5 Questions to Ask Your MSP About Their Security Capabilities

Your Managed Service Provider keeps your practice running smoothly—but are they actually keeping you secure? Many dental organizations assume their MSP handles cybersecurity simply because they manage the IT infrastructure. This dangerous misconception leaves practices vulnerable to sophisticated attacks that exploit the gap between IT operations and true security expertise.

Before you assume your MSP has security covered, ask these five critical questions:

1. "Do you have a 24/7/365 Security Operations Center monitoring our environment?"

Cybercriminals don't keep business hours—they specifically target evenings, weekends, and holidays when your IT team is off-duty. The "3 hours to compromise" honeypot experiment proves that exposed systems are discovered and attacked within hours, not days.

What to listen for: Your MSP should either operate their own dedicated Security Operations Center (SOC) with around-the-clock staffing, or partner with an MSSP that provides this capability.

Red flag: "We check systems remotely and respond to any issues" suggests reactive monitoring of system performance, not proactive threat detection.

2. "Who performs independent security assessments of your own work?"

Having your MSP audit their own security implementation creates an inherent conflict of interest. Best practice involves separation of duties: your MSP configures and maintains systems, while an independent MSSP audits security posture and validates controls.

Red flag: "We handle all security assessments internally" misses the point entirely. Would you let students grade their own exams?

3. "How often do you scan for vulnerabilities, and what's your remediation SLA?"

Microsoft released 57 security flaws in Q1 of this year, including six zero-day vulnerabilities being actively exploited right now. If your MSP runs quarterly vulnerability scans, you're exposed to threats that didn't even exist when your last scan completed.

What to listen for: Modern security requires continuous vulnerability scanning—ideally every 4 hours—with Service Level Agreements for remediation measured in hours or days, not weeks. CISA recommends 72-hour remediation for Known Exploitable Vulnerabilities.

Red flag: "We scan monthly/quarterly" leaves enormous gaps where attackers operate freely.

4. "What's your mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR) for security incidents?"

The speed of threat detection and response directly determines the scope of a breach. An attacker who remains undetected for days or weeks can exfiltrate massive amounts of patient data.

What to listen for: MSSPs measure success in minutes and hours, not days. They should provide specific metrics like "average time to detect suspicious activity is under 15 minutes."

Red flag: If your MSP can't provide specific MTTD/MTTR metrics, they're not measuring security effectiveness.

5. "If they say they 'handle everything,' that's your biggest red flag"

Security requires specialized expertise that goes far beyond IT administration. While some larger MSPs build dedicated security divisions, most smaller IT providers simply can't maintain the depth of expertise, tooling, and 24/7 staffing that effective security demands.

What to listen for: Honest MSPs acknowledge the limits of their security capabilities and either partner with MSSPs or clearly delineate what they do and don't cover.

Red flag: "We're a one-stop shop for all your IT and security needs" from a small IT firm should raise immediate concerns.

The Bottom Line: Understanding MSP vs MSSP Roles

These questions aren't about doubting your MSP's competence. They're about ensuring you have the right expertise focused on the right problems. Your MSP should excel at operational efficiency. Your MSSP should excel at threat detection and response. The dental industry can no longer afford to conflate IT management with cybersecurity expertise.

About Black Talon Security

Does your MSP have satisfactory answers to these five questions? Contact Black Talon Security to learn how the "Eyes and Hands" model provides comprehensive protection through strategic MSP-MSSP collaboration.

Related Resources:

• CISA Cybersecurity Resources
• HIPAA Security Rule
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework