIEM solutions aggregate and analyze log data from across an organization’s IT infrastructure. This centralized approach enables real-time monitoring and correlation of events, supporting service level objectives through:

• Rapid threat detection and response times.
• Comprehensive security incident documentation.
• Automated compliance reporting.
• Performance metric tracking for service level agreements.

Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR)

Within the MDR framework, SOAR platforms streamline security operations by:

• Automating routine response procedures.
• Standardizing incident handling processes.
• Reducing mean time to detect (MTTD) and respond (MTTR).
• Ensuring consistent service level delivery through predefined playbooks.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Advanced EDR capabilities form a crucial component of MDR services, offering:

• Rapid investigation capabilities through automated threat hunting.
• Automated remediation actions for common threats.
• Real-time endpoint visibility and control.
• Enhanced service levels through faster incident resolution.
• Comprehensive endpoint security metrics for SLA reporting.

Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Building upon traditional EDR capabilities, XDR extends security visibility and control across multiple security domains:

• Unified threat detection across endpoints, networks, and cloud environments.
• Correlated threat intelligence from multiple sources.
• Automated response actions across the entire security ecosystem.
• Improved service levels through comprehensive security coverage.

Seamless Integration with MSP Operations

A key strength of MDR is its ability to integrate with existing MSP business processes and tools:

PSA Integration

• Automatic ticket creation and tracking for security incidents.
• Seamless workflow management for security operations.
• Integrated billing and reporting for security services.
• SLA tracking and compliance monitoring.

RMM Integration

• Centralized security management alongside other managed services.
• Automated deployment of security tools and updates.
• Unified monitoring of both security and operational metrics.
• Streamlined service delivery and reporting.

Through this approach, MDR enables MSSPs to deliver consistent, measurable security services while maintaining efficient operations and meeting client expectations for security service levels.

5. The Value of Collaborating with a Leading Security Vendor

Partnering with a leading security vendor can significantly enhance an MSP’s ability to deliver superior security service levels. This is because these partnerships offer:

1. Better security service levels

Through the implementation of MDR’s integrated components, MSSPs can transform their security operations in several meaningful ways. Organizations experience significantly faster threat detection and response times, coupled with more precise and reliable security incident reporting. The solution ensures better alignment with specific client security requirements, while providing clear, measurable improvements in security service levels that can be demonstrated to stakeholders. Perhaps most importantly, clients benefit from an enhanced overall security posture, creating a more robust defense against evolving cyber threats. This comprehensive approach enables MSSPs to deliver more effective, efficient, and verifiable security services to their clients.

2. Advanced tools and technologies for proactive monitoring: Security vendors often develop and provide state-of-the-art tools that leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics for advanced threat detection and response. These tools can significantly enhance an MSP’s capability to monitor client environments, detect anomalies, and respond to threats faster and more effectively than with traditional security solutions.
3. Expert support and guidance in managing complex security challenges: Leading security vendors employ teams of highly skilled security professionals with extensive experience in dealing with a wide range of cyber security issues. This expertise is invaluable when MSPs face complex security challenges, providing them with access to specialized knowledge, best practices, and tailored advice that can help resolve intricate security issues and improve overall service delivery.
4. Access to cutting-edge threat intelligence: Leading security vendors invest heavily in research and have global networks that collect and analyze vast amounts of data on emerging threats. This gives MSPs access to real-time, high-quality threat intelligence that would be difficult or impossible to obtain independently, enabling them to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats and proactively protect their clients.
5. Pre-prevention-first MDR/MPR Check Point has taken the traditional managed detection and response services to the next level with the introduction of the leading prevention-first MDR/MPR solution which provides continuous updates, automated prevention actions, optimal configurations, recommendations, and best practices to improve defenses and prevent future attacks.

6. Educating Customers on Security Service Levels: Top Tips

Educating customers about the importance of security-specific service levels is crucial.

MSPs are advised to:

1. Ask the client if they have already been attacked and if so, what were the consequences of that attack?
2. Use real-world examples and case studies to illustrate the potential consequences of inadequate security measures.
3. Conduct regular security awareness training sessions for clients to help them understand the evolving threat landscape.
4. Provide clear, jargon-free explanations of how specialized security service levels differ from standard IT services.
5. Create visual aids like infographics or short videos to explain complex security concepts in an easily digestible format.
6. Offer free security assessments to demonstrate vulnerabilities and the value of enhanced protection.
7. Share industry-specific compliance requirements and explain how specialized service levels help meet these standards.
8. Highlight the cost-benefit analysis of investing in robust security services versus the potential costs of a security breach.
9. Use analogies from physical security to help clients understand the importance of layered, specialized cyber security measures.
10. Regularly communicate about emerging threats and how your specialized services address them.
11. Provide transparent reporting that clearly shows the impact and value of your security services.

It is important to note that MDR vendors can conduct these workshops for MSSPs.

Continuous Improvement: Evolving Service Levels

Continuous improvement in security service levels is a critical aspect of maintaining an effective and relevant cyber security strategy. This process involves regularly reviewing and refining the established service levels to ensure they remain aligned with the evolving needs of the client’s business and the ever-changing cyber security landscape. By ensuring an ongoing dialogue with clients, MSPs can gain valuable insights into the client’s changing risk profile, business objectives, and industry-specific challenges. This collaborative approach allows for the identification of gaps in current service levels and opportunities for enhancement, ensuring that the security measures in place continue to provide optimal protection.

Conclusion

The evolution of MSSP platforms continues to reshape the cyber security industry. Modern platforms now emphasize customization and white-label capabilities, allowing security providers to maintain their distinct brand identity while leveraging enterprise-grade technologies.

To date, the industry has witnessed a significant shift from traditional MDR toward more proactive prevention-first approaches, combining MDR with managed prevention and response (MPR).

Such advanced platforms integrate artificial intelligence, automated prevention mechanisms, and continuous updates to strengthen defensive capabilities. The most effective solutions now offer comprehensive services including:

• Proactive threat hunting.
• Real-time monitoring.
• Automated incident response.
• Remediation capabilities.

This holistic approach enables organization, powered by the industry’s top experts to not only detect and respond to threats but actively prevent future attacks.