Ben Johnson, CEO & Founder, Liberty Technology

“Active management of the security stack you are providing and not ever being complacent or lax about security is top of mind. I feel like a lot of MSPs either want or act as if security is ‘set it and forget it,’ and it’s not.

“We will be seeing more things like Cisco’s SecureX, which is like Zapier for your security stack (it’s also a pretty revolutionary offer) that will let not just your Cisco security platforms talk to one another but also you can ‘wire up’ your other vendors’ products to it. Cisco is living up to the mantra – building bridges.

“If you haven’t been hit, you will. Be prepared and have resources lined up to help you with IR, insurance and – dirty secret here – being able to pay Bitcoin ransoms if you absolutely have to.

“The bad guys are not just encrypting your stuff, but threatening disclosure of the breach and exfiltrated data, so it’s now the threat of disclosing your client data (PHI or PCI or just client lists) that seems to be the Damocles Sword for MSPs’ clients. (Fines, bad PR, etc.)

“This is really about all of us versus them. They are very organized and are actively scheming to attack us and our clients. We all need to fight back and be prepared. Active partnering is becoming the norm in IR and remediation.”