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Application & OT Security · Foundational

Master Service Agreement (MSA)

An umbrella contract setting the general legal terms for all future work between a client and a service provider.

Definition

An MSA covers liability, indemnification, payment terms, confidentiality, and dispute resolution so that individual projects can be launched with shorter statements of work. It speeds up repeat engagements because legal terms do not need renegotiating each time. Pen test firms commonly operate under an MSA with recurring clients.

Example

A consultancy signs an MSA once with a bank, then issues a new SOW for each quarterly penetration test.

Exam tip

Do not confuse an MSA with a service-level agreement (SLA); an MSA is the legal framework, an SLA defines measurable service levels.

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