IT Nation Secure: MSPs Must Talk to SMB Customers About Cybersecurity
SMBs want MSPs to help them with cybersecurity, and they're willing to pay more for those that do.
![Jason Magee at IT Nation Secure 2021 Jason Magee at IT Nation Secure 2021](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt5502ef5ab590cca0/65244e5a25450320d0dfa278/Jason-Magee-at-IT-Nation-Secure-2021.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
A new survey shows cybersecurity remains a top priority for SMBs. The survey was conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by ConnectWise.
The third annual report found organizations are challenged to find an MSP or TSP that will help protect them from rising cybersecurity threats. And most would consider moving to a new IT service provider with the “right” solution, and would pay on average 34% more for that service provider.
Jay Ryerse is ConnectWise’s vice president of cybersecurity initiatives.
“The overwhelming perspective that I get from it, and I’ve been involved in it the last three years, is that the message really hasn’t changed,” he said. “The community is not doing a good job having the cybersecurity conversation with their clients, and so the clients feel like they will change providers if they need to to get the right security because they know it’s important. They’re hearing the same things everybody else is about all the different things that are going on that are causing havoc for businesses, and they don’t want to be a victim.”
MSPs that aren’t afraid to have that conversation can raise awareness with their customers and let cybersecurity drive their price increases, Ryerse said. In addition, they can land new business.
“But they’re not and that’s the overwhelming response from the SMBs, and that’s three years in a row,” he said. “If they’re not going to have the conversation, somebody else will. And there’s a whole lot of partners here that are having those conversations and they’re winning business because of it.”
The problem is the actual conversation, Ryerse said. MSPs think talking about product is having the security conversation, Ryerse said.
“We don’t have a product problem, we have a communication problem,” he said. “And so when we can align the issues that the business has around their most important assets and securing those, then the client feels like this is the right kind of conversation because now it’s just me. They have data they care about that needs to be protected, and if you explain to me and you’re comfortable that I’m doing that, then great, I won’t change providers. And I will pay you more to protect that data.”
During IT Nation Secure, the ConnectWise Research Unit (CRU) was unveiled. It offers specific cybersecurity research directed at MSPs.
Wes Spencer, CISO of Perch, a ConnectWise company, announced the new research unit.
“There are other threat research groups that are out there, ConnectWise’s is not the first,” Spencer said. “It’s more about it’s a threat feed and a research unit that’s dedicated to the channel. It’s dedicated to MSPs, VARs and those that are in the channel because most, if not all of the threat feeds and and research groups that are out there are focused on top of market. They’re focused on the Fortune 500, and the threats they’re looking for, the remediations they’re looking at and the intelligence they’re producing is the top of the market. So MSPs sometimes pull that intelligence down and look at a report or what’s emerging, and say it doesn’t really match for me. A good example is some of the most prolific threat actors going after MSPs are not the same ones that go after super large organizations.”
MSPs need cutting-edge, critical information that’s emerging of what their specific adversaries are doing and targeting, Spencer said.
Drew Sanford, ConnectWise‘s senior director of global security operations, is leading CRU with his team.
“This is really about us taking that data and making it available to the outside world, and saying now we want to show you the value and help use it to educate you so you can make your partners safer, your customers safer, all those different pieces, and then extend what you’re doing as an MSP, as a channel provider, to be able to serve that security out farther,” he said.
Also at IT Nation Secure, ConnectWise announced a second level to its recently announce partner program. The new program aims to help partners build and grow a robust cybersecurity practice.
“We have a registered level where we’re opening the doors to all of our existing security partners,” Ryerse said. “They can come into the program and get access to some of the marketing content, and then the training on demand and those types of resources. And then our managed program is available, which is what we originally rolled out last month. So we’re trying to ensure that we can truly support the entire community.”
ConnectWise rolled out some early adopters earlier this year to help the company build the program, and they’re having “tremendous” success, he said.
“We had one partner where the number I heard was 60 leads last month,” Ryerse said. “That’s like two full-time people just to handle the leads. That’s the good news. The bad news is we just need to tell more people, to do a better job of wrapping our arms around the community and showing them what’s here to help them continue to build and grow, and celebrate their practice.”
The partner program should evolve to cover other areas of managed services, he said.
“A lot of our managed services partners don’t have sales expertise at all,” Ryerse said. “They’re technical-led companies. So we think we can replicate this in other parts of our business to continue to help the partner community advance their cause.”
During IT Nation Secure, ConnectWise announced it has hired Raffael Marty as senior vice president of product management for cybersecurity. He previously was Forcepoint‘s chief research and intelligence officer.
In his new role, Marty will be responsible for developing ConnectWise’s cybersecurity strategy aligned with the TSP community’s ongoing and future needs. This includes leading the cybersecurity pillar of the ConnectWise platform, strategic partnerships, investments and related ventures.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to continue refining the direction of ConnectWise’s portfolio of cybersecurity products,” he said. “I look forward to working with a distributed team across engineering, design, customer success, marketing and business development to not only meet business objectives, but ultimately supporting our partners in developing highly profitable businesses.”
Craig Fulton is ConnectWise’s chief customer officer. He told attendees when it comes to cybersecurity, “you’ll never stop the threats.”
“You just need to be prepared,” he said. “Threats are increasing in size, sophistication and frequency. We’re investing in solutions. We want to make sure you get the job done. The reality of software solutions is [they’re] usually built for enterprise, but we change it up over time, pricing it so you can control this part of chaos.”
The future is cybersecurity services, Fulton said.
“It’s the most important thing you can be doing in the world right now,” he said. “And you have found your success. But there’s opportunities. The chaos of the solutions and talent is bringing midmarket and enterprise customers to you. They’re looking for help. There’s so many questions, that’s why you’re here. Answer the questions and go after them.”
Some 79% of SMBs believe they’re going to be the target of an cyberattack in six months,” Fulton said.
“That’s opportunity,” he said.
Kyle Hanslovan is co-founder and CEO of Huntress, a Diamond exhibitor in the IT Nation Secure Solutions Pavilion. He said the SMB world has no clue what hackers are up to. This is especially true of ransomware.
“We’re seeing hackers, instead of coming in and encrypting your data, and saying please pay me this money, they’re actually saying here’s a screenshot of your bank account, here’s your QuickBooks that I already have access to,” he said. ” And by the way, here’s your cyber insurance policy and I see you have a $1 million rider on here. Pay the $1 million or you’re not getting the data back. So they’re not even just like oh I encrypt you and contact me.”
These hackers have done the ground work and they’ve already proven the business case, Hanslovan said. They’re not here to negotiate how much.
“They know how much you can pay,” he said. “How do you negotiate against that? We have screenshots that we’ve found out there of hackers teaching each other. Make sure you get the ransomware policy or their cyber insurance policy because you’ll be able to extort them even better. They’re optimizing their businesses to be even better and more efficient. And the SMB world, those with under 1,000 employees, they have no clue this is even happening.”
Unfortunately, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better, Hanslovan said.
“Education is one of those things like if we don’t figure out how to warn people and show them actionable information, and make that ripple happen, it’s going to be a long tale before we start addressing ransomware,” he said.
Kyle Hanslovan is co-founder and CEO of Huntress, a Diamond exhibitor in the IT Nation Secure Solutions Pavilion. He said the SMB world has no clue what hackers are up to. This is especially true of ransomware.
“We’re seeing hackers, instead of coming in and encrypting your data, and saying please pay me this money, they’re actually saying here’s a screenshot of your bank account, here’s your QuickBooks that I already have access to,” he said. ” And by the way, here’s your cyber insurance policy and I see you have a $1 million rider on here. Pay the $1 million or you’re not getting the data back. So they’re not even just like oh I encrypt you and contact me.”
These hackers have done the ground work and they’ve already proven the business case, Hanslovan said. They’re not here to negotiate how much.
“They know how much you can pay,” he said. “How do you negotiate against that? We have screenshots that we’ve found out there of hackers teaching each other. Make sure you get the ransomware policy or their cyber insurance policy because you’ll be able to extort them even better. They’re optimizing their businesses to be even better and more efficient. And the SMB world, those with under 1,000 employees, they have no clue this is even happening.”
Unfortunately, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better, Hanslovan said.
“Education is one of those things like if we don’t figure out how to warn people and show them actionable information, and make that ripple happen, it’s going to be a long tale before we start addressing ransomware,” he said.
(Pictured above: ConnectWise’s Jason Magee speaks at the first day of IT Nation Secure.)
A big message at this week’s ConnectWise IT Nation Secure 2021 is MSPs need to start talking to their customers about cybersecurity or risk losing them to those who do.
IT Nation Secure has attracted 2,300 participants, including 1,800 virtually. The conference is one of the first in-person channel events. And attendees were more than happy to lose the masks and get back to in-person channel business.
Jason Magee is ConnectWise‘s CEO. He told attendees the COVID-19 pandemic and the switch to remote work provided the “perfect storm for threat actors to pounce.”
“We’re all at increasing risk,’ he said. “They’re moving at breakneck pace, so we have to work together to meet the challenges head on. We have the tools and solutions you need. We’ll help you get started and continue to grow.”
Eighty percent of SMBs globally are relying on MSPs to protect them, Magee said.
“You’re the heroes and the heroes of your clients,” he said. “When the world turned upside down, you helped them with new way of working and made it as secure as possible. ConnectWise will continue to work with others to give you the solutions you need.”
Over 5,300 solution provider partners are working with ConnectWise today, Magee said. And with recent acquisitions such as Perch, ConnectWise is making moves to become the “largest managed services provider.”
“We’re also working hard to move all of our offerings onto on single platform,” he said.
Magee also unveiled ConnectWise recover complete BDR, a comprehensive offering integrating multiple third-party backup vendors into the ConnectWise platform.
ConnectWise is offering enterprise solutions that MSPs’ SMB clients can “embrace and afford to invest in, and easily adopt,” Magee said.
Scroll through our gallery above for more highlights from IT Nation Secure.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Edward Gately or connect with him on LinkedIn. |
Read more about:
MSPsAbout the Author(s)
You May Also Like