Keeping up with the latest cybersecurity solutions/technologies is the biggest challenge facing Managed Service Providers (MSP), cited by 39% of the MSPs surveyed, according to the “MSP Perspectives 2024” survey report by Sophos.
“The speed of innovation across the cybersecurity battleground means it’s harder than ever for MSPs to keep up with threats and the cyber controls designed to stop them. When you couple this with a global skills shortage, which has made it infinitely more difficult for many MSPs to attract and retain cybersecurity analyst resources, its unsurprising that MSPs feel unable to keep pace with the changing threat landscape,” said Scott Barlow, vice president of MSP at Sophos.
Aside from keeping up with the latest trends, other top challenges for MSPs are hiring new cybersecurity analysts to keep up with a growing customer base and mitigate cyber incidents.
Cybersecurity risk
The survey also reveals that MSPs consider the shortage of in-house cybersecurity skills to be the single biggest cybersecurity risk to both their own business and their clients’ organisations.
Further, MSPs perceive stolen access data and credentials and unpatched vulnerabilities to be one of the biggest security risks to their customers. The latest State of Ransomware 2024 report found that 29% of ransomware attacks started with compromised credentials.
The demand for managed detection and response (MDR) services is growing to provide coverage. Some 81% of MSPs offer an MDR service, and almost all (97%) MSPs that do not currently offer MDR plan to add it to their portfolio in the coming years.