From Endpoints to Apps: The Security Gap MSPs Must Close

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) have long served as the backbone of IT for small and mid-sized businesses.  

Many Managed Service Providers (MSPs) offer antivirus, email security, endpoint protection, and even SIEM solutions but miss a critical layer: application security. This isn’t just a technical miss. It’s a business risk that endangers client renewals and, more importantly, the long-term viability of the MSP itself.

Open vulnerabilities aren’t just a compliance concern—they’re one of the fastest-growing causes of breaches. Web application breaches caused by vulnerability exploitation jumped 180% last year. These breaches now surpass phishing and are rapidly closing in on credential abuse as a leading attack vector, according to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report. These are the same vulnerabilities often lurking in websites and APIs that MSPs are not monitoring or securing.

In this blog, we explore the major forces reshaping the MSP landscape—and how forward-thinking MSPs are adapting to not just survive but thrive. 

The Roadblocks Stalling MSPs from Growth

1. The Margin Squeeze Is Real

MSPs are under relentless price pressure. With IT services increasingly commoditized and clients demanding more for less, operational overheads are rising while margins shrink. Add the cost of 24/7 support, specialized staffing, and tool sprawl, and it becomes clear: scaling profitably is no longer straightforward.

2. Growth Isn’t Just About Adding Clients

Customer acquisition is expensive. Upselling, meanwhile, is limited when most services offered are viewed as hygiene rather than high-impact. In a landscape where nearly every MSP offers “monitoring and patching,” the real differentiators are the outcomes you can deliver, especially in the realm of security and compliance.

3. Clients Expect More Than Just Support

Today’s SMBs are more cyber-aware—and risk-averse—than ever. They want to know their applications and APIs are secure, not just that their endpoints are patched. But providing that level of protection requires expertise, visibility, and time MSPs don’t always have.

4. Compliance Has Become a Shared Burden

It’s no longer just the client’s job to be audit-ready. Vendor risk assessments and third-party audits are pulling MSPs into the compliance conversation. And it’s no longer enough to say “we secure your systems”—you need to prove it with evidence, timelines, and closed vulnerability reports.

5. Tool Sprawl Creates Hidden Costs

Many MSPs are cobbling together solutions—one for scanning, another for remediation, another for reporting. This fragmented approach creates inefficiencies, limits visibility, and often ends up adding more work without adding more value.

6. The Skills Gap Isn’t Going Away

Web and API security require deep expertise. But the kind of talent that can deliver it is expensive and hard to retain. This gap increases risk—not just for clients, but for MSPs themselves, who may be held accountable in case of a breach.

7. Limited Visibility into Client Risk Posture

Many MSPs lack the tools or integrated dashboards to offer clients a unified view of their security and compliance health. This lack of visibility limits the ability to have strategic conversations, proactively address issues, or upsell premium offerings. Clients increasingly expect transparency—not just alerts, but insights they can act on.

The Way Forward: Simplicity, Proof, and Outcomes 

The future isn’t about who offers the most tools—it’s about who delivers the most value with the least complexity. The MSPs who will lead the next decade are those who simplify operations, reduce service friction, and make their impact visible to clients. 

That means moving away from disjointed security tools that only add overhead—and toward platforms that enable you to deliver real security outcomes, faster. Indusface helps partners make that shift seamlessly. 

Indusface enables MSPs with a fully managed WAF and API Security platform so they can:

• Use Zero-Cost Vulnerability Scans as a Growth Lever
  Open doors with free website and API scans that identify real risk—helping you start value-based conversations and generate qualified leads instantly. 
• Bundle Real-Time Remediation into Service Plans
  Shrink the average window of vulnerability from 250+ days to near real-time. Our virtual patching and intelligent workflows allow you to monetize remediation, not just report issues. 
• Offer Clean, Compliance-Ready Reports with Confidence
  Deliver zero-vulnerability reports that map to industry frameworks including SOC 2, ISO:27001, HITRUST, PCI and more. Help your clients pass audits and due diligence checks with ease. 
• Secure Web Apps and APIs Across the Stack
  Protect against OWASP Top 10, business logic abuse, bot attacks, DDoS, and more—whether it’s a single website or a sprawling microservices architecture. 
• Rely on AI-Powered Automation—Backed by Human Intelligence
  Our platform filters noise using behavioral machine learning and expert verification, ensuring clients see only real threats—no false positives, no alert fatigue. 
• Deliver Managed AppSec Without Hiring a Team
  With Indusface, you get a fully managed platform and 24/7 SOC support. You don’t need in-house security engineers—we’ve got you covered. 

In short: less noise, more proof. Less overhead, more growth.

Conclusion: A New Mandate for MSPs

The expectations have changed. Clients want a partner who can keep them secure, help them stay compliant, and make that value visible. The MSPs who embrace this shift—from support provider to strategic security partner—will lead the next wave of growth.

Interested in partnering with us? Book your demo here 

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