Most cybersecurity companies offer MSP phishing protection solutions, but many are simply the business solutions that have been made available to MSPs to allow them to better protect their clients against phishing attacks. These solutions tend to lack some of the features MSPs need to make them easy to manage. Fortunately, there are MSP phishing protection solutions that have been developed from the ground up to exactly meet the needs of MSPs, but before introducing one such company, it is worthwhile explaining what solutions are required and the importance of delivering multi-layered protection to clients.
Multi-Layered Protection is Required to Block Phishing Attempts
One of the most important concepts in cybersecurity is multi-layered protection, often referred to as defense-in-depth. Multi-layered protection involves implementing several overlapping layers of security. If you have a single cybersecurity solution that fails to detect a threat, that threat will be delivered. That could be a phishing email or malware infection. With multiple layers of protection, if one aspect of your cybersecurity defenses fails, others will be in place to detect and block the threat. That typically means implementing multiple security solutions, although some products themselves provide multiple layers of protection.
Multi-layered protection is vital for combatting phishing, as phishing attacks consist of several elements. A phishing email is sent to a corporate email address, the email includes a link to a website, and it is the website where the phishing takes place. If credentials are stolen, they are used to access the user’s account.
If an email security solution is used and the phishing email is not detected as malicious, there is nothing to stop the threat. A second layer of protection can be provided by a web filtering solution. The web filter is used to block access to malicious websites. If credentials are stolen, an additional layer of protection is provided by multi-factor authentication, which should prevent the credentials from being used.
The majority of malware infections occur via email. An email security solution is required to detect malware attached to emails, and a web filter can block attempts to visit malicious websites where malware is downloaded. However, malware may still be installed, so antivirus protection is a must. Email security solutions incorporate antivirus engines, but only around half of malicious code has a signature added to AV engines that allows the malicious code to be detected. An extra layer of protection is required to block unknown malicious code. Sandboxing within an email security solution provides an additional layer of protection, as it analyzes the behavior of files and can catch malicious code that doesn’t have a signature in the AV engine.
Security awareness training is also important, as even the best defenses can be undone by an employee responding to a phishing email or engaging in risky behaviors. The importance of security awareness training cannot be overstated.
MSP Phishing Protection Services
MSP phishing protection services need to provide multiple layers of protection, which for MSPs means implementing and managing multiple solutions. That can be time-consuming if the right products are not used. Naturally, MSP phishing protection services need to consist of cloud-based services for ease of use and maintenance. With cloud-based solutions, it is not necessary to visit a client to install the hardware for defending against phishing.
Using cloud-delivered software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions makes management easier but there are important considerations. You should ensure that the solutions integrate with directory services such as AD/LDAP to make it easier to apply different settings for different locations, departments, roles, and users. You need to ensure that the chosen solutions integrate seamlessly with your customers’ email systems, such as Office 365. If you choose an email security solution to improve phishing protection, you should ensure it does not replace the protection provided by Microsoft but augments those protections to add further layers of security.
You need multi-tenanted solutions that can be easily managed by MSPs for all customers through the same interface. To properly protect clients, you will need a cloud-based email security solution, web filter, and security awareness training platform. While you can procure solutions from multiple vendors, you will need to ensure that all work seamlessly with each other and can be integrated easily with your auto-provisioning, billing, and other client systems. You are unlikely to find single-pane-of-glass management and reporting with multiple vendors.
One vendor that should be considered is TitanHQ. TitanHQ has been working with MSPs for more than 2 decades and developed its product suite from the ground up to meet the needs of MSPs. The company makes it easy for MSP phishing protection services to be provided, offering award-winning email security (SpamTitan Cloud), web security (WebTitan Cloud), and security awareness training (SafeTitan) solutions, all of which are provided through the TitanShield MSP program. The solutions work seamlessly with each other, are easy to manage, and can be integrated into existing MSP systems through the provided APIs. There are also many MSP-friendly features, including a choice of hosting options, including within an MSP’s infrastructure or in a private cloud, the products provided as white labels to take an MSPs branding, and there are flexible payment terms including monthly billing.
The company also offers a phishing simulator that MSPs can use to conduct phishing tests on clients. The data from the phishing tests can be used to demonstrate to customers the importance of taking advantage of MSP phishing protection services.
