With the UK’s Cybersecurity and Resilience Bill (CSRB) now progressing through the Committee stage in Parliament's House of Commons, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are approaching a new era of regulatory oversight.
For many in the sector, this represents a significant shift.
The CSRB updates the 2018 Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations, expanding the scope of government supervision and strengthening requirements around cyber risk management, supply chain security, and incident reporting. Crucially, MSPs are now firmly within that scope.
The question is no longer whether MSPs will need to prepare - but how quickly they can do so.
Under the original NIS Regulations, oversight focused on Operators of Essential Services (OES) and Relevant Digital Service Providers (RDSPs). MSPs were discussed in later updates but never formally brought into scope.
That changes with the CSRB.
The UK Government recently confirmed MSPs employing more than 50 people and generating over €10 million in turnover will now be regulated, placing an estimated 1,100 UK MSPs under formal compliance obligations.
Those obligations include:
This shift reflects a simple reality: MSPs are no longer peripheral IT providers. They form the digital backbone of thousands of UK organisations.
And that makes them systemic risk points.
Over the past decade, MSPs have evolved into highly interconnected service hubs - delivering connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, infrastructure management and more.
That concentration of access makes them attractive targets.
The recent ransomware attack on Ingram Micro demonstrates how a single compromise can ripple through customer ecosystems. Threat actors increasingly use MSPs as launchpads for supply chain attacks, pivoting from one breach into hundreds of downstream environments.
For UK Government, the concern is clear: if MSPs fail, the disruption multiplies.
The CSRB is designed to reduce that systemic exposure.
While many MSPs provide security services to clients, their internal security maturity can vary significantly.
In many cases, cyber capability has expanded in response to customer demand rather than through deliberate internal resilience strategy.
The CSRB changes that dynamic.
MSPs must now demonstrate:
This is not just about cybersecurity - it is about operational resilience.
And resilience requires one capability many MSPs still lack: secure, independent communications during an incident.
When a cyber incident occurs, primary systems are often compromised.
Email may be unavailable.
Collaboration tools may be inaccessible.
Internal messaging platforms may be untrusted.
If MSPs rely solely on their production environment to coordinate response, they introduce a single point of failure.
For organisations now under CSRB scrutiny, that risk becomes regulatory exposure.
An effective resilience strategy must include:
This is where Out-of-Band communications become critical.
YUDU Sentinel provides a secure Out-of-Band Communications platform designed to maintain operational continuity when primary systems are unavailable or compromised.
For MSPs preparing for CSRB compliance, Sentinel delivers:
Secure, Independent Infrastructure - A dedicated communications environment, separate from Microsoft Teams, Slack, or customer production systems.
Encrypted Messaging and Calling - Secure chat and voice communications to coordinate incident response without relying on potentially compromised platforms.
Mass Alerting and Two-Way Communication - Rapidly notify internal teams or customers during a cyber event and receive real-time responses.
Offline Access to Critical Information - Ensure key contacts, escalation plans and response documentation remain accessible even if network access is disrupted.
Clear Audit Trails - Maintain documented communications and actions to demonstrate governance and regulatory compliance.
For MSPs concerned about meeting “appropriate and proportionate” security measures under the CSRB, demonstrating resilient communications capability is a tangible, defensible step.
While the inclusion of MSPs under the CSRB may initially feel like regulatory pressure, it also creates opportunity.
Customers will increasingly scrutinise the resilience posture of their service providers. MSPs that can demonstrate:
will differentiate themselves in an increasingly security-conscious market.
Regulation raises the bar - but it also raises expectations across the sector.
The MSPs that act now, strengthening both internal resilience and customer-facing assurance, will be best positioned when the CSRB comes into force.