Start with the view from outside the client’s network. Most MSSPs (managed security service providers) already watch endpoints, logs and email. Threat intelligence adds what those tools cannot see: stolen logins on criminal forums, internet-facing assets nobody tracks, and fake domains that copy a client’s brand. Sell those three signals as a tiered service, run them from one console, and send the results into the tools your clients already use.
- Pick the outside signalsLeaked logins, exposed assets, brand impersonation.
- Scan yourself, then pilotYour own domains first, then three to five clients.
- Keep client data apartOne console, separate data, labelled sharing.
- Define the alert pathWho receives, who acts, how fast.
- Package three tiersWatch, respond, advise.
- Check the rules clients faceDORA and NIS2 come up in sales calls.
What Can You Add That Your Current Stack Does Not See?
A SIEM or EDR shows what happens inside the network. Outside-in monitoring shows what an attacker can see and use before any alert fires. Three signals cover most of what MSP buyers ask for.
- Leaked credentials and dark web mentions. Employee logins, customer records and access offers on forums and chat channels. This is the job of dark web monitoring.
- Exposed assets. Forgotten subdomains, open ports and misconfigured services. External attack surface management finds them, and Brandefense scans a client’s internet-facing assets within minutes.
- Brand impersonation. Lookalike domains, fake profiles and fraudulent ads, covered by a digital risk protection platform. For fake pages, Brandefense contacts registrars and hosts and collects the evidence. Fake social profiles go through the brand takedown process.
Buyers ask for the same bundle. In an April 2025 thread on r/msp, a provider who was trialing tools asked for two kinds of coverage in the same request. One was attack surface coverage: subdomains, open ports, impersonations. The other was dark web coverage: leaks on forums, chats and Telegram. Other threads in that forum complain about dark web scan reports used as a sales tool, and ask what to do when a dark web alert arrives. A service that includes the next step is the one that holds up.
Who Do You Watch First?
Yourself. A 2022 joint advisory came from agencies in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. It said malicious activity against managed service providers was rising and would likely continue. MITRE lists the method as Trusted Relationship (T1199). Attackers reach a target through an organization that already has access to it. IT services contractors are one of MITRE’s examples. Your clients depend on your outside view, so run the first scan on your own domains and brands.
Then pick three to five pilot clients. For each one, write down what it cares about as a short list of priority intelligence requirements. The threat intelligence requirements template gives the format. Collect the client’s domains, brand names and the assets it owns. Brandefense lets you add clients and their assets in bulk, so onboarding does not turn into twenty separate projects.
How Do You Keep Each Client’s Data Apart?
Multi-tenant is the word MSP buyers use, and it means one console with separate data for every client. Brandefense is built that way for MSSPs. Each client’s data stays separate, you set users and permissions per client, and a client can see its own panel. The reason is simple: a leak found for one client must never show up in another client’s report.
Your own analysts still need the cross-client view. When one threat or leak touches several clients, Brandefense shows which clients it affects, so you can warn them together.
When intelligence moves between clients or to peers, label it. The Traffic Light Protocol, version 2.0, has four labels: TLP:RED, TLP:AMBER, TLP:GREEN and TLP:CLEAR. FIRST says the source is responsible for making sure recipients understand the sharing rules. NIST SP 800-150 covers how to write the rules that control publication and distribution. Share the lesson or the indicator, never the name of another client.
Where Does an Alert Go?
Settle three things per client before go-live: who receives the finding, who acts on it, and how fast. The 2022 advisory above asks that MSP and customer contracts identify who owns security roles. Put alert handling in the same place. A common split is that you request the takedown of a fake domain and the client resets leaked passwords.
Brandefense sends findings per client through the API or MCP to the client’s own tools. It also has a catalog of SIEM, SOAR and EDR integrations, so a finding can land where the client’s team already works. A lookalike domain found for a client is a good first alert to automate, because the fix path is short. Our post on how lookalike domains catch your users shows what such a finding looks like.
How Do You Package It Without Pricing It Blind?
Three tiers keep the offer simple. Watch sends alerts and a monthly report. Respond adds triage and takedown requests that you handle. Advise adds a quarterly briefing with the client’s security lead. Brandefense can brand the reports as yours (white-label), so the client sees your service, not ours.
| Tier | Watch | Respond | Advise |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the client gets | Alerts and a monthly report | Alerts plus triage and takedown requests | Respond plus a quarterly briefing |
| Who acts on a finding | The client | You, with the client’s approval | You and the client’s security lead |
| Report | Monthly, under your brand | Monthly, under your brand | Monthly, plus the briefing |
On cost, Brandefense prices by the modules used and the number of assets, and it has a separate licensing model for MSSPs. This post gives no price figures. Ask for the MSSP model and build your margin from it.
Which EU Rules Come Up in Sales Calls?
Two rules come up often. The first is DORA. Its threat-led penetration testing (TLPT) applies to financial entities that authorities designate. The Eurosystem updated the TIBER-EU framework on 11 February 2025 to match the DORA technical standards. The framework describes how authorities, entities, threat intelligence providers and red-team testers work together. That is bespoke, report style work. It is a different product from a monitoring subscription, so scope it separately if you want it.
When Does a Multi-Tenant Platform Pay Off?
A pilot runs on almost any tool. The move comes when you need the things above at once: separate data and logins per client, reports under your brand, and delivery per client. Brandefense offers these for service providers. Our page on a multi-tenant threat intelligence platform for MSSPs shows how the pieces fit, and you can book a demo from there.
If you are still deciding between feeds, a platform and a managed service, read Threat Intelligence: Feeds, Platform or Managed Service first.