The Top 250 MSSPs and associated survey participants continue to grow faster than
the overall managed security market. Indeed, survey participants expect to grow annual MSSP
revenues 26% in 2022 vs. 2021 – which is nearly double the market growth rate.
Multiple market trends are fueling MSSP growth. Examples include:
- The global cyber talent shortage across enterprise, mid-market and small organizations.
- The shift from manual, in-house cybersecurity processes to automated, outsourced processes that
- MSSPs manage.
- For-profit supply chain cyberattacks and ransomware events that demand third-party mitigation services.
- Hybrid work and remote work business models, which have increased end-customer demand for
- security monitoring.
- Heightened nation-state attacks and geopolitical events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which potentially threaten all Internet connections.
Meanwhile, multiple cybersecurity market segments are evolving and converging to address these new MSSP realities. Examples include:
- MSSP and MSP Partnerships: Small MSPs generally provide basic endpoint and data protection services, but they increasingly lean on full-blown, pure-play MSSPs to deliver MDR, incident response, SOC and other advanced services.
- M&A: Forty-five major MSSP mergers and acquisitions M&A occurred from January 2022 through August 2022, compared to 22 M&A transactions during the corresponding period in 2021. M&A deals typically involve MSSPs seeking to expand regional footprints, grab talent or obtain skill sets in fast-growth areas such as XDR.
- Private Equity Investments: PE firms continue to acquire MSSPs. Active buyers in 2022 so far include Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP) and Lee Equity Partners, among others.
- MSSP, MDR and XDR Convergence: MSSPs and cybersecurity software companies continue to extend beyond MDR toward XDR-related services. The result involves occasional competition between the MSSP, MDR and software providers.
- MSSP Alert continues to cover those trends and more on a daily basis.
