CyberGuard, from Wavenet Wholesale

With one in three UK businesses and one in four UK charities reporting a cyber breach or attack in the 12 months to April 2023,1 it’s fair to say that a significant portion of your customers are at very real risk of having their cyber security compromised. At the same time, there’s a significant gap in cyber security skills in the UK, meaning that even if your customers are aware of cyber threats, they may be struggling to address them.

As an MSP, you can help by broadening and deepening your cyber security offering. Drawing on major research by the UK government, this guide looks at why it makes sense to do this, as well as the key cyber security challenges you and your customers face – and how you can address them.

The following blog looks at three key areas relevant to you as an MSP...

The cyber security skills gap
The cyber challenges your customers are facing
The ways you can help your customers

…We’ve covered a lot below, so if you’d like to get the ball rolling with a health check on your customers’ cyber defences, penetration testing (‘pen testing’) is a great place to start. We can test their network security as though they’ve had a cyber attack, allowing them to identify vulnerabilities and ways to improve their cyber resilience. You can find out more about our pen testing service here.

But if you’d like to take a deeper dive into cyber security and the issues affecting your customers, read on…

The cyber security skills gap

Chances are, you’re already well aware your customers are looking to strengthen their cyber security, which we’ll look at next. But one key reason they may need your help is a lack of in-house resources, as the UK labour market struggles to keep up with the demand for cyber security skills.

The UK government’s ‘Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2023’ report2 explores this issue – and we’ve summarised the key points relevant to MSPs…

1. It’s not you – the problem is widespread

Approximately 50 per cent of businesses have a basic cyber security skills gap, while 33 per cent have shortage of more advanced cyber security skills (see page 24). For your customers, this means a significant number of them would benefit from cyber security support – and for you, it may be that you want to help them, but because you are also affected by this skills gap, have found it difficult to meet that demand.

2. The demand for cyber security skills is intensifying

For 2022, there were 160,035 UK cyber security job postings – an increase of 30 per cent on the previous year (see page 51). Such postings may well have been made by your own customers, or indeed your competitors. Either way, the demand for such skills is only growing and being able to meet that demand will help you gain an advantage over your competitors.

3. Larger businesses rank cyber skills as more important

While businesses of all shapes and sizes recognise the value of cyber security skills, larger companies more commonly rate these skills as more important (see page 27). This suggests that if you are looking to attract larger customers to help your business grow, then a greater focus on cyber security could differentiate you from competitors and with that, bring new and unprecedented opportunities for growth.

4. Certain sectors and industries more readily outsource cyber security

If you are looking to get a foothold in certain sectors and industries, providing cyber security services might just be the route to take. 52 per cent of the public sector organisations surveyed outsource such services, suggesting this sector may be more receptive to your cyber security support. By comparison, 18 per cent of charities outsource such services, but conversely, this may mean the opportunity to help charities could be greater. Of course, your customers are unique, so it’s worth a closer look at these findings in the full report (see page 90) to assess how this translates to your own customer base – but keep in mind the comment here from one public sector organisation:

“We often find it hard to hold on to staff who have that technical knowledge, but this is compensated by the fact that we outsource more cyber functions to a third party. So, this challenge is mitigated somewhat.” (Public sector organisation, 1,000 or more employees).

5. External Security Operations Centres (SOCs) are more commonly used by large businesses and public sector organisations

Building on point 4, if you are looking to grow your business by attracting larger customers – or by building relationships with public sector organisations – then becoming a ‘one-stop shop’ for cyber security may bring new opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach. This is because 37 per cent of large businesses and 28 per cent of public sector organisations surveyed already use a SOC, so there is clearly a demand for such provision.

Alongside the skills shortage, there are many other reasons why your customers are seeking help with their cyber security. From concerns about protecting highly sensitive data, to needing help with formal business continuity plans, let’s take a look...

Cyber challenges your customers are facing

While you may have found it difficult to offer cyber security services due to the skills gap, there’s no shortage of reasons why your customers want your help – and many of those reasons were captured and explored in the UK government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023.2 We’ve outlined the main ways this affects you as an MSP here...

1. It’s unavoidable: cyber security is a major concern to your customers, particularly so in certain industries

Around seven in ten businesses (71 per cent) and six in ten charities (62 per cent) report that cyber security is a high priority for their senior management. And as with the cyber security skills shortage, if your customer base is skewed towards certain industries, you may find there is even greater demand, as follows:

finance and insurance: 73 per cent say it is a “very” high priority
professional, scientific and technical: 46 per cent say it’s a “very” high priority
information and communications: 86 pre cent say it is a “very” or “fairly” high priority
Additionally, if you already provide complementary IT services and are looking to grow your customer base in these three industries, cyber security may be the very thing these customers want to talk about.

2. Work with your customers’ C-suite? Chances are you’ll need to put cyber security firmly on the agenda

A sizeable portion of your customers have a member on their board who is dedicated to cyber security, as follows:

Small businesses: 34 per cent
Medium businesses: 41 per cent
Large businesses: 53 per cent

It stands to reason that the larger the business, the more likely the board has dedicated roles for technology, including cyber security. But across all these business sizes, you can be sure that cyber security is a real concern for the more senior staff within your customers’ organisations – and as such, is a key topic to raise with decision makers.

3. A cyber attack can affect every aspect of your customer’s business, rocking it to the core – with impact on staff a key concern

You’ll already know IT is part of every business function, but cyber security goes beyond this, affecting your customers’ suppliers and clients – an entire ecosystem of interested parties. A breach or attack affecting your customers has implications for everything from their staff training, to their reputation, to their revenue. Those affected by such incidents describe the following areas as having the most impact:

Added staff time to deal with breach or inform others: 23 per cent for businesses and 26 per cent for charities
New measures needed for future attacks: 21 per cent for businesses and 23 per cent for charities
Stopped staff carrying out daily work: 11 per cent for both businesses and charities

Notably here, the top concerns all involve staff – and not just staff from the ICT department, but everyone. This means that from training to support, your cyber security services need to be built around people rather than technology, making staff the best defence against cyber threats.

4. Your customers have ideas about how they would respond to a cyber incident, but few have formal plans for doing so

Based on the survey, one area you could really help your customers is with formalising their cyber incident response plans. As the report remarked:

“Formal incident response plans are relatively rare. Most organisations claim they would take a range of actions to manage a cyber incident, but these tend not to be documented. And while directors or trustees are likely to be informed of cyber incidents, they may lack training to know what their roles should be in these circumstances.”

There are many more reasons why stepping up your cyber security services makes sense – and why choosing CyberGuard from Wavenet Wholesale makes a lot of sense, too. Here’s a few reasons why...

The ways you can help your customers, with CyberGuard services from Wavenet Wholesale

1. We go beyond selling services

Although our CyberGuard services are available through a wholesale model, we go much further than simply selling you services. By that we mean as well as offering discounted wholesale prices, we’ll work to build a relationship with you, so you can grow your relationship with your customers.

In practical terms, this means you can white-label our services as your own, and our cyber specialists can become an extension of your team – for example, by training your customers. And as we’ve already seen, since cyber security concerns much more than technology and are as much an issue of company policy and culture, being able to train your customers’ staff can help you build a rapport with them, keeping you front of their minds and setting you apart from competitors.

2. Tailored solutions for MSSPs

Our CyberGuard services are designed with you in mind, knowing the unique challenges you face and the diversity of your customers, each with distinct security needs, such as those we explored above. Our customisable solutions are therefore designed so tailor your approach to your customers, addressing specific vulnerabilities and risks associated with their industry or business model, as well as differing levels of experience and knowledge. Some of your customers will be well versed in cyber security and some will have barely scratched the service – we can help you with every eventuality.

3. Cutting-edge threat detection and prevention

Staying ahead of cyber threats requires advanced threat detection and prevention measures. Our CyberGuard services use cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to proactively identify and neutralise potential threats before they can infiltrate systems. To do this, we work with a wide range of leading partners (links below3) as follows:

Cato Networks
Darktrace
Extreme Networks
Fortinet
Gigamon

4. Continuous monitoring and incident response

Cyber threats are relentless, and an effective cyber security strategy requires continuous monitoring. Our services include 24/7 tracking of your customers’ network activities, ensuring any suspicious activity is promptly identified and addressed. Additionally, our incident response team is ready to act swiftly in the event of a security breach, minimising damage and ensuring a rapid return to business as usual.

5. Compliance and regulatory adherence

Many of your customers’ industries are subject to regulation regarding data protection and cyber security – for example, your customers in finance, healthcare, or the public sector. And that’s why our CyberGuard services are designed to help you and your customers meet these regulatory demands, providing the necessary tools and expertise to maintain a secure and compliant environment. With the DVLA and NHS 111 among our many major customers, we have a long history of working with organisations that handle highly sensitive data and are subject to stringent regulation.

6. Scalability and flexibility

The cyber security landscape is dynamic, and so are your customers, whose businesses often experience changes in size, structure, or technology infrastructure. Our CyberGuard services therefore offer scalability and flexibility, allowing you to easily adapt and expand your cyber security offerings as your customers evolve. Whether your customer is a small startup or a large enterprise, our solutions can be tailored to accommodate their specific requirements.

7. Threat intelligence sharing

Collaboration is key in the fight against cyber threats, so our CyberGuard services include access to a robust threat intelligence network, so you can benefit from collective insights and stay informed about emerging threats, which in turn can help you help your customers anticipate and counteract evolving cyber security risks.

8. Cost-effective security solutions

Having helped companies through the pandemic, we’re only too familiar with the immense changes that have affected IT leaders and teams in recent years, and the ongoing repercussions of this – as well as budgetary concerns, such as inflation and rising energy costs. Therefore, by offering our CyberGuard services through a wholesale model, we can pass discounts onto you, helping you to protect your customers without breaking the bank. Our aim is to provide top-tier cyber security without compromising the bottom line.

9. A raft of industry accreditations

Our cyber security services and specialists are regularly assessed by external organisations to ensure everything we’ve described above is more than just words. As such, we have a long list of industry accreditations (linked below4), including:

CHECK, the government’s National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) penetration testing scheme
CREST x3 in penetration testing, cyber security incident response, security operations centres
Cyber Essentials, and Cyber Essentials Plus, from the NCSC
OffSec Certified Professional (OSCP), from OffSec (formerly Offensive Security)
The Cyber Scheme ‘Team Leader’
Tigerscheme

In conclusion, our wholesale CyberGuard services are tailored to meet the specific needs of your customers, providing advanced threat detection, continuous monitoring, regulatory compliance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

By partnering with us, you can broaden and deepen your security services, provide unparalleled protection to your customers, and stay at the forefront of the cyber security and one step ahead of your competitors.

Most of all, your customers are looking for your help with their cyber security – and with Wavenet at your side, you can provide it. You can take the first step by contacting us here.