CISA Joins Partners to Release Advisory on Protecting MSPs and their Customers

The cybersecurity authorities of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States have released joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), Protecting Against Cyber Threats to Managed Service Providers and their Customers, to provide guidance on how to protect against malicious cyber activity targeting managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers. The CSA—created in response to reports of increased activity against MSPs and their customers—provides specific guidance for both MSPs and customers aimed at enabling transparent discussions on securing sensitive data. The CSA also provides tactical actions for MSPs and customers, including:

• Identify and disable accounts that are no longer in use.
• Enforce MFA on MSP accounts that access the customer environment and monitor for unexplained failed authentication.
• Ensure MSP-customer contracts transparently identify ownership of information and communications technology (ICT) security roles and responsibilities.

CISA urges organizations to review the joint CSA and take actions to strengthen their defenses against malicious cyber activity.