Most MSPs report feeling confident in their detection and response capabilities. But when we asked them to put a number on their actual response times — and then showed them how fast attacks really move — the confidence collapsed.
68% of respondents said they were "confident" or "very confident" in their current detection setup before being presented with real-world breakout speed data. After learning that the fastest attacks break out in under 60 seconds, that number dropped to 19%. The confidence isn't based on capability — it's based on not knowing how fast the threat landscape has become.
"I would have told you I was 100% covered. Then you told me the fastest breakout is 47 seconds, and I realized my best-case response time is still 10 minutes. That math doesn't work."
We asked MSPs to estimate the total damage — financial, operational, and reputational — of a ransomware attack where detection was delayed by 15 to 30 minutes. Then we asked what happens if it's missed entirely. The numbers are staggering.
The average MSP estimates that a single delayed detection incident costs their client $274K. A fully missed detection — where the client discovers the breach themselves the next day — jumps to $812K on average. 41% of respondents said they believed a missed incident would cost their client over $1 million when factoring in recovery, legal exposure, and lost business. And 63% admitted they would likely lose the client entirely.
"We had a client go down for 11 days after a ransomware hit that should have been caught in the first five minutes. The recovery alone was close to half a million. They fired us. I don't blame them."
"People talk about this in abstractions. But when one of your clients has 200 employees sitting there doing nothing for a week, and their customers can't reach them, and the local news picks it up — that's not abstract. That's your business on fire."
The majority of MSPs aren't just worried about today's threat speeds — they're watching AI-driven attacks accelerate the timeline further. And most admit their current stack isn't built for what's coming.
83% of MSPs said AI-driven threats are either "very concerning" or "the thing that keeps me up at night." But when asked what they're doing about it, the top answer was telling: "evaluating options" (47%). Only 12% said they've already deployed faster detection tooling in response. The awareness is there. The action isn't — yet.
"AI is going to make 47-second breakouts look slow. We're going to see attacks that move in single-digit seconds, and most of this industry is still relying on a human being reading an alert in a queue. It's terrifying."
We reversed the nightmare scenario. Same attack — ransomware, sub-60-second breakout — but this time, detection in under 5 seconds with automated containment. The client never goes down. The reactions were visceral.
91% of respondents said sub-5-second detection would "fundamentally change" how they position their services. 78% said their clients would pay a premium for it — with the average estimated premium at 32% above current rates. And 86% said it would be the single biggest differentiator they could offer in a competitive sales pitch.
"If I could walk into a prospect meeting and say 'we detect and contain threats in under five seconds,' I would close every single deal. Every one. That's not a feature — that's a superpower."
"I'd sleep again. That's what it would be worth. I'd actually sleep at night knowing my clients are covered."
Coalition's Wirespeed MDR uses automation to detect, investigate, and contain threats with a median time to verdict of 1,801 milliseconds. No human bottleneck. No alert fatigue. Just speed.
Learn More About Wirespeed MDR →How this research was conducted
All percentages are calculated from unique respondents (n=100), not total mentions. Respondents were screened to confirm active MSP/MSSP roles with decision-making authority over security tooling. Conversations were conducted via AI-moderated chat interviews on the Gather platform. Dollar estimates represent respondent self-reported figures and have not been independently verified. This report was produced in partnership with Gather.