A Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) is a third party that monitors and manages an organisation’s security 24/7, typically including a Security Operations Centre, threat hunting, and incident response. It is designed for organisations with continuous security obligations — enterprises, regulated industries, and government. Red Bridge Cyber is a continuous scanning service for the public-facing parts of a website — delivered as a live view in your account with weekly PDF snapshot exports — built for the owner of a 1–30 staff Australian business who needs to know what is broken on their site, not a 24/7 security team. For most small businesses, an MSSP is too much and Red Bridge Cyber is the right starting point.
Side-by-side
| Attribute | Red Bridge Cyber | Managed Security Provider (MSSP) |
|---|---|---|
| Price band | From $250 / month (month-to-month, cancel anytime) | Tens of thousands per year and up |
| Time to deliver | Initial findings live on first login; weekly PDF snapshot every Monday | Weeks to onboard |
| Scope | Public-facing surfaces: email, speed, domain, visibility, security headers | Whole environment monitoring, endpoint, network, cloud |
| Ongoing relationship | Self-service subscription | Continuous engagement with named account team |
| Who it suits | 1–30 staff Australian small business with one or two public-facing services | Organisations with continuous security obligations, regulated industries, dedicated security budgets |
| What it does NOT cover | Endpoint protection, internal network monitoring, incident response, compliance certification | Light-touch one-off audits of public-facing surfaces (overkill for the use case) |
When each is right
Red Bridge Cyber is right when …
- You have a small business website and you do not know whether it is set up correctly.
- You have been told by a developer or hosting provider to “fix your DMARC” or “improve your security headers” and you do not know what that means.
- You are not under regulatory obligation to maintain a continuous security capability.
- You want to fix the obvious things that are wrong before deciding whether to spend more.
A Managed Security Provider is right when …
- You have a continuous security obligation — APRA-regulated, healthcare, government, defence-adjacent.
- You have internal IT staff but no dedicated security function and need 24/7 coverage.
- You have already been breached and need ongoing monitoring as part of recovery.
- Your insurance, contract, or regulator requires named security oversight.
What we don’t do
Red Bridge Cyber does not run a Security Operations Centre. We do not monitor your endpoints, your internal network, or your cloud workloads. We do not respond to incidents on your behalf. We do not provide compliance certification or audit reports for a regulator. If those are what your business needs, an MSSP is the correct choice. If you are not sure, the Small business hub is a no-cost starting point for Australian small businesses.
Referral disclosure
When a customer genuinely needs managed security operations — Security Operations Centre, 24/7 monitoring, incident response — we maintain a small, vetted list of independent Australian MSSPs we are happy to refer them to.
We do not accept referral fees, kickbacks, or revenue share from any of those providers. Referrals are made on the basis of past delivery quality only — not on any commercial arrangement.
Every commercial relationship we have — and the ones we deliberately don’t — is published at Partner & referral disclosures.