People are buying chocolate, booking overpriced dinners, and pretending they enjoy rom-coms again.
So let’s talk about relationships—tech relationships, specifically the kind that quietly put your business at risk.
Have you ever had a “security partner” that felt like a bad date?
You call during an incident and hear nothing.
The “fix” works for 24 hours until the alert fires again.
The dashboard looks impressive, but no one explains what’s actually happening.
If you’ve lived through that, you already know how draining it is.
And if you haven’t—congrats. You’ve dodged one of the most expensive mistakes small and mid-sized businesses make.
Because a lot of companies are stuck in the cybersecurity version of a bad relationship:
- They keep hoping response times will improve
- They keep excusing missed alerts and vague answers
- They keep saying “they’re affordable,” as if that offsets downtime or breach risk
- They keep renewing… even though trust is gone
And like most bad relationships, it didn’t start this way.
The Honeymoon Phase
At first, the provider was attentive. Alerts were explained. Setup was smooth. You felt “covered.”
Then the business grew.
More endpoints. More cloud apps. Remote users. Compliance pressure. Smarter attackers.
Suddenly:
- Alerts became noise
- Response times slipped
- Answers turned into jargon
- You heard: “We’ll investigate”—without timelines or ownership
So businesses did what people do in every unhealthy relationship:
They adjusted their operations around someone else’s unreliability.
That’s not protection. That’s exposure management by luck.
The Incident Response Black Hole
You call during a security issue.
You email.
You wait.
Meanwhile:
- A user is locked out
- A suspicious login goes unaddressed
- A compliance clock is ticking
- Leadership wants answers you don’t have
You’re paying for “monitoring,” but no one is monitoring with urgency.
That’s not managed security.
That’s a bad date saying “I saw your message” after the damage is done.
A real MSSP acknowledges incidents immediately, triages fast, communicates clearly, and contains threats before they become headlines.
The Arrogance (The Real Red Flag)
They finally respond after the issue escalates.
And somehow, it’s your fault:
- “This is normal behavior”
- “You should expect some risk”
- “That’s just how alerts work”
- “You probably clicked something”
That’s like being blamed for the chaos someone else failed to prevent.
A good MSSP doesn’t talk down to you.
They translate risk into business language and make you feel protected, not lectured.
Security shouldn’t feel like a personality test.
It should feel boring, controlled, and predictable.
The Workaround Trap (Where Breaches Are Born)
When support is slow or unclear, teams stop reporting things.
- They ignore alerts
- They reuse passwords
- They bypass security tools
- They install shadow IT just to get work done
Not because they’re reckless because they’re trying to function.
This is how:
- Ransomware slips in
- Compliance breaks quietly
- Audit trails disappear
- Liability piles up
Workarounds are what businesses build when they don’t trust their security partner anymore.
Why MSSP Relationships Fail
For the same reason most relationships fail: no proactive care.
Many providers run purely reactive security:
Alert → Ticket → Patch → Silence → Repeat
But your business keeps changing:
More users. More data. More integrations. More regulatory pressure. More attackers targeting SMBs specifically.
The security model that worked last year will not protect you next quarter.
A real MSSP:
- Monitors continuously
- Patches proactively
- Hunts threats—not just reacts
- Tests controls before attackers do
- Plans for growth, audits, and incidents beforethey happen
That’s the difference between:
- Firefighting(cheap, chaotic, risky)
- Fire prevention(calm, measurable, scalable)
One feels like a toxic relationship.
The other feels like adult-level trust.
What a Healthy MSSP Relationship Feels Like
A good security partnership isn’t dramatic. It’s calm.
It looks like:
- Clear SLAs and response times
- Alerts that actually matter
- Plain-English explanations
- Compliance that’s audit-ready
- Threats handled before users notice
- Leadership sleeping at night
The biggest sign you’re in a good security relationship?
You stop worrying about breaches every week.
Not because you’re ignoring risk but because someone competent is handling it.
The Question That Matters
If your MSSP were a person you were dating…
Would you keep seeing them?
Or would your friends say, “You’re still trusting them?”
If you’ve normalized slow response, unclear reporting, or constant “almost-incidents,” you’re paying twice:
- Once in fees
- Again in stress, risk, and exposure
And neither is necessary.
Know a Business Stuck in a Bad Security Relationship?
If this sounds familiar, book a 10-minute discovery call.
We’ll show you what calm, proactive, grown-up cybersecurity actually looks like.
If this doesn’t sound like you—great.
But you probably know someone it does sound like.
Forward this to them.
We’ll help them break up with bad security for good.
P.S. To see how we help businesses like yours solve problems using tech, give us a call at (303) 423-4500 or book your FREE Security Huddle instantly here: https://business.newpush.com
