State and Local Governments Need MSPs

State and local governments are under attack like never before. Drive by cyber-attacks are crippling already overwhelmed governments and creating unnecessary financial and political pressure on these organizations.

The source of these attacks and the methods being used is not in dispute. What is not being discussed, is the solution. So, I am going to present a very simple, immediately available solution to any governmental employee out there listening to this podcast: managed service providers!

Now, I know what you're going to say. I thought MSPs added risk to our cybersecurity. That is simply not true. It has never been true. In fact, it is a falsehood propagated by inept cybersecurity insurance companies who can't figure out how to quantify their own cyber risk, so they blame the only visible party in the equation, the MSP.

Now, you may be also saying, well why would I use an MSP when they are being sued by their clients for failing to prevent cyberattacks? Well, again, that's a falsehood being propagated by uneducated people in the media and elsewhere, who just don't know what they are talking about. 

MSPs do not practice reactive or break/fix services. The oxymoronic phrase "reactive IT management" does not make sense because you cannot manage IT in a reactive mode. Only proactive services (i.e., managed services can truly "manage IT." Recent headlines claiming MSPs being sued by their clients are really reactive or break/fix IT companies…not MSPs!

Finally, MSPs are the only organization capable of addressing the systemic issue here; the lack of consistently applied policies, procedures, and controls, designed to radically reduce (not eliminate) the chance of a cyberattack being successful.