Highlights:

  • Research reports state that 90% of the MSP have faced a successful cyberattack in 18 months.
  • Despite a surge in the cyberattack numbers, MSP providers fail to implement basic security measures.

New research by N-able has concluded that nine out of 10 (90%) Managed Service Providers (MSPs) have experienced a successful cyberattack in the last 18 months.

The research also suggested that the number of attacks avoided by these organizations doubled, from six to eleven during the same period. Furthermore, researchers suggest that this is proof that MSPs are fast becoming a primary target than their clients for cybercriminals.

The research is based on the views of 500 senior decision-makers at MSPs about their experience with security before and after the pandemic.

Nearly 82% (four-fifths) of the MSPs said they saw a spike in the number of attacks on their customers in the last 18 months, preventing an average of 18 attacks per month.

This report also unveiled the tremendous effects arising out of full-blown cyberattacks on MSPs. More than 50% of the respondents had to bear financial losses and business disruption due to an attack. In a broader perspective, 46% of the respondents said they suffered business loss, while the other 45% said their brand image was impacted, and 28% said they lost the customers’ confidence.

Phishing (75%), DDoS (56%), and ransomware (42%) were a few of the most common attack types of the targets faced.

However, the researchers found that many MSPs are not planning or implementing basic security measures. For instance, many MSPs provide two-factor authentication for their customers, out of which only 40% implement it in-house.

Experts’ view:

“MSPs have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to ensure that the businesses they support can stay online and connected as circumstances change. But the cyber-criminals they’re protecting against are working equally as hard to make use of these shifts against their targets. MSPs need to understand how the threat landscape continues to evolve and make the changes needed to protect both their customers and themselves and make the most of the enormous opportunity that enhancing security provides,” said Dave MacKinnon, the chief security officer at N-able.