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Fareed Cheema is the Global Head of Sales Engineering at Torq, leading worldwide pre-sales strategy, execution, and technical innovation. Over the past 3.5 years, he has helped scale Torq’s technical and go-to-market teams while driving customer success in a rapidly changing security automation market. With more than 20 years in cybersecurity, Fareed blends deep technical expertise with strong enterprise sales and product strategy experience, building teams that translate complex technology into clear business value.
The MSSP cybersecurity market is entering a disruptive shift. Customer expectations are rising, security threats are accelerating, margins are shrinking, and the cybersecurity talent shortage continues to intensify. Traditional managed security service providers’ reliance on manual triage, ticket queues, and human-led SOC response can’t scale to meet 2026 demand.
At the same time, enterprise buyers are becoming more sophisticated. They want measurable security outcomes, not alerts. They want speed, not SLA excuses. They want a security service provider who can autonomously remediate threats, contain malware, continuously enforce compliance, and improve security posture instantly.
This is the new reality shaping how MSSP services are delivered. In response, the top managed security service providers are embracing AI-driven Hyperautomation, a shift that transforms MSSP cybersecurity from labor-intensive service delivery to scalable, machine-speed operations.
Below are four defining MSSP trends for 2026 and how Hyperautomation is powering the next generation of cybersecurity service providers.
Trend 1: AI-Driven Automation Becomes the Core of MSSP Cybersecurity
MSSPs are no longer competing on headcount or the size of their analyst teams; they win by automating security monitoring, investigation, and detection. In 2026, the MSSPs gaining the most market share will be the ones shifting their operating model from human-led workflows to AI-driven automation.
This shift includes adopting capabilities such as:
- AI-driven triage that automatically eliminates noise and identifies real threats without human intervention
- Agentic AI analysts that autonomously investigate alerts, perform vulnerability management, and contain endpoint threats
- No-code automation frameworks that allow MSSPs to onboard new customers in hours, without engineering overhead
- Unified multi-tenant case management, replacing dozens of disconnected ticketing queues and manual handoffs with a single, repeatable automation layer
Forward-thinking MSSPs implementing AI automation like Hyperautomation platforms are already achieving:
- 90–95% autonomous Tier-1 alert handling, effectively eliminating the most resource-draining portion of SOC operations
- MTTR reduction from minutes to seconds, enabling machine-speed containment across customer environments
- The ability to onboard more customers with fewer analysts, unlocking higher margins and accelerating growth without adding labor
This is Hyperautomation’s true value: the ability to scale managed security service delivery without hidden cost, increasing headcount, or operational complexity.
Trend 2: Cybersecurity Services Dominate MSSP Growth and Margins
Cybersecurity services represent the highest-margin opportunity of the managed security service provider business. As threats evolve, customers expect their MSSPs to deliver more than alerting; they expect action.
Across industries, enterprises now require MSSPs to support:
- AI-enhanced MDR that identifies and prioritizes threats in real time
- Identity threat detection, including impossible travel, privilege escalation, and abnormal SaaS activity
- Cloud misconfiguration monitoring and remediation, especially across AWS, Azure, and GCP
- Continuous compliance with evidence collection, drift detection, and automated audit reporting
- AI-powered threat hunting guided by context from cloud, identity, endpoint, and network signals
- Automated incident response, not manual Slack messages or ticket escalations
The message from enterprise customers is clear: “Don’t notify us. Fix it.” This expectation is forcing MSSPs to adopt autonomous response platforms that can:
- Enrich and correlate alerts automatically, reducing noise and improving fidelity.
- Remediate identity and cloud risks instantly, from disabling compromised accounts to correcting misconfigurations.
- Document every AI action for compliance audits, insurance requirements, and customer reporting.
- Execute cross-tool, multi-cloud response sequences that historically required tiered human intervention.
Trend 3: Tool Consolidation Reshapes MSSP Cybersecurity Stacks
Legacy MSSPs operate with bloated tech stacks: multiple SIEMs, SOAR platforms, XDR tools, CSPMs, IAM systems, firewalls, ticketing queues, and custom scripts. This fragmentation crushes margins and burns out analysts who spend their days stitching SOC tools together instead of defending customers.
In 2026, MSSPs are aggressively shifting toward:
- Fewer tools and deeper automation, freeing analysts from manual correlation and multi-console workflows
- Unified platforms that connect detection → triage → case management → response within one operational layer
- Automation-first SOC operations, where AI Agents drive the bulk of investigation and remediation
- Multi-tenant orchestration, enabling standardized service delivery across every customer environment
As MSSPs consolidate platforms, they seek systems that eliminate:
- Manual correlation of cross-tool alerts
- High-maintenance SOAR playbooks
- Ticketing swivel-chair work between systems
- Cloud misconfiguration backlogs
- Manual identity investigation and verification loops
This is exactly why a growing number of cybersecurity service providers are replacing legacy SOAR with Torq HyperSOC™, a unified, AI-native Hyperautomation platform built for multi-tenant MSSP environments.
Trend 4: Talent Shortage Pushes MSSPs Toward Autonomous SOC Capabilities
The cybersecurity talent shortage is worsening. Hiring is slower, salaries are rising, turnover is high, and the expertise required to run a modern security operations center is increasing. MSSPs feel this pressure more than anyone because they support multiple customers with limited teams.
To stay competitive, MSSPs are turning to autonomous SOC capabilities, including:
- AI SOC Analysts like Torq Socrates, who can investigate cases, perform triage, gather evidence, remediate threats, and interact with users autonomously
- AI-driven detection triage, filtering out false positives and prioritizing incidents based on real business impact
- Automated case investigation, eliminating the human burden of enrichment, log review, and context gathering
- Automated user communication, handling Slack/Teams verification, MFA checks, and employee follow-up without analyst involvement
- Multi-tenant capabilities, enabling MSSPs to scale services instantly across all customers
With Torq powering these workflows, MSSPs can:
- Deliver 24/7 cybersecurity coverage without 24/7 staffing, improving coverage while reducing labor costs
- Scale customers without scaling payroll, unlocking real margin expansion
- Offer premium MSSP cybersecurity services with higher margins
- Reduce churn, as customers see faster response times, transparent audits, and consistent outcomes
Modern MSSPs don’t need larger analyst teams; they need an autonomous SOC engine that multiplies the capabilities of the team they already have.
How Torq Hyperautomation Helps MSSPs Lead in 2026
Torq HyperSOC™ is the AI-native autonomous SOC platform MSSPs use to modernize their entire service delivery model through:
- Multi-tenant Hyperautomation for repeatable service delivery
- Agentic AI that triages, enriches, investigates, and remediates autonomously
- Advanced case management for MSSP cybersecurity workflows
- Legacy SOAR replacement
- Data-rich customer reporting: MTTR, SLAs, risk reduction
- Extensive integrations with SIEM, endpoint tools, EDR, XDR, CSPM, IAM, and cloud providers
MSSPs using Torq report:
- 10× analyst productivity
- 95% reduction in manual triage
- Faster onboarding and customer growth
- Stronger differentiation against competing cybersecurity service providers
MSSP Alert Live 2025
MSSP Alert Live 2025 showcased where the managed security service provider market is headed: faster response, outcome-driven service delivery, and unified operations across cloud, identity, and endpoint. The sessions spotlight the same pressures MSSPs face daily (more alerts, more customers, fewer analysts) and why the shift toward AI-driven Hyperautomation is accelerating.
This year’s agenda reflects the challenges and opportunities we solve every day with Torq HyperSOC™ and our Managed Services offerings:
- AI for incident response and crisis comms: Customers expect autonomous containment, not manual escalations. Torq’s multi-tenant architecture handles triage, enrichment, user verification, and containment automatically across every customer tenant.
- How to scale MSSP teams despite talent shortages: MSSPs using Torq replace 90–95% of Tier-1 work with autonomous investigation and response. This lets providers expand their customer base without adding analysts.
- Cyber liability and insurance: Auditable AI actions, standardized playbooks, and multi-tenant case management help MSSPs meet insurer expectations without adding compliance overhead. Torq equips MSSPs with evidence-rich reporting built for cyber liability reviews.
- Selling next-gen security services: Customers want outcomes. Torq gives MSSPs the automation engine to deliver them: automated MDR, cloud risk remediation, SaaS access governance, identity verification, and complete case resolution at machine speed.
2026 is the Year MSSPs Transform Their SOC
The MSSPs that will win in 2026 aren’t the ones adding more tools or more people. They’re the ones embracing a new operational model powered by AI-driven Hyperautomation, where investigation, triage, enrichment, and even containment happen autonomously across every customer environment.
This shift is the only viable path to:
- Delivering differentiated MDR services
- Managing multi-cloud infrastructure
- Closing thousands of alerts per day
- Scaling customers without scaling payroll
- Meeting rising expectations around response speed and outcomes
- Improving enterprise security posture
Torq HyperSOC is enabling MSSPs to build the autonomous, multi-tenant SOC required to thrive in this new market, delivering faster response, higher margins, and a truly scalable service model.
2026 belongs to the MSSPs that automate, integrate, and deliver outcomes. To see the future of MSSP cybersecurity, get the Managed Services Manifesto.
FAQs
MSSP cybersecurity refers to outsourced protection delivered by a managed security service provider that handles continuous security monitoring, threat detection, vulnerability management, and incident response. The MSSP meaning is simple: a third-party cybersecurity service provider that operates a 24/7 security operations center to defend an organization’s infrastructure, endpoints, cloud, and users from evolving threats and breaches.
An MSP manages IT systems, while an MSSP is a specialized cybersecurity service provider that focuses on managed security services, including threat detection, intrusion prevention, SIEM monitoring, and MDR-style response. The difference between MSP and MSSP comes down to depth: MSSPs deliver continuous security operations, advanced analytics, and compliance protection, not just IT maintenance. MDR providers focus specifically on advanced threat hunting, real-time detection, and rapid containment. MDR is laser-focused on response, while MSSPs provide full-stack security operations.
Modern MSSP services include intrusion detection, SIEM management, endpoint security monitoring, vulnerability scanning, threat hunting, SOC operations, firewall management, cloud and identity security, and automated incident response. A managed security service provider centralizes these capabilities to reduce risk, strengthen security posture, and provide continuous protection across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
The top benefits of managed security services include 24/7 monitoring, faster detection, reduced impact of breaches, stronger compliance, and access to advanced cybersecurity expertise. MSSPs act as an outsourced security partner, improving visibility across infrastructure, endpoints, cloud, and networks. This helps SOC teams reduce noise, increase response times, and enhance their overall security posture.
Hyperautomation transforms MSSP cybersecurity by replacing manual SIEM triage, log analysis, and case investigation with AI-driven automation. It accelerates detection, identifies threats across endpoints and infrastructure, automates response actions, and improves SOC efficiency. This enables MSSPs to scale services, reduce labor costs, prevent breaches, and deliver faster, more consistent outcomes for customers.
MSSPs reduce breach, malware, and intrusion risk by delivering continuous security monitoring, SIEM/XDR correlation, endpoint protection, firewall management, and automated containment. Their cybersecurity services combine threat hunting, vulnerability management, and incident response to identify threats early and neutralize them before they spread across cloud, on-prem, or hybrid environments.
