AI is reshaping both business and cybersecurity. As organizations adopt AI tools, copilots and autonomous agents, they also introduce new attack surfaces, security complexity and potential blind spots.
For MSPs and channel partners, that creates a growing challenge: customers need stronger protection and expert guidance without adding more complexity or operational burden.
ESET’s newly reimagined ESET PROTECT portfolio addresses that challenge through what the company calls effortless cybersecurity for the AI era. The new cybersecurity-as-a-service offering combines AI-powered protection, expert human oversight and simplified security operations to help partners deliver stronger cybersecurity outcomes.
Here are five key takeaways for MSPs and channel partners.
1. AI Security Is Built Into ESET PROTECT
ESET draws an important distinction between using AI to improve cybersecurity and securing the AI technologies businesses are increasingly adopting.
Its AI Security capabilities are integrated directly into the ESET PROTECT portfolio rather than being treated as separate add-ons. These protections are designed to address risks associated with areas such as AI conversations, AI agents, AI-generated outputs and sensitive data exposure through AI tools.
At the same time, ESET continues to use its own AI technologies to strengthen areas such as threat detection, response speed and precision.
The result is an approach built around AI-powered protection with human expertise and oversight—helping customers take advantage of AI while reducing the cyber risks that come with it.
For MSPs, that makes AI security part of the broader protection conversation rather than a standalone issue.
2. Three Tiers Match Different Levels of Customer Need
ESET has simplified its portfolio around three primary service tiers: Core, Premium and Ultimate.
ESET PROTECT Core is designed for organizations that need strong autonomous protection with minimal operational burden. It establishes a security baseline that includes protection for AI-related risks as well as ransomware, phishing and zero-day threats.
ESET PROTECT Premium adds continuous supervision through collaborative MDR and 24/7 monitoring. It is intended for organizations that need greater visibility but may not have the resources to monitor threats around the clock themselves.
ESET PROTECT Ultimate provides the highest level of cybersecurity support and resilience, including access to ESET security expertise, threat analysis and remediation for organizations facing higher risk or more demanding security requirements.
For partners, this creates a clearer path for aligning protection, supervision and expert involvement with each customer’s needs.
3. Customers Can Gain 24/7 Monitoring Without Building Their Own SOC
Continuous security monitoring has traditionally been associated with larger organizations that have dedicated security teams and significant internal resources.
ESET is positioning MDR differently.
Its new portfolio brings enterprise-grade monitoring, threat detection and expert support to organizations of different sizes without requiring them to build and operate their own SOC or MDR capability.
With ESET PROTECT Premium, customers can gain 24/7 threat monitoring and automated response backed by ESET security experts.
That can be particularly important for SMB and mid-market customers that recognize the need for stronger cybersecurity but lack the staffing or specialist expertise to manage everything internally.
For MSPs, it provides a way to offer customers protection plus supervision without adding unnecessary operational complexity.
4. Additional Services Extend Protection Across the Modern Attack Surface
Today’s cybersecurity environment extends well beyond the endpoint.
ESET’s portfolio is designed to protect across areas including endpoints, cloud, identity, email and collaboration tools, while also addressing emerging AI-related risks.
Customers that require broader multi-attack-vector protection can add Plus packages to their ESET PROTECT tier, with capabilities that can include mail security, multi-factor authentication, vulnerability and patch management, and more.
The portfolio also includes services such as MDR Guided Onboarding, which helps customers move from purchase to protection while aligning deployment with ESET best practices.
Additional offerings include ESET Cybersecurity Awareness Training and Cyber Warranty, delivered in partnership with Cysurance, which can provide eligible ESET customers with financial coverage of up to $1 million.
Together, these options allow partners to tailor protection to the customer rather than forcing every organization into the same security model.
5. The Opportunity Goes Beyond Selling More Security Products
One of the most significant elements of the launch is the shift in how ESET wants partners to approach cybersecurity.
The new ESET PROTECT portfolio is designed to help partners move from selling individual cybersecurity products toward delivering cybersecurity outcomes.
Those outcomes include reducing cyber risk, simplifying security operations, improving cyber-insurance and compliance readiness, and strengthening resilience.
ESET’s partner messaging also emphasizes opportunities for recurring revenue, stronger customer retention, larger bundled solutions and a clearer path for customers to progress from Core to Premium to Ultimate as their security requirements evolve.
For MSPs, that creates an opportunity to have broader conversations with customers about managed security, MDR, AI security and cyber resilience—not simply which individual security products they need.
Helping Customers Embrace AI With Confidence
Customers are not necessarily looking for more cybersecurity tools. They increasingly need cybersecurity that is easier to understand, easier to operate and backed by expertise when threats become complex.
That is the idea behind ESET’s new approach:
AI-powered protection. Expert human oversight. Confidence without complexity.
By combining AI-native protection, continuous monitoring, expert-led security services and simplified operations, ESET PROTECT is designed to help partners reduce cybersecurity complexity while helping customers strengthen resilience and adopt AI more confidently.
For MSPs navigating the AI era alongside their customers, that means an opportunity to move beyond product sales and deliver ongoing cybersecurity outcomes with the right level of protection, supervision and expert support.
Learn more about ESET PROTECT and cybersecurity for the AI era