Call it an urgent reality check for managed service providers (MSPs). If you're managing client infrastructure and security, you must pay attention to the just-released 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). Among the wealth of findings, two trends in particular should set off alarm bells: the dramatic spike in vulnerability exploitation and the doubling of third-party breaches. These statistics represent serious threats to your business model and your clients' trust unless you take decisive action.
For 17 years, Verizon's annual DBIR has provided authoritative insights into the evolving threat landscape. This year's report offers a sobering perspective for service providers: attackers are operationalizing vulnerability exploitation and targeting trusted third parties at unprecedented rates. As MSPs, you sit right in the intersection of these trends.
The data paints a clear picture: 20% of breaches this year stemmed from exploitation of known vulnerabilities—a 34% increase from last year. In fact, vulnerability exploitation jumped from being a distant third among initial access vectors in 2022 to nearly overtaking stolen credentials as the top method in 2025.
What's particularly concerning is how these breaches disproportionately target edge devices—firewalls, VPNs, and remote access points—the very systems MSPs deploy and manage daily.
Even more troubling, only 54% of these vulnerabilities were patched before exploitation. That's essentially a coin flip your clients are losing.
This statistic reveals a hard truth: attackers have operationalized vulnerability scanning faster than most MSPs have operationalized patching. They're running constant automated scans, exploiting new CVEs within days, and specifically targeting exposed infrastructure.
The operational challenges are real. Patching edge devices can be disruptive. Clients worry about downtime, vendors can be slow with firmware releases, and it's easy to fall into treating patching as a routine administrative task rather than a critical security function.
The time has come to fundamentally shift how we view patching—from an administrative checkbox to an active form of incident prevention:
The vulnerabilities that matter most actually live in plain view of the internet, waiting to be weaponized—not hidden deep within networks.
The second critical trend from the DBIR demands attention: 30% of breaches now involve a third party, double what we saw last year. This statistic lands squarely on MSP shoulders because you are third parties to your clients.
Every remote session, every monitored system, every credential you hold represents a potential avenue for compromise. Your internal security posture is now part of every client's risk surface.
The breaches tied to third-party compromises rarely involve sophisticated zero-day attacks. More often, they stem from failures in security fundamentals: poor hygiene, weak authentication on RMM platforms, inadequate internal segmentation, overprivileged accounts, and ineffective monitoring.
MSPs must recognize themselves as prime targets for malicious actors who see them as gateways to multiple client organizations:
Broader forces are reshaping threats for MSPs. Attackers are scaling faster than defenders, powered by automation, AI, and rapid weaponization of vulnerabilities. At the same time, clients are increasingly sensitive to supply chain risk due to insurance requirements, regulations, and their own survival instincts.
Security credibility is becoming the ultimate differentiator for MSPs. Successful providers must prove their operational security, discipline, and trustworthiness rather than simply managing tickets. The MSPs that thrive will be those who build their credibility systematically, demonstrate it proactively, and protect it ruthlessly.
The Bottom Line: Patch Like Your Future Depends on It
If there's one message to take from this year's Verizon DBIR, it's this: patch like your future depends on it, because it does. Secure yourselves with the same rigor you promise your clients. Go beyond the marketing buzzword of “operationalizing zero trust” and implement the tools, technologies, and processes to truly embody that mindset.
The fundamentals—patching, privilege control, visibility, segmentation—matter more now than ever. In complexity, attackers thrive; simplicity and discipline are your allies. Let's make disciplined defense the winning strategy and ruin the attackers' ROI.
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