2024 MSP 501: The Very Best in Managed Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is one of the driving forces of managed services, helping MSPs grow their businesses, even in challenging times. So it’s no wonder that providing managed security services helped put many of the elite MSPs onto the Channel Futures MSP 501 list, with 99% of them reporting revenue from cybersecurity.

Canalys pointed to cybersecurity as a major driver behind its predicted worldwide IT spending growth of 8.3%, to $5.44 trillion in 2025. That will follow $250 billion spent on cybersecurity in 2024 with 10% growth for products and 13% growth for services.

“Cybersecurity, software and managed IT services will remain long-term growth engines for the channel. Those partners who are already heavily invested in these areas will maintain their growth trajectory,” Canalys chief analyst Matthew Ball wrote in a research report on 2025 IT spending. 

At least 75% of the MSP 501 said they sold endpoint security, network security, email security, end-user security training, managed detection and response (MDR), security information and event management (SIEM), security operations center (SOC), intrusion protection services (IPS) and dark web monitoring. Security was cited as the biggest growth area by more than three-quarters of the MSP 501, more than any other type of service.

Related:Download 2024's Next Generation MSPs, an MSP 501 List

That makes cybersecurity lucrative for MSPs — and also highly competitive. We’ve identified the MSP 501 vendors who scored the highest in cybersecurity revenue and growth and listed it as their primary or secondary business in 2024.

Align – No. 31 on the 2024 MSP 501 – owes much of its fast growth to selling cybersecurity to financial institutions such as private equity, hedge funds, and other registered investment advisors.

Align's Vinod Paul

“A lot of managed service providers provide cybersecurity services,” said Vinod Paul, Align’s president of managed services. “So we consider ourselves an MSP and an MSSP (managed security services provider), meaning all of our clients have MDR, SIEM and  SOC. If they're going to be a client of ours, they have to take that service on, or we wouldn't take them on as client. It's too much risk with them being regulated, if they have a cyber event and they don't have an MDR, that could have at least detected it or prevented it.”

New Threats, AI, Drive MSP 501 Security Revenue

Key security drivers for MSPs are increasing cyber threats, stricter government data protection and privacy regulations that require constant vigilance, more endpoints that add IT complexity, and a need for uninterrupted business operations. Businesses face greater security challenges as they face staffing shortages while cyber criminals become more sophisticated.

As with every facet of IT today, artificial intelligence also plays a role as AI helps both the defenders and attackers of sensitive data.

Jason Baron, CTO of Coretelligent − No. 29 on the MSP 501 − said AI helps hackers create malicious code, more efficient phishing content and fake chat bots that appear legitimate.

Coretelligence's Jason Baron

“That’s definitely a concern,” Baron said during a recent Channel Futures webinar, “Keeping Customers Secure in the Age of Generative AI.” We’re seeing other things to combat that and stay ahead of it. Continuous authentication using AI is one that I think has a great future. Instead of a one-time authentication, you’re constantly through voice analysis and visual analysis, making sure that the person you’re interacting with is indeed who they say they are, and hasn’t changed.”

Constant evolution of AI also requires MSPs and their customers to work hard to keep up.

“So there's a lot of education that happens to help [customers] understand that before you start going full bore at this, let's come up with a strategy,” Baron said. “Let's come up with a plan, and let's make sure that the proper protections are in place first before we create risk that shouldn't be there.”

The slideshow above includes MSPs, in no particular order, from the 2024 Channel Futures MSP 501 that excel at providing managed cybersecurity services.