Monday Morning Impact – June 17

Published On: June 16, 2024Categories: Buzz

Sophos: Cybersecurity Skills Shortage is the Biggest Risk to MSPs and Their Clients

Sophos, a UK-based cybersecurity company, has released a new study suggesting that the biggest day-to-day challenge facing MSPs involves keeping up with cybersecurity. According to the company’s inaugural “MSP Perspectives 2024” survey report, this issue was cited as the primary challenge by 39% of the MSPs surveyed.

Respondents also indicated that hiring new cybersecurity analysts to keep up with customer growth and keep pace with the latest cyberthreats also ranks among the top challenges. MSPs perceive the shortage of in-house cybersecurity skills to be the single biggest cybersecurity risk to both their own business and their clients’ organizations. MSPs also perceive stolen access data and credentials and unpatched vulnerabilities to be amongst the biggest security risks to their customers.

“The speed of innovation across the cybersecurity battleground means it’s harder than ever for MSPs to keep up with threats and the cyber controls designed to stop them,” said Scott Barlow vice president of MSPs at Sophos. “When you couple this with a global skills shortage, which has made it infinitely more difficult for many MSPs to attract and retain cybersecurity analyst resources, its unsurprising that MSPs feel unable to keep pace with the changing threat landscape.”

Sophos sees a growing demand for managed detection and response (MDR) services to provide always-on coverage. Currently 81% of MSPs offer an MDR service, and almost all (97%) MSPs that do not currently offer MDR plan to add it to their portfolio in the coming years.

Two-thirds of MSPs use a third-party vendor to deliver the MDR service and a further 15% deliver jointly through their own SOC and a third-party vendor. Topping the list of essential capabilities in a third-party MDR provider is the ability to provide a 24/7 incident response service.

Nearly all (99%) MSPs report an increase in demand for cyber insurance-related support, with the most common requests including clients wanting to implement an MDR service to improve their insurability (47%) or to receive help completing their insurance application (45%).

The report is generated through a vendor-agnostic survey of 350 MSPs across the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia in March 2024.

Channel Impact^®The data underscore the growing role played by MSPs in securing their customers’ data and infrastructure.

Lenovo and Cisco Announce Strategic AI Partnership

Lenovo and Cisco have unveiled a strategic partnership to deliver integrated infrastructure and networking solutions designed to accelerate digital transformation. The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to jointly establish design, engineering, and execution plans for the development of turnkey solutions that extend networking and AI infrastructure from the edge to the cloud.

The collaboration includes integration of the Cisco Nexus networking ecosystem into Lenovo’s edge-to-cloud portfolio offering a turnkey networking solution that is optimized for interoperability within Lenovo infrastructure solutions. The overall solution can be managed through a single pane of glass.

“This new partnership is a testament to our commitment to delivering purpose-built, industry-leading solutions, all designed to simplify the path to AI innovation and digital transformation,” said Kirk Skaugen, President of the Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group. “Our combined leadership in advanced networking and end-to-end server and data management infrastructure will deliver fully integrated, co-engineered solutions that seamlessly connect, protect and analyze data to propel AI-powered innovation for our customers from the edge to the cloud.”

Lenovo and Cisco also plan to integrate new technologies and features into Lenovo Digital Workplace Solutions, enabling an improved user experience with enhanced security. The collaboration will bring together Lenovo’s Care of One platform, with its persona-based service engine.

“The integrated solutions from Lenovo and Cisco will streamline operational deployment and significantly enhance business outcomes for our shared customers, as well as provide tremendous opportunities for our joint partners,” said Jonathan Davidson, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Cisco Networking.

Channel Impact^®
The MoU is intended to expand go-to-market opportunities that further the delivery of advanced generative AI capabilities and improved digital workplace productivity. Lenovo and Cisco plan to create a user experience that maximizes operational excellence, reduces time-to-value, and that supports cost-effective, flexible and simplified implementation of transformational digital technologies.

ConnectWise Introduces AI-Powered Cybersecurity Solution

ConnectWise has announced the roll-out of “ConnectWise Security360,” a platform designed to help MSPs consolidate and standardize security data from disparate tools, providing a comprehensive overview of their clients’ attack surface, including endpoint detection and response, risk management, vulnerability and patch management, SIEM, compliance, and remote management. All of these aspects culminate in an MSP Security Score that represents the risk exposure across the MSPs’ client base and allows them to visualize the effectiveness of their security services. It also helps pinpoint MSPs to the issues that require immediate attention for remediation.

“One of the most frustrating parts of managing a modern security landscape is having to make a risk-based decision knowing the data is out there, but not readily available,” said Ameer Karim, EVP and GM Cybersecurity and Data Protection at ConnectWise. “We are proud to introduce ConnectWise Security360, which … allows them to make better real-time, risk-based decisions by transforming their security data into meaningful insights, reducing alert fatigue, improving efficiency, and minimizing the risk of errors.”

Channel Impact^®The company intends to help MSPs maximize the effectiveness of their security tools, enabling them to enhance threat detection, streamline response efforts, and continuously optimize their clients’ security posture.

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