Why the MSSP Decision Matters
Gartner estimates that 60% of organisations will use managed security services by 2026, up from 40% in 2023. For UK SMBs, the question is not whether to use a managed provider — it is which one. The wrong choice can leave you with expensive monitoring that generates alerts but no action, tools that overlap without covering the gaps, and SLAs that sound impressive but contain exclusions that matter when you are under attack. The UK MSSP market ranges from one-person SOCs relabelling a SIEM dashboard to genuine managed security operations. Knowing the difference is critical.
Red Flags to Watch For
Be wary of providers that lead with tools rather than outcomes. A list of vendor logos is not a security strategy. Ask what happens when an alert fires at 3am on a Saturday — if the answer involves an escalation to your team, that is not managed security. Watch for providers that cannot explain their detection coverage in terms of the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Be cautious of long-term contracts with no exit clauses — if a provider is confident in their service, they do not need to lock you in. Finally, ask about data ownership: if you leave, do you retain access to your historical security data?
- Tool-first pitches without outcome-based SLAs
- No 24/7 human response capability
- Cannot map coverage to MITRE ATT&CK framework
- Long contracts with no exit clause or data portability
- No evidence of UK-specific regulatory knowledge (ICO, NCSC)
Key Questions to Ask
Start with: "What is your mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR)?" Industry benchmarks from IBM put average MTTD at 204 days — a good MSSP should reduce this to hours. Ask: "Do you provide remediation or just alerting?" Many MSSPs will tell you something is wrong but leave the fixing to you. Ask about their technology stack — do they use best-of-breed tools for each layer, or a single platform that tries to do everything? Ask how they handle UK-specific compliance requirements: ICO breach notification within 72 hours, NCSC reporting, and Cyber Essentials alignment.
- What is your MTTD and MTTR?
- Do you remediate or just alert?
- What is your technology stack and why those tools?
- How do you handle ICO 72-hour breach notification?
- Can I see a sample monthly security report?
- What is included versus billed as additional?
The Kyanite Blue Approach
We take a different approach to managed security. Instead of selling monitoring dashboards, we deploy a complete five-layer stack: Coro for endpoint protection, Hadrian for attack surface management, BlackFog for anti data exfiltration, Panorays for third-party risk, and our team for 24/7 management and response. Every client gets the same enterprise-grade tools — we do not tier capabilities by price. Our SLAs are outcome-based: we commit to detection, response, and remediation times, not just monitoring uptime. And we start every engagement with a free 30-day BlackFog assessment that shows you exactly what is happening on your network today.