The threat landscape is changing more rapidly than ever. As new attack techniques emerge and old ones come back into fashion, the security industry works tirelessly to stay one step ahead in the endless game of cyber cat-and-mouse. This dynamic puts significant pressure on Value Added Resellers (VARs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to offer security products and services that keep pace with the latest threats. To keep our thumb on the pulse of the security channel, WatchGuard checked in with MSP and VAR partners from across the globe to gauge what they believe are the most important security threats, trends and considerations for the remainder of 2018.
Here are five key security insights from MSPs and VARs around the world:
- Ransomware is the most urgent threat for channel customers by a large margin – Over 62 percent of WatchGuard channel partners believe ransomware is the most important concern for their customers in 2018. Phishing and spear phishing attacks were in second place, at 22 percent. Although WatchGuard has recently seen cryptominers take over some market share from ransomware, it’s clear that the channel remains heavily focused on ransomware threats. For details about how WatchGuard’s Threat Detection and Response service can block ransomware before it infects devices click here.
- Educating customers is a never-ending mission for VARs and MSPs – Nearly half (46 percent) of VARs and MSPs said that their greatest challenge is keeping customers up-to-date and knowledgeable about new security threats and best practices for defense. As new threats and attack techniques continue to emerge with greater frequency, training and education becomes increasingly central to better security. Learn more about the extensive educational resources WatchGuard offers its channel partners here.
- Monitoring and reporting capabilities are almost as important as automation – More than two-thirds (36 percent) of our partners reported that monitoring and reporting tools have the greatest impact on their bottom line. At the same time, 39 percent said that automated threat detection and response tools have the greatest impact. This shows us that solution providers see just about as much business benefit from these management capabilities as they do from major security capabilities that protect their customers in the first place! You can check out our reporting and visibility solution, WatchGuard Dimension, in action here.
- Managed Wi-Fi services and MDR solutions are growing focus areas – Currently, just over half of these channel partners offer both managed detection and response (MDR) solutions and managed secure Wi-Fi to their customers. Nearly 35 percent plan to add MDR to their portfolio of services within the next year and 31 percent plan to add managed Wi-Fi services in the next year. As cyber criminals continue to wreak havoc through insecure Wi-Fi networks and leverage sophisticated obfuscation techniques to evade detection by traditional network defenses, the channel’s adoption of these types of security solutions will expand. Be sure to read up on how we’re helping solution providers in these areas with our secure Wi-Fi offerings and automated threat detection and response solution.
- MSPs and VARs are excited about the many benefits of cloud management – When asked to pick the greatest benefit of centralized cloud management for their business among ‘scalability for multiple site customers,’ ‘savings on deployment and onboarding costs,’ and ‘eliminating infrastructure costs,’ 58 percent answered, “All of the above.” It’s also worth noting that the ability to easily scale to rapidly serve customers across multiple sites was especially attractive, receiving the second most votes at 23.9 percent. Simply put, channel partners are enjoying the many benefits of a cloud-enabled management interface as a key driver behind the growth of their businesses and that of the overall managed security services market.
These survey findings were based on responses from over 400 WatchGuard channel partners primarily in the Americas and EMEA. For more commentary on the survey data, check out this guest column on ChannelPro Network from WatchGuard’s director of product management, Himanshu Verma. And for more information on the WatchGuardONE Channel Partner Program, click here.