Threat Protection Vendors: Why MSSPs Have to Ramp Up Efforts Right Now
“Look no further than the headlines,” says one vendor. “You owe it to your customers,” says another.
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Jon Peppler, vice president of worldwide channels for Bitglass (Bitglass approaches threat prevention from the perspective of secure access service edge. The company uses policy-driven remediation to prevent data leakage or the entrance of malware):
“Malicious threats are real, they are a huge challenge, and helping customers with this is a fantastic opportunity. According to Gartner, the SASE market will climb to $11 billion in 2024, up from $1.9 billion in 2019. Garter also forecasts that by 2024 at least 40% of large companies will have strategies to adopt SASE, up from 1% at the end of 2018.”
David Nuti, head of channel and alliances for North America at Open Systems (Open Systems offers managed detection and response as well as SASE. Thus, its threat protection resides on endpoints, alongside remote users and sites, and on clouds and cloud applications):
“Customers are always thinking about cyberthreats, and cybersecurity is a large revenue opportunity for channel partners. Customers are time-constrained and face an unprecedented sprawl of security responsibilities and an equally enormous landscape of options to execute. There is an immediate demand for simplification, and partners can help by making their customers aware of trends in security and providing efficient, proven solutions to their challenges. … As a trusted adviser, you owe it to your customers to discuss cybersecurity.”
Kurt Mueffelmann, global chief operating officer and U.S. president at Nucleus Cyber (this vendor focuses on insider threats by evaluating data and user attributes to authorize access to content and what users can do with it):
“Organizations big and small have rapidly rolled out collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams to enable remote work but have turned off key capabilities like information sharing and guest access because they are not sure how to look them down properly. They will look to their MSPs, VARs and integrators to help them understand the risks and provide a solution that solves the challenges and allows them to get the most ROI out of their existing infrastructure investments.”
Tina Gravel, senior vice president of channels and alliances for Appgate (the vendor treats threat protection from the premise that everyone and everything on the network poses a threat and cannot be trusted until it has been verified):
“The stakes are so high, which is why, despite the uncertainty of the current economic environment, you are seeing so many businesses increasing their cybersecurity budgets to not only protect themselves against threats but also best position themselves for the future. As such, customers will increasingly be looking to their channel partners for expert guidance as to how to modernize their network security infrastructure and adopt technologies such as zero trust that will allow them to assert more granular control over everything that connects to their network.”
Marcus Conroy, vice president of sales VMRay (VMRay provides automated malware analysis and detection platforms to protect applications and data):
“Threat detection and protection has been a priority for much of the channel for the past several years as it remains one of the biggest challenges for their customers. If a channel partner doesn’t offer threat protection, they risk losing a customer to a competitor as enterprise organizations would rather have ‘one throat to choke’ than deal with multiple partners. For MSPs, a mature threat protection offering represents a significant opportunity for them to differentiate their portfolio, deliver higher value services, and improve their profitability.”
Bill Dantz, director of channels at Clumio (Clumio offers data protection for public and private clouds, and SaaS):
“Data protection to partners has always been important, but now even more so as their customers and prospects move data protection to the cloud and doing so can present challenges to their customers unless they help them through that journey. Continuing traditional strategies is challenging and very costly.”
Faraz Siraj, vice president of channel sales at Code42 (Code42 addresses insider risks and threats from a positive-intent perspective):
“The expected growth in insider risk is largely a result of the rapid digital transformation that companies are undergoing and the likelihood of many companies choosing a hybrid work environment post-COVID-19. Beyond the obvious, that this is a profitable opportunity for the channel, it’s also an opportunity for MSPs, VARs, integrators and others to better secure their customers’ organizations. … If the channel is not fully educated on insider risk management, a much more effective way to safeguard data from insider risks than DLP ever could, then they are missing a serious gap for their customers.”
Jabari Norton, vice president of worldwide partners at alliances at Sumo Logic (the vendor views threat protection through a security information and event management lens; it focuses on early detection and response, and user training for spotting phishing attempts and social engineering):
“Cyber incidents continue to escalate in volume and frequency. Unfortunately, malicious cyber actors have the ability to infiltrate mission-critical business operations and steal employee information through direct attacks or socially engineered efforts. As part of a comprehensive services offering, all channel professionals and deals need to focus on a security posture and bake that into all technology services that are in use or being recommended.”
Jim Lippie, CEO of SaaS Alerts (SaaS Alerts’ platform monitors SaaS applications and alerts MSPs to unusual user behavior on Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox and more):
“Data is the lifeblood of every company and it all lives in digital forms today. The bad guys want to access this data based on its value, so anything of value needs to be protected. Why do you lock your doors and windows? Because you don’t want people taking your valuables. The same principle applies here.”
Corey Munson, vice president of sales and marketing for PC Matic (PC Matic delivers threat protection through zero-trust endpoint security):
“Look no further than the headlines. Ransomware and other threats will continue to explode. All channel partners should consider themselves to be a high value target. MSPs, VARs and integrators must put their ‘oxygen masks’ on first — and then assist the customer.”
Corey Munson, vice president of sales and marketing for PC Matic (PC Matic delivers threat protection through zero-trust endpoint security):
“Look no further than the headlines. Ransomware and other threats will continue to explode. All channel partners should consider themselves to be a high value target. MSPs, VARs and integrators must put their ‘oxygen masks’ on first — and then assist the customer.”
Since Jan. 1, Channel Futures has tracked an influx of vendor announcements about new threat protection products and platforms. The releases reflect trends sparked by the worldwide response to COVID-19: shifting employees to remote work and moving workloads into the cloud. These changes require greater security oversight over endpoints such as cellphones and laptops, and applications such as Slack and Outlook. They also have put networks at more cybersecurity risk than ever before.
Some of the problems stem from employees — sometimes inadvertently, sometimes on purpose. Others come from cybercriminals intent on wreaking havoc. Regardless of where data theft, ransomware, phishing or another breach comes from, enterprises and SMBs face an onslaught of threats. Managed security service providers, in particular, are ideally positioned to help. But some have yet to get on board.
The slideshow above marks the first installment in a series examining the state of threat protection from various angles. In this inaugural piece, we ask cybersecurity vendors why channel partners can’t wait any longer to incorporate threat protection on behalf of their customers.
It is important to note that each provider approaches cybersecurity differently. And that’s the crux of threat protection: There’s no one way to guard clients against the growing number of cyber breaches. In many cases, MSSPs and other partners will combine various tactics to create a complete threat protection stance. To get to that point, though, they must understand why now is the time to do so or else.
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