Why MSPs Should Consider CIS Controls in 2025

Protecting one’s organization from cybersecurity threats remains one of the top concerns for IT service providers as cybersecurity threats evolve. Managed service providers (MSPs) are critical to safeguarding their clients from cyberattacks and choosing the right cybersecurity framework.

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls are practical and highly effective means for MSPs to manage cybersecurity for multiple clients. CIS Controls are prescriptive, prioritized, and simplified best practices organizations can utilize to strengthen cybersecurity posture.

Compared to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), the CIS Controls are not a function of the government and instead draw from all sectors, including government, manufacturing, vendors, academia, and research. They cover all common cybersecurity threats and distill key security concepts into actionable controls to boost cybersecurity posture.

The importance of CIS Controls

First and foremost, adhering to CIS Controls helps maintain a strong cybersecurity posture. Applying the industry norms that come from this framework allows enterprises to leverage the collective thought power of the cyber community and build a layer of defensibility.

Utilizing a framework like CIS can alleviate the burden on an enterprise to create its own true cybersecurity program. The framework is also not just another set of tools, but rather a program that helps cover key security aspects of the cyber landscape, including:

• Achieving higher standards of cyber hygiene
• Gaining an increased knowledge of your attack surface
• Undertaking proactive, thought-out remediation
• Attaining resiliency when an incident or breach inevitably occurs

Benefits of providing CIS Controls for clients

There are various reasons why MSPs should consider helping organizations adopt the CIS framework. CIS Controls are valuable to improving the state of cybersecurity within a company, while requiring minimal resources– making it cost-effective for mid-level and small organizations.

Among the benefits of implementing CIS Controls include:

• Prioritization: These Controls provide a proper list of security actions that can help organizations focus their efforts on the most critical and impactful security measures for the organization. They can easily first identify the most important areas to address to effectively allocate resources.
• Risk reduction: Controls around asset management and addressing common attack vectors allow organizations to reduce risk exposure to threats.
• Standardization: The Controls provide a standardized set of security practices to help establish a common language and baseline for security across different sectors within an organization.
• Resource optimization: CIS Controls help organizations allocate cybersecurity resources more effectively, thus ensuring critical areas receive the necessary attention and investment.
• Scalability: CIS Controls include Implementation Groups (IGs) which allow organizations of varying sizes and maturity levels to adopt the Controls incrementally. This level of scalability allows organizations to implement effective cybersecurity measures.
• Comprehensive coverage: The Controls cover a wide range of cybersecurity domains, including asset management, vulnerability management, access control, and incident response.
• Alignment with industry standards: CIS controls align with various industry standards and regulatory frameworks, including NIST, ISO, and GDPR, helping organizations achieve compliance more easily and ensuring they meet industry best practices.

Challenges of deploying CIS Controls

While there are certainly many benefits to implementing CIS Controls for your organization and they are becoming vital measures to take, there are some common challenges that come along with it.

One of the biggest challenges is that CIS invites an increase in new and complex techniques by threat actors to penetrate your organization’s IT systems. It will require having a professional and up-to-date cybersecurity team equipped with the latest technologies and practices.

Relatedly, another challenge that organizations will have to overcome is the limited budget they may have for cybersecurity when expenses exceed their budget. CIS Control implementation requires developing a detailed plan which will take several parts. Implementing CIS provides reliable security posture, but implementing these controls without any issues requires spending.

CIS controls require that organizations work with a certified security service provider to ensure all requirements are implemented within your company, so ensuring the right team is in place with the right budget is important.

To overcome these challenges, developing a reliable strategy is an important start. Further, working with experienced third-party teams or hiring professional in-house team members are practical solutions to overcome these challenges.

Utilizing an MSP for CIS Controls

The CIS has released guidance to help enterprises with cyber hygiene by using a managed service provider. The guide, Establishing Basic Cyber Hygiene Controls Through a Managed Service Provider, helps small- and medium-sized enterprises with ensuring basic cyber hygiene is met by their service provider.

CIS Controls utilize implementation groups “to prioritize where organizations should start in their basic cyber hygiene plan. By understanding which implementation group and CIS Controls meet your organization’s needs, you will be more prepared to incorporate an MSP into your strategy.”

This guide considers the issue of implementation from the CIS Controls perspective and provides a baseline of questions to ask MSPs, including: What type of controls are implemented at the MSP for their own security? And which CIS Controls are implemented by the MSP on behalf of their clients?

There are 43 Safeguards in CIS Controls IG1 that provide guidance for basic cyber hygiene for all enterprises. IG1 can be implemented by small and medium enterprises, potentially with support from an MSP. Additionally, the guide has a questionnaire that can be modified to address an enterprise’s specific concerns before it is provided to the MSP.

Choosing the right security service provider is increasingly important for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Take a look at the 10 best managed security vendors for SMBs in 2024.