The Difference Between MSP and MSSP
Posted 3.1.2022
1 Comment
WOM (Weaver Outrage Meter): Medium 
Aside from the obvious additional “S”, the inclusion of security in MSP is both incorrect and misleading. Looking at the historical evolution of the MSP profession, managed security has been baked into managed IT services from the very early days.
What has changed? MSSPs are now the rage and there is an active campaign taking place to disrupt existing managed services philosophy. We will examine the leading causes behind this MSP vs. MSSP battle, and offer opinions on what normal MSPs ought to be doing today.
Highlights:
- Do normal MSPs avoid security?
- What is behind the MSSP push?
- Can general practitioner MSPs become MSSPs? If so, how?
- Outsourcing your NOC vs Outsourcing your SOC
Jordan
Posted at 08:04h, 02 March“The Difference Between MSP and MSSP” is… there isn’t really one? I completely agree it’s a bunch of BS to try to say all MSPs need to become MSSPs, but I think there is a difference between an MSP and an MSSP.
Here is what I would see as Differences:
1. An MSSP should be Security specialists and should not be doing helpdesk, general Systems admin, integrations or any of the host of things an MSP does on a daily basis. (Yes in theory a company can do both but they are different)
2. The minimum bar for an MSSP (IMHO) should be 24/7 SOC, a SIEM/XDR equivalent platform that can ingest and correlate logs across Firewall, endpoint, EDR, Spam filter, and SaaS platforms, and a threat hunting team.
I would argue anyone calling themselves an MSSP should be operating more in the “Master MSP” space but only for Security Services. This makes sense in my mind because, just like an MSP through economies of scale can offer managed services at close to the cost of just buying licensing at a client’s size, the MSSP can fill that Gap for MSPs who cannot afford to staff a full SOC or buy SIEM licensing etc.