Texas Cybersecurity Liability Law for MSPs
In This Article …
Learn what Texas SB 2610 changes for SMB cybersecurity liability, including:
- How MSPs can use the law to deepen long-term, strategic client relationships
- Why tailored compliance strategies help meet SB 2610’s scalable legal requirements
- What practical steps resilience partners can take to guide clients toward safe harbor protections
- Which questions MSPs are often hearing, and how to answer them with clarity and confidence
A Legal Turning Point for Cybersecurity
Texas Senate Bill 2610, effective September 1, 2025, marked a momentous shift for small and midsized businesses (SMBs) statewide. The law introduces a cybersecurity “safe harbor” that protects qualifying businesses from punitive damages in case of a cyber incident, provided they previously had implemented and supported a recognized cybersecurity framework.
But this isn’t just a legal lifeline. It’s an invitation for MSPs that serve as resilience partners to deepen relationships through service models that align compliance expectations with the client’s journey. It’s a path walked side by side, built on shared clarity, confidence, and accountability.
5 Tactics for MSPs to Turn SB 2610 into an Advantage
SB 2610 can give you a foot in the door to increase your revenue. These strategies will help you broach the topic with clients as well as build you into a trusted partner.
1. From IT Fixers to Strategic Risk Advisors
To be honest, cybersecurity conversations often get ignored until a business interruption, cyberattack, or lawsuit hits. SB 2610 cuts through hesitation and helps prevent disruption before it starts. It’s not just about best practices, but risk mitigation and legal exposure.
This law empowers deeply invested MSPs to step in, take ownership, and guide SMB leaders through complex compliance regulations with care, clarity, and long-term accountability. Those who embrace this role are shaping a joint path forward. They can help partners build defensible positions and durable, life-based partnerships.
Tactic: Use SB 2610 to kick off a cybersecurity risk and fiscal impact assessment. Speak the language of liability and long-term resilience, not just firewalls and patching.
2. Orchestrating Right-sized Compliance Journeys
The new Texas cybersecurity liability law doesn’t offer a one-size-fits-all mandate. Instead, it introduces scalable legal thresholds based on business size and needs. For MSPs deeply invested in their clients’ growth, this opens the door to design service frameworks that evolve with the business.
Rather than placing clients into static packages, strategic partners guide compliance journeys that align legal requirements with real-world business context. The partnerships can adapt as companies grow. It allows MSPs to craft flexible, forward-looking frameworks that nurture long-term resilience.
Tactic: Help clients understand their specific requirements. Then, position yourself as a collaborative navigator, walking with them through a compliance journey tailored to their growth stage, risk, and goals.
3. Compliance as a Service: Where Protection Meets Predictability
Compliance under SB 2610 is a shared rhythm. As businesses evolve, so, too, do their risks, responsibilities, and regulatory expectations. From upgrades and updates to policy refinements, training, testing, and refreshers, trusted advisors help ensure the heartbeat never stops.
Brad Bethune
Beyond just maintenance, this represents mutual growth momentum.
Tactic: Weave compliance into the life of business reviews. It should be an ongoing cadence of care that moves in step with each season of growth. Sustain trust, alignment, and resilience with every heartbeat.
4. Documentation: Proof of Partnership
In the world of SB 2610, documentation is a living reflection of commitment. Writing policies, logging trainings, and assessing risks are more than checkboxes. They’re milestones on a mutual journey of accountability.
MSPs that serve as resilience partners treat documentation as more than a task. They honor it as a living, breathing testament to the journey together. It’s proof of the life that is built together.
Tactic: Curate an “Audit Readiness Binder,” physical or digital, as a co-authored narrative of diligence. When the moment comes, your clients will have proof of compliance as well as evidence of a trusted partnership built on intention, action, and care.
5. Bridging the Gap Between Tech, Insurance, and Growth
While cyber insurance is essential, SB 2610 adds a new layer of proactive protection that’s proactive, not just reactive. By aligning with safe harbor frameworks, clients lower their exposure to punitive damages and strengthen their standing with insurers.
Just like growing businesses earn new privileges through responsibility, organizations with mature security programs are viewed more favorably by underwriters. MSPs become translators in this process, bridging the technical language of cybersecurity, real-world business knowledge, and the financial language of underwriting.
Tactic: Collaborate with insurance brokers and legal advisors to create joint resources, checklists, webinars, and briefings. These should explain how proactive compliance strengthens a client’s insurance position. Position your compliance journeys as the connective tissue between compliance and confidence.
FAQs
Q: Does SB 2610 cut all cyber incident liability?
No, it only shields against punitive damages, and only if a qualifying cybersecurity program was in place and supported. Regulatory fines and compensatory costs still apply.
Q: What frameworks are recognized?
For Tier 3 businesses (100–249 employees), frameworks like NIST CSF, CIS Controls, ISO 27001, HIPAA, SOC 2, and PCI-DSS are recognized. Tiers 1 and 2 do not require formal frameworks. Instead, they focus on specific controls like password policies and user training.
Q: Can a business use safe harbor after a cyber incident?
No. The cybersecurity program must be in place and actively supported before the incident to qualify for protection.
Q: Is this cybersecurity liability law only a Texas thing?
For now, yes, SB 2610 is unique to Texas. However, several states — including Ohio, Utah, Connecticut, Iowa, and Nevada — have implemented similar safe harbor legislation. Florida considered comparable legislation (HB 473), but it was vetoed in 2024. California has no equivalent, focusing instead on privacy regulations.
Q: What’s the first step for MSPs?
Open a strategic dialogue around SB 2610 with stewardship, not fear. Frame the law as an opportunity to co-design a compliance journey rooted in care, clarity, and accountability. Then follow with a risk assessment and tier alignment based on company size and growth stage.
Brad Bethune is founder and principal of Bandwidth Partners. He is a cyber risk and compliance advisor focused on helping MSPs elevate cybersecurity conversations with regulated SMBs. He specializes in translating complex frameworks into actionable business outcomes with clarity and long-term accountability.
Featured image: SvetlanaSF — stock.adobe.com
