The MSP To MSSP Evolution

By Lynn Souza

One company’s journey into managed security services.

Virtualization, managed services, cloud computing, cyber security. That is evolution of our industry in four “buzz” words. For IT companies, making the transition through the first three was relatively simple because it only relied on getting existing network administrators trained on the current technology and a moderate investment of software. The focus was on maintaining systems and uptime in order to meet service level agreements; however, with cyber security, no longer is it simply “get trained and go.” To do it correctly — to truly offer full cyber security services like penetration testing, incident response and remediation, threat mitigation, and forensics (just to name a few) — requires a whole new set of skills and knowledge that go beyond what your average network administrator, or even senior network administrator, possesses. It also requires a monetary investment in some pretty serious tools.