The Gately Report: Coro Partners Gaining From Expansion, Brand Exposure

Channel Futures: In June, Coro won three 2024 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, including Fastest Growing Cybersecurity Company. What does that mean for Coro’s partners?

Tom Turner: It means a lot for our Coro partners because most of our growth has come through our partners. And it’s because of the platform. What we made on this platform is made for the SMB and middle market, and that's where most partners do business. We have several different types of partners out there. We have our resellers and MSPs who are reselling it. And then we also do a lot through our technology services distributors (TSDs). If you look at a TSD, basically their customers are that SMB and middle market. And our platform is simple and easy, and affordable, and that's why we have this growth because not only do the MSPs who are reselling it see that, but also the TSDs. And the TSDs, that's the next wave out there in security. And we are penetrating that because our product is simple for them to understand.

CF: What role are partners playing in Coro’s rapid growth?

TT: First of all, we're a channel-first company; we're over 70% channel. That's where all our growth is coming from. When you start with a reseller, they might start small because we have nice tiered pricing that's very affordable and they can start at whatever level they want, and typically they grow. The great thing about our platform is it's not just one thing, it's 14 different things that you have out there that you can pick and choose from. What we see out there is a lot of "land and expand." For example, I have a big MSP that says, "Hey, I just want your data governance and I just want your cloud security," but eventually they'll end up replacing everything because the platform is so simple. And then even on channel accounts, maybe somebody only needs email or they maybe just needs an endpoint. Once they do that, they're a direct customer of ours, and we’re going to land and expand. So we're going to grow that account for them. And we're going to continue to probably add different modules to the platform as we go.

CF: In March, Coro secured $100 million in Series D funding led by OnePeak. How are partners benefitting from this funding?

TT: I've been in the channel for over 30 years and I always look at, how do you help a partner the most? You’ve got to be easier to work with, but you’ve also got to give them resources. So what we're doing is growing our team here, and we have dedicated teams for agents and dedicated teams for MSPs. But we're also expanding in the market, overseas and in EMEA. But what's going to hit home with the people here in North America? I'm not out there just saying, "Hey, I’ve got a good product and I’ve got a good platform." I look at a true partnership where I can give you marketing resources and I can give you technical resources, and I give you training.

We just made a big purchase into a new partner relationship management (PRM) platform, which we're putting a lot into. So I'm giving the partners, whether you're a reseller or an agent, everything you need to be successful. And we're in this with you. We're not just here to say, "OK, rip and replace my product." No, let's use my product, which is great, and there are several ways it can make an MSP more profitable. But also let's grow your business together. With this type of money, I have more assets to bring out there than anybody else because we're hungry and we're still growing at an extreme rate.

CF: Coro also opened a London-based R&D center, and established local data centers in Canada and Germany. Are partners benefitting from these?

TT: One of the things Coro is using the money for is growing globally. I deal with partners in Canada and they like it that we have a data center in Canada. When you're over in EMEA, they want to know that you have data centers over there. ... We're going to be a global company, and we're pretty much already there. That is what the advantage is for them. And it just reassures their customers that they're with a good company and a good platform.

CF: What’s the latest with Coro’s partner program? Anything new or upcoming for partners?

TT: We're adding resources. We've changed our teams. We have three different teams here in the United States. We have our agent team that's run by a vice president. Then we have our MSP team, and they're what we call standard channels. And then we have our strategic team. The strategic team is really putting together innovative programs for the larger MSPs and resellers that want to invest in Coro, and we just overload them with resources to make them successful. Also, more recently, we introduced what's called our EFG team, which is a complete fulfillment team. So when somebody signs up, wherever they sign up, we're going to have that team make sure that they have all the resources they need to fulfill anything they do with us. [There are also] additional resources in marketing and technical, and we’re especially building up our training. And there’s our new PRM platform. We're all in it, helping these partners grow. We want to be the easiest company to work with and dominate the space.

CF: What sort of feedback are you receiving from partners? What are their latest needs and how is Coro meeting those?

TT: People love Coro’s platform for the consolidation because we made it easy. What we've really done is changed the economic game plan for partners. We've been able to provide them something that's affordable and easy to manage, which allows them to utilize resources in other places. I think that's a big thing out there, the way our platform changes things for a partner and their business so they can grow easier and make more money out there while doing it. From our partners, I would say the biggest feedback is they love the platform, they love the consolidation and the ease of use, and it’s affordable. Those are the four things that people come back and say they love about us.

CF: AI is the hottest topic in cybersecurity. How is Coro making use of AI and how is it benefitting partners?

TT: Our platform was built off of AI. So when you can have an AI that handles 80-90% of the instances on their own, and the alerting out there, that helps the partner not have to sit and stare at screens all day long to catch stuff. That's the beauty of having something for the SMB and middle market, having something AI-driven, because they don't have the resources to sit and watch it, and manage it every day. In addition, if a customer or MSP wants us to manage it for them, we do that for a small additional fee. We offer a full managed service along with our platform, so that helps the smaller MSPs who don't have those resources, or even the large ones who want to delegate that off to us to focus on other things.

CF: What do you find most surprising and dangerous about the current threat landscape?

TT: That even a super small business can be taken out of business by not being protected, and they don't have the resources and the knowledge to do it. It scares me that a friend or a neighbor here could be attacked or be out of business just like that if they're not protected. It’s hard to completely protect everything. But I think we've created something out there that is simple and affordable. What I'm scared about out there is the people who are just not protected because they're not aware. You even see individuals who get their data taken and if they don't have the right things in place, it can really hurt you. So that is what really scares me the most, the smaller people, and they're really the ones under attack. It's too hard to get into enterprise right now, even though you still see it every day. It's crazy. We get free advertising every day out there because there are still hacks happening. ... Just do the best you can and protect yourself. ... We think we have the right solution out there to do that.

CF: What can partners expect from Coro throughout the remainder of 2024?

TT: Continued growth and continued support; we're here to work with you. We're here to give you the resources to be successful. So whatever you want to invest in us, we're going to invest back in you. We have all these great programs out there and we set up a free demo. So everything we do is a proof of concept. It's a very easy sale for people who want to get into it, and it's a great platform for MSPs out there who want to consolidate, have one platform and make their lives a lot easier. So we're going to continue to invest resources in our program. We have resources that no other company out there is willing to offer, and it's because of our growth that we're going to do.

In other cybersecurity news …

Friday’s global IT outage caused by a CrowdStrike update had the cybersecurity community buzzing.

The CrowdStrike update caused computers across the globe to crash and display what's commonly referred to as the "blue screen of death." The unprecedented outage knocked Microsoft users offline across continents.

Kyle Hanslovan, Huntress’ CEO and a former National Security Agency (NSA) hacker, said he can't recall a better time to discuss the criticality of resilience and continuity of business operations, from threat actors to the solutions designed to defend against them.

Huntress' Kyle Hanslovan

“As our technical systems become more interconnected, it's almost certain mass outages will increase in frequency,” he said. “I highly encourage all industries to prepare and exercise plans to operate when key technology solutions become unavailable without notice.”

Krishna Vishnubhotla, Zimperium’s vice president of product strategy, said the CrowdStrike situation serves as a “stark reminder of the intricate dependencies within our technological ecosystems.”

“While it wasn’t a cyberattack, this event underscores the critical need for robust supply chain management,” he said. “Every update, piece of code and integration point can potentially become a single point of failure if not meticulously managed. Business must recognize that operational resilience extends beyond cybersecurity. It encompasses the entire supply chain, ensuring that even routine updates do not disrupt operations.”

A New York federal judge has dismissed most of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit that accuses SolarWinds of defrauding investors by hiding internal control failures in connection with the massive breach disclosed in late 2020.

That’s according to Reuters. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed all claims against SolarWinds and CISO Timothy Brown over statements made after the attack. He said the claims were based on "hindsight and speculation."

However, the SEC can proceed with its charge against SolarWinds and Brown for misrepresentations about the company’s cybersecurity leading up to the attack.

The Russia-linked cyberattack targeted the U.S. Government. The SEC charged SolarWinds and Brown last October. SolarWinds planned to fight the charges.

SolarWinds sent us the following statement:

“We are pleased that Judge Engelmayer has largely granted our motion to dismiss the SEC’s claims. We look forward to the next stage, where we will have the opportunity for the first time to present our own evidence and to demonstrate why the remaining claim is factually inaccurate. We are also grateful for the support we have received thus far across the industry, from our customers, from cybersecurity professionals, and from veteran government officials who echoed our concerns, with which the court agreed.”

A New York federal judge has dismissed most of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit that accuses SolarWinds of defrauding investors by hiding internal control failures in connection with the massive breach disclosed in late 2020.

That’s according to Reuters. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed all claims against SolarWinds and CISO Timothy Brown over statements made after the attack. He said the claims were based on "hindsight and speculation."

However, the SEC can proceed with its charge against SolarWinds and Brown for misrepresentations about the company’s cybersecurity leading up to the attack.

The Russia-linked cyberattack targeted the U.S. Government. The SEC charged SolarWinds and Brown last October. SolarWinds planned to fight the charges.

SolarWinds sent us the following statement:

“We are pleased that Judge Engelmayer has largely granted our motion to dismiss the SEC’s claims. We look forward to the next stage, where we will have the opportunity for the first time to present our own evidence and to demonstrate why the remaining claim is factually inaccurate. We are also grateful for the support we have received thus far across the industry, from our customers, from cybersecurity professionals, and from veteran government officials who echoed our concerns, with which the court agreed.”