HYAS Blog

Protective DNS Is Evolving—Here’s What MSSPs Need in 2025

Written by David Ratner | July 3, 2025

The cyber threat landscape is moving faster than ever—and so are the expectations around
Protective DNS (PDNS). For Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), basic filtering isn’t
enough anymore. Clients expect deeper insight, stronger protection, and more flexible control
over how DNS traffic is secured and monitored.

As we enter 2025, it’s clear that PDNS is no longer optional—it’s a strategic necessity. And to
stay competitive, MSSPs need more than just block lists and basic dashboards. They need a
modern platform that delivers real-time intelligence, scalable policy enforcement, and powerful visibility into client environments.

This is where HYAS Protect stands apart. Let’s explore the trends shaping the future of PDNS
and how HYAS is building the tools MSSPs actually need.

1. Real-Time DNS Visibility and Behavioral Insight

Basic PDNS tools might block domains, but they rarely tell you what’s happening inside a
network. For MSSPs, visibility into DNS patterns is essential—not just for blocking threats, but
for detecting suspicious behaviors that signal larger issues like misconfigured devices, data
exfiltration attempts, or compromised endpoints.

It’s not just about blocking—it’s about understanding.

Today’s MSSPs want to know:
Are certain users or devices generating excessive or abnormal DNS traffic?
Is there a spike in lookups to newly registered or obscure domains?
Are clients unknowingly communicating with risky infrastructure?

HYAS Protect’s Advantage:

HYAS Protect gives MSSPs live insight into DNS behavior across all clients—and more
importantly, automatically detects and blocks the activity that indicates something’s
wrong. MSSPs don’t need to manually hunt for signals—HYAS surfaces and stops them in real
time.
 
You can quickly:
Spot anomalies in query volume or timing
Identify devices querying domains that deviate from normal behavior
Detect and block patterns consistent with DNS tunneling, beaconing, or command-and-
control activity before they escalate into full-blown incidents
 
This proactive detection not only strengthens client protection, but also reinforces your role as a trusted, high-value security partner.
 
 

2. Policy Inheritance: Scale Without Complexity

Managing DNS policies across multiple tenants can get messy fast. For MSSPs, it’s critical to
maintain consistency across clients—without duplicating rules or losing flexibility.
That’s where policy inheritance comes in.

With a structured policy hierarchy, MSSPs can:
Define global policies once and apply them across all clients
Tailor exceptions at the organization level without breaking the model
Confidently track which policies apply to whom—and why

HYAS Protect’s Advantage:

HYAS Protect delivers an intuitive, multi-tiered policy system that’s built for MSSPs. You can:
Apply default rules at the MSSP level
Layer on client-specific logic
Allow specific tenets to manage their own policies
Visualize exactly how inherited and custom rules interact
 
The result? Less policy sprawl, faster updates, and easier compliance reporting across your
entire client base.
 
 

3. From Static Feeds to Real-Time Intelligence

Legacy PDNS solutions rely heavily on threat feeds—lists of known-bad domains that are
updated periodically. But in 2025, that’s simply too slow. Attackers spin up new domains by the
thousands, often rotating them before they’re even added to a feed.

MSSPs need real-time, predictive protection.

That means blocking malicious infrastructure the moment it appears—not hours or days later
when it's already done damage.

HYAS Protect’s Advantage:

At the core of HYAS Protect is the most advanced and effective Protective DNS solution
available today—purpose-built to detect and block malicious infrastructure faster than traditional feed-based systems. By continuously analyzing global DNS activity and infrastructure risk signals, HYAS Protect proactively blocks newly weaponized domains in real time—often before they’re even listed in threat intelligence feeds.
 
For MSSPs, this means fewer missed threats, fewer support calls, and stronger protection for
end clients.
 

4. Custom Policy Logic and Layered Enforcement

Not every client has the same risk profile—and MSSPs need to reflect that in their security
offerings. Static, one-size-fits-all policies leave gaps, while overly complex systems are
impossible to scale.

The solution is layered, flexible enforcement.

Modern PDNS should allow MSSPs to:
Combine multiple rule types (rules, categories, real-time verdicts)
Create policy tiers based on vertical, compliance needs, or user behavior
Offer differentiated service levels based on protection depth

HYAS Protect’s Advantage:

HYAS Protect gives MSSPs a fully customizable policy engine that supports:
Global block and allow lists
Dynamic, fully customizable rules
Threat and Content based category blocking
Decision Engine verdicts
Hierarchical policy inheritance (as mentioned above)
 
This flexibility allows MSSPs to build policy bundles that match their clients’ needs—and deliver
them with minimal operational overhead.
 

5. Built for MSSPs: Multi-Tenant Control and Brand Flexibility

A Protective DNS solution isn’t just about blocking threats—it also needs to fit seamlessly into
how MSSPs operate and deliver services at scale. Many PDNS tools were built for single
organizations and don’t support the operational complexity of a multi-client environment.

MSSPs need:
True multi-tenant management with clear separation between clients
Role-based access and delegated administration for internal teams and client users
Branding flexibility to reflect their own service offering, not someone else’s product

HYAS Protect’s Advantage:

HYAS Protect is designed from the ground up with MSSPs in mind. Its multi-tiered account
structure allows MSSPs to manage all their clients under one roof—while still preserving full
policy and data separation. Role-based access ensures the right people have the right level of
control.
 
And with white-labeling capabilities on the roadmap, MSSPs will soon be able to offer HYAS-
powered protection under their own brand—backed by industry-leading DNS intelligence.
 

PDNS in 2025: Evolved, Intelligent, and MSSP-Centric

Protective DNS isn’t just a checkbox anymore. It’s a strategic layer in the cybersecurity stack—
one that must offer:
Deep, real-time visibility
Transparent policy control
Automated threat intelligence
Scalable management for large client bases

HYAS Protect is more than a PDNS solution—it’s the next evolution of DNS security, designed
from the ground up to support MSSPs as they grow, differentiate, and protect clients in a rapidly changing world.