Small and Medium Enterprises Comprise the Majority of Contractors and are the Most Vulnerable
MSPs for the Protection of Critical Infrastructure (The MSP Collective), a 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to the National Security mission of maintaining a secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure, launches to inform the US Government and Critical Infrastructure industries on topics related to Managed Service Providers (MSP) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP) and to support efforts to establish standards that ensure services delivered meet or exceed government regulations.
MSPs and MSSPs play an essential role in facilitating IT, cybersecurity, and supply chain risk management across critical infrastructure sectors, the federal contracting base, and especially in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). Within the DIB, MSPs and MSSPs are commonly responsible for 40% – 70% of the IT and cybersecurity requirements that must be implemented and maintained to satisfy DoD regulations and to ultimately achieve certification at Level 2 under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.
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“Despite critical role MSPs and MSSPs play, no standards or certification programs exist to qualify Service Providers’ understanding of applicable government regulations or the alignment of the services they provide with those regulations,” said Scott Edwards, Executive Director of the Managed Service Provider Collective and CEO of Summit 7 Systems. “An important element of our mission is to participate in the establishment of suitable standards to address this concern.”
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Founding members of The MSP Collective are:
Summit 7 Systems, LLCÂ
NeoSystems LLC
Quzara LLC
MSPs and MSSPs that share a commitment to the organization’s mission and who meet its membership qualifications are encouraged to join.
“Cybersecurity and compliance come at a cost,” said Stuart Itkin, a Director of The MSP Collective and Senior Vice President of NeoSystems. “For some smaller companies, the one-time and ongoing costs of getting and staying compliant can be a barrier. As the government considers programs to ease the financial burden on these companies, we hope to inform the government and offer ideas for the implementation of these programs.”
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