3 Tips to Help MSPs Make Money using DNS Protection

Posted by Trevagh Stankard on Thu, Oct 7th, 2021

DNS protection is a critical layer for MSPs barrier against cyberattacks.

Cybersecurity attacks make cybercriminals rich, as businesses stand to lose around $1.5 trillion from attacks. Much of these losses come from insecurities at the internet level. Endpoint security is not enough to stop attacks that cleverly manipulate staff at the receiving end of phishing emails and malicious websites.

A DNS filter provides a cost-effective way to manage web-borne attacks that traditional firewalls and endpoint security solutions fail to tackle. A DNS (Domain Name System) filter is now an important part of an MSPs security solution portfolio and a well-chosen solution can help an MSP maximize profits.

Why Should an MSP Offer A DNS Filter To Clients?

A DNS filter stops employees from accessing malicious websites or IP addresses. A DNS filter allows an MSP to set up a list of IP addresses that are known to be malicious or that are deemed not suitable for employee access, e.g., gambling and adult sites. Smart filters add an AI engine to enhance threat blocks.

The use of a DNS filter helps to controls the attack surface and prevent the damage that phishing emails can do; for example, if a user clicks on a link in a phishing email the DNS filter will spot that the website is on a list of dangerous IP addresses and stop the website loading. This prevents malware infection and/or prevents an employee from entering credentials or other data to a spoof site. As phishing emails are the number one way that malware enters a network, this simple filter mechanism can block many cyber-attacks

Read: 5 Ways MSPs Communicate Cyber Risks

With this in mind, how can an MSP maximize profit when offering a DNS filter to its client base?

MSP Choices in Managed DNS Protection

According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR), 43% of data breaches affect the SMB and 61% of smaller organizations reported a cyberattack during 2020. The Managed Service Provider (MSP) has responded to this situation well, with a report from Datto finding that 99% of MSPs now offer some level of managed security. The trouble is that there are many security solution options available to the MSP. Which one to choose, that fits both an SMB and enterprise needs, can be challenging: a premium DNS protection solution must offer exceptional protection for clients whilst maximizing profit for the MSP.

3 Ways to Make Money from DNS Protection

The choice of DNS filter comes down to functionality, cost-effectiveness, and MSP-friendly features.

1. Cost-Benefit Balance of DNS Solutions

Cybersecurity attack prevention can be a costly business. According to Hiscox, the average cost of a single cyber-attack on a small U.S. business is $25,612, with many small companies suffering from multiple attacks. DNS protection solutions offer a cost-effective way for a client to prevent a range of cybersecurity issues from phishing to ransomware attacks to data theft.

DNS filters delivered as an MSP service must be designed to meet certain criteria including:

• Easy integration with billing systems
• Elastic scalability to work with your changing business
• Automated provisioning and centralized management
• Brandable so that the DNS filter carries your logo, color scheme, etc.
• Easy addition of customers and scalable to many hundreds of thousands of customers.

By delivering a DNS filter designed for MSP deployment, an MSP can prevent costly cyberattacks for an affordable fixed monthly fee.

Read: 6 Types of DNS Attacks and why you need to Secure the DNS Layer

2. Demonstrate The Power of A Great DNS Filter

DNS filters save time and money when they are designed with ease of use and utilize powerful smart technologies. Offer your clients a free trial so they can see a smart DNS filter in action. During the trial, point out some of the features that protect against cyberattacks as well as the ease of use in deployment and action: features such as:

• AzureAD integration
• Ease of user identification and reporting.
• The volume of malicious attacks the DNS filter prevents
• Granular filtering for precision protection
• Support for remote employees and specific filtering for Windows, Mac's and Chromebooks.

A free trial that demonstrates the capability of the DNS Filter can help you close the deal by showing proof of the solution in action.

3. Best-of-breed DNS Protection Solution for Exceptional MSP Service

Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that 2021 would see a cyber-attack against a business every 11 seconds. With 94% of malware delivered via email, this figure looks set to be realized.

SMBs suffer from the same cyber-attacks as their enterprise cousins and so need best-of-breed solutions. A DNS filter, however, is only as good as the technology that powers it. A DNS filter solution needs to tackle a massive number of web-borne threats and to do so, it must be based on an intelligent approach. WebTitan DNS Filter is specifically designed and priced for service providers. The web is big and DNS filters need to be able to act across this surface to protect against the inherent threats. WebTitan DNS Filter blocks three million malicious URLs and phishing sites at any one time with 100% coverage of the top one million most visited websites and 99% coverage and accuracy of the entire active web.

Underlying WebTitan DNS Filter service is an AI (artificial intelligence) engine that works to increase the precision of threat blocks using the data of over 650 million customers. This “crowd-sourcing” enrichment of the DNS filter is enhanced by crawling over 700 million URLs each day to deliver exceptional threat protection. In addition, 5 trillion search queries are checked every month.

This level of protection is fundamental in a DNS Filter to deliver robust protection. Continued delivery of exceptional service will ensure that an MSP offers the best available service, to ensure clients return and offer that all important word-of-mouth recommendation.

DNS protection offers an MSP and their clients a powerful way to control web-borne threats. But an MSP must act on behalf of the client and make the right choice of DNS filter. By offering a smart DNS filter that builds on real customer intelligence to become even smarter, the MSP is assured of delivering the best protection to clients. In doing so, the MSP will ultimately save the client company from the damage that phishing and malicious websites cause whilst maximizing the MSP’s own profit margins.

WebTitan DNS Filter is made for MSPs by MSPs. Talk to a TitanHQ security expert and learn more about our MSP program. View WebTitan Demo.