Empowering Your MSP Business to Grow and Prosper—One Post at a Time

Last year I decided to buy snow tires for my wife’s car. I suggested she call a shop and make an appointment, but instead, she came back to me with a menu of options—speed ratings, noise ratings, treadwear comparisons and a variety of prices. It was a lot to take in, and I quickly realized that what I thought would be a two-minute process might actually take longer to understand than I’d anticipated. It was only September, so I told her I’d take some time to mull it over before calling back. Then life happened: kids’ hockey games, work, projects around the house, and before I knew it, we were opening Christmas presents and I still hadn’t taken a look at these tires. So at that point, I decided I might as well wait until next year.

As we come to the close of our Understanding the Essential Eight series, I hope you’ve had the chance to digest all of our discussions and can utilise these tips when speaking with clients around the importance of proper security practices. Remember, it is not just us as an industry providing these recommendations, governments are too.

While these basic strategies can be used to raise awareness in sales conversations, as well as through ongoing training and support, I’d like to take this opportunity to wrap a nice bow on the series and discuss the key to establishing a multi-layered security strategy.

On a recent episode of MSP Radio, Joe and I sat down with Brian Downey, Senior Director of Product Management at Continuum, and mastermind about all things cyber security. Following the news of our acquisition of CARVIR and adding a suite of products to Continuum Security, Brian joined us to talk more about the security space and how MSPs can take advantage of the emerging cyber security category.

Keep reading for our key takeaways and tidbits of advice from Brian, and listen to the full episode below!

“I need more skilled people for our security team.” Over the past year and a half, this sentence has been uttered countless times from IT service providers across the globe. Cyber security has grown to become a major global issue—with hackers and sophisticated threats capitalizing on the fact that there’s a clear shortage of security talent today. With virtually every aspect of your clients’ personal and professional information at risk, it’s your job to keep them protected. To do so, you need an advanced security solution that can hold up to the test. 

Continuum Security provides the complete framework that MSPs require to effectively deliver cyber security services to their customers—and with our acquisition of security leader CARVIR, we have three exciting products that MSPs and MSSPs can begin leveraging immediately. In a recent webinar, Continuum CEO Michael George was joined by Continuum Senior Director of Product Management Brian Downey and CARVIR CEO Jay Ryerse to discuss the opportunities MSPs have in the security space and how to achieve success with Continuum Security. In this post, we'll take a look at some of the key takeaways so you can understand exactly what your SMB customers are demanding and how you can deliver.

Today, one in three security professionals lack the intelligence required to effectively detect and respond to cyber threats, according to a survey from Anomali. Where does this leave businesses, especially small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that are now the prime targets of cyber attacks? The reality is dire. In fact, 60 percent of SMBs go out of business within six months of a breach.

With advanced threats like hyper-targeted malware and ransomware, foundational security tools aren’t enough to keep SMB clients secure. Small businesses generally assume they are already protected from phishing, ransomware and insider threats, having historically secured their data firewalls, antivirus applications, or two-factor authentication. Those foundational security tools and policies are still required—but due to the modern threat landscape, additional layers of security need to be added into the equation to provide more complete and holistic protection.

For many of those brought up in a certain time, you will remember a painter on TV named Bob Ross. Bob Ross went viral before the internet and social media made going viral a thing. His soothing voice, well-maintained hairstyle and ability to casually add “little trees” to a canvas that would somehow come out at the end of his half hour show as a true work of art—it was mesmerizing. When I watched, I was always impressed by how he used all the tools he had at his disposal, whether it be brushes or sponges, to get the desired effect.

Now when it comes to painting, I’m no Bob Ross—in fact even finger-painting pushes my artistic limits. Because of this, I never had an appreciation for the tools of the trade. I never fully appreciated the need for the dozens of different brushes or sponges that Bob Ross was using, but I appreciated the result he was able to deliver with them.

While interesting, Bob Ross doesn’t seem to have much to do with cyber security—but the two are actually more similar than you might expect.

IT service providers are doing business in a world where they’re struggling to protect their clients who are constantly under fire from cyber threats. The nature and sophistication of today’s attacks are forcing MSPs to deliver security in a completely different way than they’ve approached RMM and BDR. Simply put: without the right protection and preventative measures in place, clients won’t stand a chance in the ever-changing threat landscape.

To combat this challenge, Continuum made an exciting announcement yesterday—we’ve acquired CARVIR to expand our security portfolio, enabling MSPs to offer enhanced security to clients. Today, I’d like to take a deeper dive into the three core products that make up the Continuum Security portfolio.

Security is the single greatest threat to businesses today, yet the greatest opportunity for IT service providers. Therefore, we are excited to announce the expansion of Continuum Security, the advanced cyber security solution MSPs need to deliver the protections their clients demand, through the acquisition of CARVIR, a leader in monitored and managed security for the IT channel.

With this acquisition, we are able to expand our security portfolio and bring new capabilities to market, helping you meet the mounting security and compliance needs of your SMB clients. Keep reading to learn more about the acquisition and which exciting new features are available to you today.