News in the Channel - issue #21

ENDPOINT PROTECTION

To the end With cyberattacks continuing to increase, especially with the advent of AI, it is vital that businesses – including smaller ones – take effective measures to protect their endpoints, and resellers have a vital role to play in this.

With businesses of all sizes running more connected technology than ever, it means there are more endpoints than ever too – which also means more access points for cybercriminals. While the threat posed by cybercriminals is recognised, some small businesses still don’t safeguard their endpoints adequately. “While small businesses are becoming more switched-on about risks to their endpoints, there remains a considerable gap in understanding and putting safeguards in place,” says Peter Wood, chief technical officer at Spectrum Search. “Many small businesses still believe they aren't on cybercriminals' radar, thinking that bigger, wealthier targets would be preferred. This misconception leaves them exposed, as cybercriminals often view small businesses as easy pickings due to their generally weaker security measures. Kent Feid, senior director of product management at Quest Software, notes that SMBs often lack resources and their own cybersecurity teams, making them more vulnerable to attacks and less capable to recover quickly. “Consequently, a successful breach can lead to significant financial losses, reputational damage and operational disruptions that jeopardise the very existence of a small company,” he says. Greg Day, VP and global field CISO at Cybereason, notes that, according to the World Economic Forum, there is an increasing skills divide between large and small businesses. “Larger organisations can afford to pay more for the limited skills available in the industry, leaving small businesses struggling to stay current in a rapidly changing environment,” he says. “Most attacks focus on exploiting vulnerabilities in resources, rather than targeting specific individuals or companies. This misunderstanding leaves small businesses more vulnerable to attacks.”

Outsourced solutions This means that SMBs increasingly don’t want to manage endpoint security in-house. “It’s far more preferable for SMBs to make use of managed services,” says Rachel Rothwell, regional managing director, UK and Ireland, Zyxel Networks. “MSPs should be highlighting their ability to provide good overall protection for the network and all endpoints from the outset, and their competence and capability in monitoring activity and keeping protection up to date. “We provide them with the tools to do that through our Nebula cloud platform. Additionally, we are sharing security information from all the Nebula-enabled devices deployed around the world, to ensure that the security settings on all network devices are delivering up to date protection.” Markus Rex, general manager – SYNAXON Services, agrees: “Our strong recommendation is that SMBs make use of managed security services, such as our ready-to-deploy Endpoint Security and Antivirus offerings. “These services have been built specifically for partners to offer to their SMB customers. They enable partners to provide fully monitored, up-to-date protection for all endpoint devices to their customers. Partners don’t need to invest in their own infrastructure or specialist personnel, meaning big time and cost savings.” Rise of EDR While the threats to endpoints have increased in volume and sophistication so have the defences. One is Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR). Troels Rasmussen, N-able’s GM of Security, says that vendors should offer endpoint protection solutions covering a range of defences including EDR, web filtering software for businesses, managed EDR, mobile device management, access control, network filtering and password management.

Peter Wood

Kent Field

Greg Day

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