Webroot Enhances Security Training for MSPs With Securecast Acquisition
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Cybersecurity firm Webroot is beefing up its MSP training with the acquisition of Securecast, a security awareness training platform.
Building on Securecast, Webroot Security Awareness Training will give MSPs and businesses an offering to reduce the risks and costs of phishing, ransomware and other cyber threats with end-user education, the company said. It is available today as a beta program, with general availability scheduled for later this fall.
Chad Bacher, Webroot’s senior vice president of product strategy and technology alliances, tells Channel Partners his company conducted extensive research among its MSPs, and found that managing unsophisticated users and dealing with compliance requirements are major concerns. Webroot Security Awareness Training gives MSPs an opportunity to train end-users and reduce the risk associated with human error, he said.
“By expanding our security platform and offering additional cloud-based, automated, easy-to-use solutions, we will enable our MSP partners to grow their business and assist them in becoming security experts,” he said. “We believe that the more educated end-users are, the less likely they will fall for phishing attacks. Through Webroot Security Awareness Training, MSPs can expect a reduction in the number of incidents customers are seeing, resulting in less remediation support.”
Existing Securecast partners will continue to be supported as normal and will see “greater overall benefits in the future” because of this acquisition, Bacher said. The new Webroot service will offer several new feature enhancements, along with product integration within the Webroot family of cybersecurity services, he said.
“With the acquisition, Securecast’s ecosystem will be consolidated into our Webroot Global Site Manager console,” he said.
Financial details of the acquisition, which closed on July 6, were not disclosed.
Upon general availability later this fall, Webroot Security Awareness Training will be integrated into the Webroot SecureAnywhere business portfolio. The platform’s interactive training courses may be sent out directly to end users from MSP security administrators.
“Co-founder Shane Crockett and I designed and built Securecast as a web-based, enterprise-class security awareness solution that’s so intuitive, any business can run it in minutes,” said Daniel Fox, Securecast’s co-founder and CEO. “With an easy-to-use platform, Securecast quickly became a solution preferred by MSP service providers. Teaming up with Webroot, the leader in cybersecurity solutions for MSPs, is the best move for our solution and the MSP community.”
Early this year, Webroot added new analytics and malware detection to its security platform.