Managed Service Providers
Compliance Support for MSPs
If your clients keep asking about a framework you don’t have in-house, here’s how you say, “yes.”
Compliance puts you in a tough spot. You know your client’s infrastructure better than anyone, but unfamiliar compliance frameworks aren’t just another security add-on. They come with their own scoping rules, documentation requirements, and assessment processes which most MSPs have never had to navigate. Get it wrong, and you’re on the hook for a client’s failed assessment. Turn the client away, and you risk losing them to a competitor who has already figured out how to say yes.
Duffy Compliance Services exists for exactly this moment, whichever framework triggered it. We work behind the scenes as your compliance partner — CMMC, SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO, GLBA/FTC Safeguards Rule, state privacy laws — so you can keep the client relationship, keep the recurring revenue, and add compliance to what you offer without hiring a compliance team you only need for a couple of client requests.
Two situations MSPs bring to us
“I need to support a client who’s already in the middle of an assessment.” You don’t need to become a compliance expert overnight. We step in as your subject matter expert and handle the parts you don’t want to. We get it; MSPs don’t enjoy reviewing System Security Plans and control documentation, identifying scoping and boundary issues, coordinating with C3PAOs or other auditors (or supporting a self-assessment), and translating assessment requirements into the specific technical changes. We know you want to implement upgrades and changes. You want to stay their trusted operator. Let us handle the parts of the framework that fall outside an MSP’s normal – or even desired – scope, whether that’s a CMMC assessment, a SOC 2 audit, or a HIPAA risk analysis.
“I want to build compliance into my service catalog so I can go after this market.” This is a longer-term play, and it’s the one with the better margins. We can help you package a readiness offering, including third-party assessments, documentation development, policy and procedure templates, remediation roadmaps… all those missing services that you can now sell under your own brand or as a co-branded partnership. This package is framework- and industry-specific, since your clients may span different regulations: CMMC for GovCon, HIPAA for healthcare clients, SOC 2 for anyone selling into enterprise or SaaS customers, and it expands from there. You bring the client relationship and the implementation work; we bring the compliance depth and audit-defensible recommendations.
Most MSPs we work with end up doing some of both: reactive support for the client asking today, and a repeatable offering built for the next ten who will ask tomorrow, often across more than one framework.
Supported Frameworks
- CMMC / DFARS 252.204-7012 — for GovCon clients handling CUI
- SOC 2 — for clients selling into enterprise or SaaS customers who require a report
- HIPAA — for clients in healthcare or handling PHI
- GLBA / FTC Safeguards Rule — for clients in lending, dealership, or other NPI-handling businesses
- State privacy laws — laws (CCPA/CPRA and similar), as more clients get pulled into scope
- ISO 27001 — for international clients, or ones that want recognition against an established, control-agnostic standard
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) — for businesses that want flexibility in cybersecurity practices using another control-agnostic standard
If the client’s needs do not fit neatly into one of these frameworks, it is still worth discussing. Core controls such as risk assessment, access control, incident response, and vendor management often overlap across most frameworks. We can scope a cybersecurity program around protecting your clients from their organization’s unique risk.
What working with us actually looks like
We act as your independent compliance backstop. When you bring us in as a third-party consultant, your client gets an independent subject matter expert validating the work — which builds their confidence in the engagement — while you stay the primary point of contact and keep the billable implementation work.
We fill the gaps in your service catalog, not compete with it. Security assessments, SSP and POA&M development, policy and procedure writing, penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, phishing exercises, vendor risk reviews, incident response planning… we do the compliance-heavy lifting and hand you a clear list of what to implement. Every recommendation becomes a billable engagement for you.
We help you sell it, not just deliver it. We’ll join your webinars, sit on panels, and act as the outside expert voice when you’re pitching a client on a new security or compliance offering, whether that pitch is about CMMC, SOC 2, HIPAA, or something more niche to their industry. Same relationship, same brand, more credibility in the room.
We stay current so you don’t have to. CMMC requirements, SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria, HIPAA Security Rule updates, state privacy laws — the regulatory landscape shifts constantly across every framework your clients might be on the hook for. That’s our full-time job, not a side responsibility bolted onto your existing workload.
Need to shore up your own compliance posture first?
Some MSPs come to us for a different reason: they’re the ones being asked for a SOC 2 report, or they want one before they can credibly pitch security services to clients at all. If that’s you, our virtual CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) service builds and runs your compliance program the same way we’d build one for your clients: gap assessment against the Trust Services Criteria, policy development, control implementation, and a clean hand-off to an independent auditor. It’s the fastest way to get your own house in order before you’re asking clients to trust you with theirs.
Ways to bring us in
- Behind-the-scenes consultant: we review your work, validate your recommendations, and give you — and your client — confidence the approach holds up under assessment.
- Independent SME for your client: introduced as your outside compliance partner, giving the client a second, independent voice backing your engagement.
- Expert resource for your sales and marketing: panels, webinars, and sales support so you can lead with compliance expertise without staffing for it internally.
Additional compliance services available to license or resell
- Compliance analysis and audit prep
- Security policy and procedure development
- Security and Action plans (SSP/POA&M)
- Penetration testing
- Vulnerability assessment
- Risk assessment
- Phishing exercises
- Vendor evaluations
- Instructor-led training
Let’s figure out where you fit
Whether you’ve got a client mid-assessment right now (CMMC, SOC 2, HIPAA, or otherwise) or you’re thinking about building a compliance offering into your roadmap for next year, the first conversation is the same: what is your client’s needs, what are you already offering, and where can we close gaps.