COMMENTARY: Imagine a world where every car dealership in the country sells the same bland, featureless sedan. No variety, no personality—just four wheels, a steering wheel, and a shrug-worthy lack of innovation.
That’s what one-size-fits-all cybersecurity looks like for managed security service providers (MSSPs): A cookie-cutter offering that nobody truly loves, everyone tolerates, and eventually, someone else customizes better.
(Editor’s Note: The following opinion is based on an MSSP Alert webinar featuring Mike Saylor, CEO and co-founder of Black Swan Cybersecurity, called How and Why MSSPs Should Build a Vertical Market Specialty. To get the big picture, we invite you to watch this on-demand webinar.)
Mike Saylor, CEO and co-founder of Black Swan Cybersecurity, has spent decades dissecting why this generic approach simply doesn’t work. Drawing on his experience tailoring security packages for auto dealerships, Saylor argues that MSSPs clinging to one-size-fits-all solutions are driving themselves straight into irrelevance. Spoiler alert: The future belongs to specialists who truly understand their clients’ needs, quirks, and compliance nightmares.
Take auto dealerships, for example—a surprising cybersecurity battleground where outdated norms have long reigned supreme. Many dealerships were juggling piecemeal cybersecurity solutions from multiple vendors, none of which spoke the same language. This left IT managers with a Frankenstein monster of incompatible antivirus programs, sporadic monitoring, and compliance requirements so vague they might as well have been written in invisible ink.
Enter Saylor and his team, who recognized the golden opportunity hiding in plain sight: a vertical-specific cybersecurity package built from the ground up to tackle the unique challenges dealerships face. Manufacturers like Ford and General Motors were already breathing down dealerships’ necks with cyber hygiene mandates, but the Federal Trade Commission’s Safeguards Rule raised the stakes even higher. Suddenly, 24/7 monitoring wasn’t just a nice-to-have—it was a federal requirement, and one poorly configured firewall could cost dealerships their reputations and a million-dollar rebate check.
For MSSPs reading this, here’s where the irony comes in: The dealerships weren’t clamoring for a cutting-edge, buzzword-laden cybersecurity revolution. What they needed—desperately—was simplicity, standardization, and someone to make sense of the regulatory chaos. Yet, their existing vendors were stuck in a 9-to-5 mindset that didn’t align with dealerships’ needs for 24/7 support. When Black Swan stepped in with a unified, end-to-end package—vulnerability management, endpoint detection, training, and a virtual CISO service—it wasn’t just a solution. It was a revelation.
So why aren’t more MSSPs following this model? Saylor believes it’s because many are still enamored with the idea that cybersecurity is a universal language. But the truth is, industries speak their own dialects, and MSSPs fluent in those nuances will win the trust of clients and regulators alike. For auto dealerships, it’s about combining compliance with operational efficiency. For healthcare, it might mean addressing the complexities of HIPAA while battling an onslaught of ransomware attacks.
Of course, vertical specialization isn’t without its growing pains. As Saylor humorously notes, his first attempt at pitching a dealership-specific package was far from perfect. It took two years of trial, error, and more meetings than he cares to count to develop a program that worked seamlessly. And just when his team thought they had everything figured out, their first dealership became their biggest cheerleader—enthusiastically referring other dealerships faster than Black Swan could refine its marketing materials.
Herein lies the lesson for MSSPs: if you’re willing to invest the time to understand a vertical, you can build not just a solution but a reputation. Yes, margins may start leaner than you’d like, and yes, your first few attempts might feel like a crash course in humility. But once you crack the code, you’re no longer competing on price or generic promises. You’re delivering something no one else can—expertise wrapped in empathy.
For Saylor, the death of one-size-fits-all cybersecurity isn’t just an inevitability; it’s a necessity. The world is too complex, too regulated, and too vulnerable for anything less than tailored solutions. So, the next time you’re tempted to offer a client an off-the-shelf package, remember this: even auto dealerships—the epitome of conformity—demand something better. If they do, so will everyone else.
And if you’re not ready to adapt? Well, there’s always a used sedan waiting for you in the back lot.
Mike Saylor is the CEO and Co-Founder of Black Swan Cybersecurity, with over 30 years of experience in IT and cybersecurity. A former CISO and university professor, he specializes in crafting tailored solutions for industries like auto dealerships, blending compliance expertise with practical, client-focused strategies.
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