Barracuda MSP In the News
Latest Coverage Around the Web About Barracuda MSP
Closing the Vulnerability Gap
December 2, 2022- “When it comes to cybersecurity, preventing breaches and attacks is the first step in protecting client networks, applications, and data. But most organizations have a very limited view of how vulnerable they are – they operate a tangled web of endpoint devices, applications, and cloud-based solutions that were often implemented over many years. Getting a high-level understanding of where the security gaps can be challenging.”
SecOps Team Self-Care Red Alert
December 1, 2022- “The past several years’ pandemic, political unrest, war and supply chain failures have exacerbated several lingering problems in the corporate world and society. One was the increasing proliferation of cyberattacks, which was made worse by a sudden shift to remote work without the underlying security infrastructure to support it. Another has been the ongoing challenges related to untreated mental health problems that increased during the pandemic due to heighted stress, anxiety and depression.”
FAQ: What is Amazon Security Lake? 10 Things to Knwo for MSPs, MSSPs, and AWS Partners
November 30, 2022- “Amazon Security Lake, a new cloud service that centralizes security data, surfaced at the AWS re:Invent 2022 conference. But what exactly is Amazon Security Lake, and how can the new AWS service potentially help MSP and MSSP partners to safeguard customer assets?”
Don’t miss these timely software security tips
November 29, 2022- “A 2021 Harvard Business Review article, “Is Third-Party Software Leaving You Vulnerable to Cyberattacks?” posits that when companies buy digital products, they expect them to be secure and typically don’t test for vulnerabilities down the digital supply chain. Hackers have taken note, and incidents of attacks exploiting software weaknesses to break into organizations’ internal networks, are on the rise. Gartner predicts that API abuses will become the most frequent attack vector, resulting in data breaches for enterprise web applications.”
Cleaning House: Cybersecurity Hygiene for MSPs
November 23, 2022- “Cybersecurity hygiene best practices require MSPs not just to implement technologies, but also sustainable processes that can be relied upon over time. Today, installing a piece of software and considering the job done will simply not suffice. You would not clean your house once and expect it to remain tidy and sanitary, indefinitely, right? The same goes for cybersecurity — consider this a healthy living approach to security.”
Barracuda Adds Jason Beal to Global Partner Leadership
November 16, 2022- “As the security vendor’s first-ever vice president of worldwide partner ecosystems, the AvePoint, Palo Alto, and Ingram Micro veteran will serve as a liaison between his new employer and an increasingly diverse, complex channel.”
Barracuda Names VP Worldwide Partner Ecosystems
November 16, 2022- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and provider of cloud-first security solutions, announces today that Jason Beal is its new Vice President, of Worldwide Partner Ecosystems. At Barracuda, Beal will lead global channel strategy and development with a strong focus on driving growth across the Barracuda global partner ecosystem. In this role, Beal will help Barracuda partners capture opportunities in the market with its innovative technology solutions.” Read the full story.
Barracuda names Jason Beal to newly created Vice President, Worldwide Partner Ecosystems position
November 16, 2022- “Beal said that the creation of this global channel role – a first for Barracuda – shows their commitment to strengthening their channel further. Beal comes with more than 20 years of channel leadership experience.”
Barracuda Hires Jason Beal as VP of Worldwide Partner Ecosystems
November 16, 2022- “Barracuda has hired Jason Beal — a veteran of Ingram Micro, Palo Alto Networks and AvePoint — as VP of worldwide partner ecosystems. Beal arrives only a few months after private equity firm KKR acquired Barracuda from Thoma Bravo for nearly $4 billion.”
Barracuda Picks Channel Veteran Jason Beal As Global Partner Chief
November 16, 2022- “Seven months after KKR’s takeover of the company, Barracuda Networks announced Wednesday the hiring of its first head of global channel strategy and development as the email-security provider attempts to turbocharge sales in the coming years. Jason Beal, who has previously worked in top channel positions at AvePoint, Palo Alto Networks and Ingram Micro, started his new job as vice president of worldwide partner ecosystems on Oct. 31.”
The 25 Hottest Edge Security Companies: 2022 Edge Computing 100
November 7, 2022- “Email security provider Barracuda Networks’ cloud-native SASE platform proved attractive to private equity giant KKR, which earlier this year acquired the company with plans to further push it into managed detection and response, extended detection and response and SASE technology.”
Protect clients from MFA fatigue attacks
November 1, 2022- “The growth of stolen credentials on the dark web has made it essential for users to implement an additional authentication requirement for identity verification. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a layered approach to securing data and applications where a user is required to present a combination of two or more credentials to verify their identity before they can login.”
6 Cybersecurity Conversation Starters
October 21, 2022- “For MSPs and VARs trying to expand the reach of their services with existing clients, initiating a cybersecurity conversation around the need for solutions and services can be challenging. This is often because clients believe that their cybersecurity needs are already being met internally, or they are hesitant to admit that they suspect they may be unprepared.”
Meet Channel Futures’ Top 20 Cybersecurity Channel Leaders for 2022
October 18, 2022- “We are pleased to inform you that Neal Bradbury has been identified as one of 20 top channel leaders in security on the inaugural Channel Futures Leaders of the Year list. You can see the entire gallery of winners here. The Leaders of the Year list identifies the most future-minded, influential and impactful channel leaders in cybersecurity — the ones who will determine the future of the channel as they redefine the partner-supplier relationship.”
2022 Annual Report Card Results
October 13, 2022- “Barracuda RMM has been recognized as top 3 RMM by CRN Annual Report Card 2022.”
New Threat Spotlight Shows Ransomware Attacks Continue to Grow
September 29, 2022- “In a recent Threat Spotlight report, Barracuda found that many small companies are struggling with ransomware-related data recovery. While attacks against high-profile organizations make headlines, smaller firms are often targeted, as well, and face a much bigger challenge responding to and recovering from these incidents.”
XDR is an MSP Essential
September 26, 2022- “Managed services providers (MSPs) have emerged as desirable targets for cybercriminals, primarily because they can potentially provide attackers with access to multiple networks belonging to their managed services clients. By compromising an MSP, criminals can leverage those networks and email systems to launch additional attacks on other companies, access data or initiate ransomware attacks against multiple clients simultaneously.”
Barracuda Unveils New Capabilities To Protect Against Persistent And Evolving Threats
September 26, 2022- “Barracuda recently held its Secured.22 conference—an annual, virtual, worldwide customer conference. The event featured training sessions to help customers improve their security postures and capabilities. During Secured.22, Barracuda also revealed a number of significant product announcements designed to help customers accelerate digital transformation and remain secure at the same time.”
The 100 People You Don’t Know But Should 2022
September 26, 2022- “Kern manages more than 1,000 partner relationships for Barracuda MSP, and he has proven himself to be a trusted teammate who embraces the opportunity to help each partner achieve its goals. He also has shown a strong focus on education and enablement for partners.”
The CF List: 2022’s 20 Top Email Security Providers You Should Know
September 22, 2022- “Barracuda Networks is listed as a leader on the latest Forrester Wave for Enterprise Email Security. This month, the company announced it has added a range of capabilities that collectively tighten integration across its portfolio of cybersecurity and backup and recovery platforms.”
Barracuda Upgrades: CloudGen Firewall-XDR Integration, SOAR Capabilities and More Barracuda upgrades extended detection and response (XDR) platform to help MSP partners develop new security services
September 13, 2022- “Barracuda has announced several upgrades to help its MSP partners use its extended detection and response (XDR) platform to “create security services that align with today’s business environments,” according to a prepared statement. The news comes during the Barracuda Secured.22 virtual customer conference, which is being held September 13 and 14.
Barracuda Unveils Series of Cybersecurity, Data Protection Enhancements
September 13, 2022- “Barracuda kicked off its virtual Secured.22 Conference with a flurry of cybersecurity and data protection product updates that impact partners. They aim to protect against ransomware and “help customers solve complex digital transformation challenges.””
Barracuda launches virtual Secured Customer event with new product announcements
September 13, 2022- “Today, Barracuda kicked off their Secured.22 Customer Conference, their annual global virtual conference which lasts today and tomorrow. While the focus is on technical security scenarios that enable practitioners to identify, prevent, recover, and respond quickly to cyber security attacks, the company also made some product announcements. These includes Barracuda introducing an integration between Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and Barracuda XDR, and the addition of Zero Trust Access to its email protection suite.”
5 Channel Partner and MSP Market News Updates: 13 September 2022
September 13, 2022- “During the Barracuda Secured.22 event, the security company announced several security product and service enhancements for MSPs.”
Barracuda bolsters zero-trust protection and enhacnes XDR solution
September 13, 2022- “The data protection vendor has built web filtering functionality into its CloudGen Access solution, added optional zero-trust network access functionality to its email protection platform, and integrated its XDR service with its CloudGen Firewall offering.”
Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) Market News: 13 September 2022
September 13, 2022- “Barracuda MSP: During the Barracuda Secured.22 event, the security company announced several security product and service enhancements for MSPs. They include: An integration between Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and Barracuda XDR, which enables MSPs to “gain visibility and insights by offering 24×7 SOC services, and increase efficiency by reducing product silos, mitigating alert fatigue, and streamlining management of their customers’ environments,” the company said.
Protect your Clients from Business Email Compromise Attacks
September 8, 2022- “Business email compromise (BEC) attacks are some of the costliest cybercrimes companies face now. In BEC attacks, criminals impersonate a legitimate email account and use it to send messages that appear to come from a known source. For example, they may send an invoice with an updated mailing address, request that an employee with purchasing authority buy gift cards or transfer funds or ask clients to wire payments to a phony account.”
New Barracuda CRO: KKR to Accelerate Growth with Partners
September 1, 2022- “Barracuda, which KKR recently acquired, has appointed security, storage and channel veteran Chris Ross to chief revenue officer (CRO). In this role, Ross is responsible for worldwide sales and partnerships. He joined Barracuda in 2015 as senior vice president of international sales. He brings over 30 years of technology experience to the company.”
5 Cybersecurity Hygiene Best Practices Every MSP Should Follow
August 29, 2022- “Cybersecurity is not a product but a journey. It requires more than standalone solutions to deliver the basic cybersecurity hygiene businesses need in today’s environment.”
Barracuda Threat Report Reveals Spike In Ransomware To More Than 1.2 Million Per Month
August 25, 2022- “New fourth-annual research report analyzes ransomware attack patterns that occurred between August 2021 and July 2022”
Threat Spotlight: The Untold Stories of Ransomware
August 25, 2022- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, today released its fourth-annual threat research report on ransomware. The new report looks at ransomware attack patterns that occurred between August 2021 and July 2022.”
New Spike in Ransomware Attacks
August 25, 2022- “Barracuda‘s fourth-annual threat research report on ransomware shows a new spike in ransomware attacks. The new report looks at ransomware attack patterns that occurred between August 2021 and July 2022.”
2022 ANNUAL REPORT CARD WINNERS: SOLUTION PROVIDERS GIVE TOP GRADES TO KEY VENDORS
August 21, 2022- “For the 37th year, solution providers scored vendors across 25 technology categories based on their performance in product innovation, support, partnership, and managed and cloud services. Here’s a roundup of the companies with the highest overall scores.”
Application security: A growing cyber attack vulnerability
August 16, 2022- “Email has long been a popular route for cybercriminals to launch attacks via phishing scams, account takeover, and spoofing, among other strategies. But web- and cloud-based applications have emerged as a new attack vector, allowing criminals to breach companies via browser-based interfaces and launch ransomware and other attacks without ever triggering security protection.”
Best Email Security Vendor
August 4, 2022- “Barracuda Networks Inc. is a provider of security and storage solutions. Products span three markets: content security; networking and application delivery; and data storage, protection, and disaster recovery.”
Malicious HTML Attachments – Olesia Klevchuk, Barracuda Networks
July 28, 2022- “Olesia Klevchuk, product marketing director for Barracuda Networks, explains how HTML attachments are becoming much more malicious.” Read the full story.
Can Your Email Security Software Detect These Hidden Threats?
July 28, 2022- “Email attachments are a popular way to deliver viruses, ransomware, and other cyberattacks. Barracuda researchers have analyzed data on millions of attachments scanned by their security tools and found that HTML attachments are the most likely to be malicious. Twenty-one percent of all HTML attachments reviewed as part of the research were malicious.” Read the full story.
Level up your managed security services game
July 27, 2022- “The need for effective, comprehensive cybersecurity continues to grow and analysts with ResearchandMarkets predict that the global managed security services market will grow from $22.45 billion in 2020, $77.01 billion by 2030, represented a CAGR of 12.8%. MSPs who aren’t adjusting their offering in response to this growth are missing out on a huge opportunity.”
Nearly all organizations reported having a failed IIoT/OT security project
July 12, 2022 – “Barracuda Networks on Tuesday released a survey of 800 security managers responsible for industrial internet of things (IIoT) and operational technology (OT) that found 93% of organizations had failed in their IIoT/OT projects. On the plus side, for the small percentage of organizations with completed IIoT/OT security projects, 75% experienced no impact at all from a major incident.”
Critical infrastructure IIoT/OT security projects suffer high rates of failure
July 12, 2022 – “As companies look to take the next step with Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and operational technology (OT), a new study has revealed that the majority of them have failed security projects around these two types of technology. Barracuda Networks surveyed 800 senior IT managers, senior IT security managers and project managers as part of its “The State of Industrial Security in 2022” report, and found that a whopping 93% have suffered from failed security projects.”
IIoT, OT cybersecurity challenges: Investments and breaches
July 12, 2022- “Critical infrastructure is under attack, and despite an agreement the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and operational technology (OT) security is critical, businesses are facing some significant challenges as the geopolitical landscape becomes increasingly tense, a new Barracuda Networks Inc. report reveals.”
Healthcare Orgs Struggle With IIoT, OT Security Project Implementation
July 12, 2022- “The healthcare sector is struggling with industrial internet of things (IIoT) and operational technology (OT) security project implementation, a report commissioned by Barracuda and conducted by Vanson Bourne found.”
Organizations Struggling With IIoT And OT Security
July 12, 2022- “Cybersecurity is an issue for all companies, regardless of size, industry, or region. As technology—and the dependence on it—evolves, organizations face defending an expanding and increasingly complex attack surface against a relentless threat landscape. However, some industries are not doing as well as others. A new report from Barracuda, “The State of Industrial Security in 2022,” reveals concerning findings for critical infrastructure, manufacturing, and other industries that rely on operational technology (OT) and industrial internet-of-things (IIoT) systems.”
Barracuda report: Almost everyone faced an industrial attack in the last year
July 12, 2022- “A report commissioned by cloud security company Barracuda found that 94% of respondents have experienced some form of attack on their industrial IoT (IIoT) or operational technology (OT) systems during the last 12 months. The State of Industrial Security in 2022 report surveyed 800 senior IT and security officers responsible for these industrial systems.”
Survey Surfaces Raft of Industrial IoT Security Challenges
July 12, 2022- “A survey of 800 senior IT managers, senior IT security managers and project managers responsible for industrial internet-of-things (IIoT)/operational technology (OT) found 94% reported their organization experienced a security incident in the last 12 months. The survey, conducted by Barracuda Networks, also found 87% of organizations that experienced an incident were impacted for more than one day. More troubling still, a full 93% reported having failed when it comes IoT/OT security projects. The most common reasons cited for those failures were that the technology took too long to implement (55%), the technology was too expensive (41%), no one took clear responsibility for the project (39%) and the organization could not source technology that met their needs (38%).”
THE 2022 RISING FEMALE STARS OF THE IT CHANNEL
July 11, 2022- “Joelle Cangelosi has cultivated a reputation as an enablement rock star with incredible multitasking skills and follow-up. Colleagues marvel at how much she can take on, noting that no matter how much work she has she handles it with grace and simply gets it done.”
Ransomware Threat Puts Spotlight on Backup
July 5, 2022- “Companies of every size have realized the importance of business resilience because of a wide variety of disruptions—from cyber-attacks and natural disasters to geopolitical upheaval. They have also evolved their use of the cloud to accommodate remote work using cloud-based applications and other cloud-based services. These companies must also protect systems, applications and data in the cloud, including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps like Microsoft 365. And because MSPs are often part of the mix of resiliency and security services, they will need cloud-based backup and recovery solutions that are equipped to meet these complex challenges.”
Key takeaways from the annual “Global MSP Day” Report
June 29, 2022- “Barracuda released its annual Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report in conjunction with Global MSP Day in May. After two tumultuous years of a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and political and economic instability in the U.S., the report provided a welcome dose of positive news regarding the business outlook and opportunities for MSPs, including several signs of growth. “
Why MSPs are Attractive Cyberattack Targets
June 24, 2022- “MSPs are a prime target for cybercriminals – they have direct access to the networks and applications of multiple clients. Compromise the MSP, and you can launch all manner of malicious attacks against those clients or other companies using their infrastructure as a launchpad. The new guidance from The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other domestic and international security organizations suggests several key steps MSPs should take to protect themselves.”
Kaseya-Datto M&A Deal Closes; Voccola Vows Datto List Price Reductions, Innovation
June 23, 2022- “Kaseya, backed by private equity firm Insight Partners, has completed the Datto acquisition for $6.2 billion, essentially taking the data protection technology company private and creating the MSP software industry’s largest business.”
From MSP to MSSP: Should You Make the Switch?
May 31, 2022- “As cybersecurity has become a top priority for businesses of all sizes, many MSPs and VARs have added security offerings to their product portfolio. As the importance of security increases and MSPs see their security services become more critical to their bottom line, the idea of becoming a managed security service provider (MSSP) is increasingly appealing.” Read the full story.
Increased Cybersecurity Vulnerability = Increased MSP Opportunities
May 25, 2022- “Companies of all sizes have spent the past two years working in remote and hybrid work environments, often leveraging ad hoc solutions to provide remote access to their networks and applications. Unfortunately, this has expanded their potential attack surface for cybercriminals and effectively decentralized cybersecurity frameworks—whether they were ready or not. “I believe we’re in the post-breach era where attackers are ahead of their targets since they have their hands on stolen data, including credentials. These attacks range from extortion on valuable data to penetrating the software supply chain. It has gone beyond disrupting business operations and goes as far as revealing information to discredit a corporation and destroy the trust chain,” said Barracuda CTO Fleming Shi, in a recent blog post focused on cybersecurity trends and predictions.”
Why an incident response plan is a must-have
May 24, 2022- “When companies consider their cybersecurity vulnerabilities and how they would respond to ransomware or other attack types, the focus is often on technology (threat detection and mitigation systems) and restoration (bringing servers back online, retrieving data from offsite storage). But communication is a critical part of incident response and something companies often do a poor job of in the aftermath of an attack.”
Barracuda Sees Huge Shift to Managed Services Among Partners
May 24, 2022- “When companies consider their cybersecurity vulnerabilities and how they would respond to ransomware or other attack types, the focus is often on technology (threat detection and mitigation systems) and restoration (bringing servers back online, retrieving data from offsite storage). But communication is a critical part of incident response and something companies often do a poor job of in the aftermath of an attack.”
ICYMI: Our Channel News Roundup for the Week of May 16th
May 20, 2022- “The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business(link is external) report from Barracuda surveyed 500 decision makers from MSPs in North America, EMEA, and ANZ. Good news? Revenues should grow by a third in 2022 to an average of over $12 million for MSPs with between 5 and 250 employees. Service-based income will account for 63% of revenue, and 94% of respondents expect to expand their services portfolio by an average of six services. Bad news? Burnout is a growing concern, and fears of cyberattacks are on the rise.”
Barracuda MSP Day 2022 Reveals Unparalleled Opportunities
May 20, 2022- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider for cloud-first security solutions, today announced key findings from its 2022 The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, launched in conjunction with MSP Day. Now in its fifth year, MSP Day was created by Barracuda in 2018 and continues to highlight, challenge, and celebrate the evolving managed services industry.
This year’s report demonstrates that there is still a huge appetite for managed services, with global services-related MSP revenue set to increase by over a third in 2022 compared with 2021. ” Read the full story.
Barracuda MSP Day 2022 Reveals Unparalleled Opportunities for MSPs
May 20, 2022- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider for cloud-first security solutions, today announced key findings from its 2022 The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, launched in conjunction with MSP Day. Now in its fifth year, MSP Day was created by Barracuda in 2018 and continues to highlight, challenge, and celebrate the evolving managed services industry.
This year’s report demonstrates that there is still a huge appetite for managed services, with global services-related MSP revenue set to increase by over a third in 2022 compared with 2021.” Read the full story.
Barracuda: MSP Revenue Accelerating in 2022, Increasing Demand Creating Challenges
May 20, 2022- “Global services-related MSP revenue is set to increase by over a third in 2022 compared to last year. But that growth brings challenges for many MSPs. That’s according to Barracuda Networks‘ latest MSP business report launched in conjunction with its fifth annual MSP Day. Barracuda surveyed 500 decision makers and knowledge workers from MSPs in countries across the North America, EMEA and ANZ regions with five to 250 employees.” Read the full story.
Barracuda Launches New Capabilities for Web Application and API Protection (WAAP)”
May 18, 2022- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, announced the expansion of Barracuda Cloud Application Protection, its platform for Web Application and API Protection (WAAP). This new release adds powerful new automated API Discovery and GraphQL security capabilities, augments Account Takeover Protection capabilities, and enhances the client-side protection feature set. Additionally, the integration of the Barracuda Web Application Firewall and the Venafi Trust Protection Platform adds the ability to continually automate machine identity management for TLS certificates to stop outages and make it easy to scale web application firewall usage.”
Barracuda Expands Its Cloud-Native SASE Platform to Protect Hybrid Cloud Deployments”
May 18, 2022- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, recently announced the expansion of its cloud-native SASE platform. Barracuda’s SASE platform streamlines Secure SD-WAN, Firewall-as-a-Service, Zero Trust Network Access, and Secure Web Gateway functionality and incorporates secure connectivity to industrial IoT devices. The expansion includes new capabilities for hybrid deployment models and IIoT environments. Additionally, new technology integrations offer secure data transfer, orchestration, asset management, and anomaly detection.”
Barracuda Expands Application Protection
May 18, 2022- “Barracuda Networks Inc., a provider of cloud-first security solutions, announced the expansion of Barracuda Cloud Application Protection, its platform for Web Application and API Protection (WAAP). The release adds powerful automated API Discovery and GraphQL security capabilities, augments account takeover protection capabilities, and enhances the client-side protection feature set. Additionally, the integration of the Barracuda Web Application Firewall and the Venafi Trust Protection Platform adds the ability to automate machine identity management for TLS certificates to stop outages and make it easy to scale web application firewall usage.”
Barracuda Updates SASE and Cloud Application Security Products
May 17, 2022- “Barracuda Networks has added capabilities inspired by recent trends in defensive techniques and threat activity to three of its cloud security products. Among the changes to the vendor’s secure SD-WAN solution, CloudGen WAN, is a “private secure edge” feature that lets users run the solution on their own infrastructure instead of the Microsoft Azure-based foundation that has been the sole supported option since the product first shipped in 2020.”
Barracuda expands cloud-native SASE platform beyond Azure to protect hybrid cloud deployments
May 17, 2022- “Today, at their Barracuda Discover.22 EMEA Partner Conference in Athens Greece, cybersecurity firm Barracuda is making a series of announcements. The company is expanding its cloud-native Secure Access Service Edge [SASE] platform so that it covers the private service edge as well as Microsoft Azure. They also announced scalable connectivity and security support for Industrial Internet-of-Things [IIoT] technology integrations with FireMon, Skybox, TTTech, and Nozomi. They have made Barracuda’s Zero Trust Access solution simpler to deploy. Finally, they have strengthened the Barracuda Cloud Application Protection web application and API security features, added account takeover protection, boosted client-side supply chain attack protection, and implemented a new technology integration with Venafi.”
2022 Women of the Channel Awards
May 9, 2022- “This year, CRN honors nearly 1400 women whose channel expertise and vision are deserving of recognition. The Power 100 is culled from the ranks of CRN’s Women of the Channel and spotlights the female executives at vendors and distributors whose insight and influence help drive channel success. Congratulations to the three Barracuda MSP honorees.”
2022 Women of the Channel Awards
May 9, 2022- “This year, CRN honors nearly 1400 women whose channel expertise and vision are deserving of recognition. The Power 100 is culled from the ranks of CRN’s Women of the Channel and spotlights the female executives at vendors and distributors whose insight and influence help drive channel success. Congratulations to the seven Barracuda Networks honorees.”
Measuring Your MSP Marketing Success
May 5, 2022- “For MSPs, having a talented staff and a robust suite of technology and service offerings only gets you so far—you have to let prospective customers know your company exists and what you have to offer. Regular marketing through various channels is a crucial part of getting that message out, but many MSPs struggle to measure just how successful a given campaign has been.”
Understanding Compliance for MSPs
May 3, 2022- “MSPs searching for ways to differentiate and grow can often do so by providing solutions for vertical markets like government, defense, healthcare, finance, education and others. However, to successfully gain business in such verticals, MSPs need a good grasp of the standards, frameworks and other compliance issues specific to those markets.”
Bad bots, whatcha gonna do?
April 27, 2022- “Automated bot traffic has grown tremendously over the past several years and now makes up the majority of web traffic (human web traffic is just 36 percent of Internet activity). Many of these bots are deployed by search engines and other sites to monitor or gather information. However, a growing number of them are “bad bots” deployed to scrape data from applications, launch account takeover (ATO) or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and other malicious activities.”
Cybersecurity Execs: Kaseya Acquiring Datto, Other Cybersecurity M&A ‘Definitely a Platform Play’
April 13, 2022- “Kaseya’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Datto is likely a platform play, which is behind much of the accelerating cybersecurity industry M&A. That’s according to cybersecurity channel leaders with Trellix, Fortinet, NTT Application Security, Proofpoint, Sophos and Malwarebytes. They discussed cybersecurity M&A during a roundtable at this week’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo.”
After KKR’s Barracuda Takeover, MSPs Anticipate Major Investments In Channel, Products
April 13, 2022- “Barracuda Networks partners expect an increase in investments in the email security provider’s channel and products line after private equity powerhouse KKR’s takeover of Barracuda later this year. “From what I can tell, the transaction sounds like a great move for everyone involved,” says Paul Kunze, CEO of IntraSystems, a 65-employee MSP based in Braintree, Mass. “A company like Barracuda can benefit a lot from investments that firms like KKR can provide.””
KKR to buy cybersecurity vendor Barracuda Networks from Thoma Bravo for $4bn
April 13, 2022- “Global investment firm KKR has announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Barracuda Networks from private equity group Thoma Bravo. Financial terms were not disclosed, however Reuters has reported the deal is being valued at around $4bn (€3.6bn), including debt, citing sources who requested anonymity. In November 2017, Thoma Bravo announced it was taking Barracuda Networks private in a $1.6bn (€1.4bn) buyout which closed in February 2018.”
Barracuda Networks CEO Vows Increased Channel Investment After KKR Deal
April 13, 2022- “Barracuda Networks CEO Hatem Naguib is pledging increased channel investment in the wake of today’s announcement that private equity giant KKR plans to acquire the email security provider. Naguib, CEO of Campbell, Calif.-based Barracuda since last August and previously the firm’s chief operating officer, said the immediate plan is to aggressively grow Barracuda sales under KKR, a private equity powerhouse that’s been moving aggressively into the cybersecurity space in recent years.”
KKR Scooping Up Barracuda Networks from Thoma Bravo for Reported $4 Billion
April 13, 2022- “KKR, a global investment firm, is acquiring Barracuda Networks from Thoma Bravo in a deal reportedly worth about $4 billion. KKR didn’t disclose financial details of the acquisition. However, Reuters said sources who requested anonymity valued the deal at $4 billion including debt. The transaction should close by the end of the year, subject to customary conditions.”
Thoma Bravo Sells Barracuda to KKR
April 13, 2022- “Private equity investor Thoma Bravo has reached a definitive agreement to sell Barracuda Networks to fellow investment heavyweight KKR. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, were not disclosed. The change of ownership will help Barracuda progress from the transformation phase of its evolution to acceleration, according to CEO Hatem Naguib in a conversation with ChannelPro. “
Barracuda expects acquisition by private equity firm KKR will drive growth
April 13, 2022- “While Barracuda’s acquisition in 2013 by Thoma Bravo helped the company a lot in transforming itself into a cloud-first company with a modern comprehensive portfolio, they think KKR is even better situated to Barracuda’s current stage of the growth cycle.”
KKR Buys Barracuda from Thoma Bravo to Fuel XDR, SASE Growth
April 12, 2022- “KKR has agreed to purchase Barracuda Networks to support its expansion in managed detection and response, extended detection and response, and secure access service edge. The New York-based private equity giant plans to provide resources and expertise that will accelerate Campbell, Calif.-based Barracuda’s growth past the $500 million sales figure it hit under Thoma Bravo’s ownership. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed by KKR or Barracuda. However, Reuters reported KKR is expected to pay $4 billion for Barracuda, and Bloomberg reported an expected sale price of $3.8 billion.”
KKR To Acquire Barracuda Networks In Bid To ‘Accelerate’ Security Firm’s Growth
April 12, 2022- “Private equity powerhouse KKR is acquiring email security provider Barracuda Networks with plans to “accelerate growth” by further pushing the company into key security markets such as managed detection and response, extended detection and response and secure access service edge (SASE) technology.”
Barracuda Networks acquired: KKR buys security company from Thoma Bravo
April 12, 2022- “KKR has acquired Barracuda Networks from private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though the deal’s valuation was roughly $3.8 billion, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Get Back to Basics with Backup
March 30, 2022- “March 31 is World Backup Day, a global tech celebration meant to remind everyone how important it is to back up their data. It’s also a good time for MSPs to brush up on their sales pitches for managed backup and data recovery services, which are critical to ensuring the safety of client data but often very difficult to sell.”
What MSPs need to know about email security
March 29, 2022- “Nishant Taneja, Senior Director, Product Marketing at Barracuda, recently sat down with the podcast The Holtz Story to discuss the evolution of threats and risk in email and how to protect clients from these attacks.”
Hiring and Keeping Talent: How MSPs can mitigate the impact of “The Great Resignation.”
March 25, 2022- “The “Great Resignation,” as pundits have dubbed it, has been a hot topic as of late. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many people out of jobs that, upon further reflection, they didn’t much like anyway, while others were shaken out of work-related ennui by the global disruption. Fortune reports that the quit rate has hit an all-time high, and many (but not all) labor sectors are complaining of a workforce shortage.”
Email Threats: Phishing Attacks Find New Ways to Trick Victims
March 18, 2022- “Despite major improvements in how organizations can block millions of cyber attacks, email threats are able to break through defenses because hackers are continually morphing them to be more complex and sophisticated, Barracuda said in a new phishing research report.
The Gately Report: Fortinet Ceases Russia Operations, Talks Growth with Partners, Kaspersky Rebuffs German Warning,
Spear Phishing Heavily Targeting Small Businesses
March 17, 2022- “Barracuda‘s latest spear phishing report shows small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted than larger organizations. The average employee of a small business with less than 100 employees will experience 350% more social engineering attacks than an employee of a larger enterprise.”
Average small business employee gets 3.5x as many social engineering attacks as those at larger firms
March 16, 2022- “Today, cybersecurity firm Barracuda is releasing key findings about the ways spear-phishing attacks are evolving, the seventh report in a series on new trends in social engineering attacks. The latest report, Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends, looks at current trends in spear phishing, which businesses are most likely to be targeted, new tricks attackers are using, and the number of accounts that are being compromised successfully. It also examines best practices and technology that organizations should be using to defend against these types of attacks.”
Data privacy is a very public challenge
March 11, 2022- “Over the next several years, data privacy will be top of mind for most companies. In addition to federal and international data privacy regulations, many states in the U.S. have passed or are considering privacy laws that will affect how companies manage client data.”
Best-of-Breed, Integrated Security and Evolving Threats
March 3, 2022- “With cybersecurity threats constantly evolving, security-centric MSPs must take a multi-layered, integrated security approach that encompasses all of the potential threat vectors in their clients’ networks. This means they need to offer protection and monitoring of the two highest attacked threat vectors: email and endpoint. Providing best-of-breed protection across these security specialties also means creating a solution portfolio that combines software from multiple vendors. This isn’t always an easy task, but forward-thinking solution providers can make it easier through strategic partnerships.”
Log4j Vulnerability Remains Headache for Cybersecurity Pros, Likely Exploited in Ukraine Attacks
March 2, 2022- “A new Neustar International Security Council (NISC) survey shows the Log4j vulnerability continues to plague security professionals globally. Moreover, threat actors could exploit Log4j in attacks against Ukraine. Three out of five organizations have fielded Log4j attacks. Log4Shell is a zero-day exploit in the popular Java logging library log4j. It results in remote code execution (RCE) by logging a certain string.”
New Year’s Podcast Series: Chris Crellin of Barracuda MSP
March 1, 2022- “As always seems to be the case, 2021 was an interesting, busy, and impactful year in the MSP security space. And that trend shows no signs of changing in 2022. In this edition of the podcast, Chris Crellin, senior director of product management for Barracuda MSP, joins us to discuss highlights of 2021 at his company and in the broader channel community and offers his thoughts on what we can expect this year.”
The Gately Report: Barracuda MSP Cybersecurity Update, Russian Cyber Threats, Cloudflare M&A
February 25, 2022- “Barracuda Networks is keeping an eye out to make sure MSPs and their customers aren’t negatively impacted by any cybersecurity threats associated with Russia invading Ukraine. That’s according to Neal Bradbury, senior vice president of Barracuda MSP. Barracuda has improved its MSP cybersecurity offering with new capabilities to help MSPs build advanced security services for their customers.”
5 channel partner program and MSP news updates: 23 February 2022
February 23, 2022- “MSP and Cloud Backup: Barracuda has added three new regional data centers in France, United Arab Emirates, and India. Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup sales grew by 55% in the past 12 months, though actual revenue dollar figures were not disclosed.”
CEO Outlook 2022 Details
February 2022- “CEO Hatem Naguib shares his outlook for 2022. There is a significant market opportunity for channel partners to help address the ongoing security threats their customers will be facing, such as business email compromise, malware, account takeover, and, of course, ransomware.”
Top Managed Firewall Service Providers 2022
February 12, 2022- “Those looking for managed firewall or FWaaS offerings usually find themselves evaluating much broader offerings. Therefore, a direct conversation with vendors is recommended to find out what they offer. Otherwise, managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers may be paying for a lot more services than they need.”
Becoming an MSSP: Tools, Services & Tips for Managed Security Services
February 10, 2022- “The next few years will see a surge in channel spending. According to Jay McBain, an analyst at Forrester Research, spending on IT and telecommunications will be worth about $7 trillion by 2030. The channel is destined to land at least a third of that. Competition is fierce. With about half a million VARs currently operating and roughly 75,000 MSPs, what opportunities exist for expansion? To many, the answer is security – there are only 10,000 MSSPs currently operating after all. And a recent Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) study notes that cybersecurity is likely to be the top area for increased IT spending for 2022.”
The social engineering dilemma
January 31, 2022- “Over the past several years, more companies have moved data and applications to the cloud. At the same time, the workforce has become more widely dispersed as the ongoing pandemic and other employment trends have increased the number of employees working remotely. As a result, the potential vectors for cyberattacks have increased.”
Log4j: 4 MSP Best Practices for Protecting Customers
January 28, 2022- “Businesses and cybersecurity professionals received an unwanted holiday gift of sorts at the end of December in the form of a critical remote code vulnerability in Log4j, a Java logging framework used in a wide array of software and systems. While a patch has been issued, cybercriminals have already launched attacks taking advantage of this extensive vulnerability.”
The Return to the Office: How to Protect Your Customers’ Cloud
January 28, 2022- “The continuing threat of pandemic shutdowns has kept many employees remote and plans to return to the office in flux. Here are some tips for MSPs to secure client networks and data.”
Barracuda Strengthens MSP Security Offerings With Expanded Email And Endpoint Protection Capabilities
January 27, 2022- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, today announced that it is strengthening its MSP security offering with new offerings designed to help MSPs build advanced, security-centric services for their customers. Integration of Barracuda Email Protection with SKOUT Managed XDR enables MSPs to provide their customers with email security capabilities within the SKOUT Managed XDR platform. These capabilities include impersonation and domain fraud protection, email gateway protection, and access to log data for analysis of threat detection and incident reporting.”
SentinelOne MSP Software Partnerships: Barracuda, ConnectWise, N-able (Who’s Next?)
January 27, 2022- “Barracuda Networks is the latest MSP-focused software company that leverages the SentinelOne Singularity XDR platform to help MSPs prevent, detect and respond to cyber threats, according to the companies.
Barracuda Networks Beefs Up Security For MSPs With Skout XDR, SentinelOne
January 27, 2022- “Barracuda Networks has improved its MSP security offering with new capabilities to help MSPs build advanced security services for their customers. Last year, Barracuda acquired Skout Security to enter the fast-growing extended detection and response (XDR) market. It has now integrated Barracuda Email Protection with Skout Managed XDR. This enables MSPs to provide their customers with email security capabilities within the Skout XDR platform.”
5 channel partner program and MSP news updates: 27 January 2022
January 27, 2022- “Here are five (actually, more) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, January 27, 2022. Sip up.”
Barracuda upgrades SKOUT Managed XDR with Barracuda email and SentinelOne endpoint integrations
January 27, 2022- “The SentinelOne integration is also now part of the Barracuda RMM, and SKOUTs existing email partnership with a competitor security vendor will remain available, because SKOUT is an open platform.”
Barracuda Rolls Out Endpoint and Email Security Integrations
January 27, 2022- “The vendor’s SKOUT Managed XDR service now draws on functionality and telemetry from Barracuda Email Protection and SentinelOne’s EDR solution, which in turn now integrates with Barracuda RMM.”
Barracuda bolsters MSP security offering with new functionalities
January 27, 2022- “Cloud-first security solutions provider Barracuda Networks has extended the capabilities of its security offering via new integration with Barracuda Email Protection and a new alliance with SentinelOne for endpoint protection.”
The Gately Report: WatchGuard On Decentralized Security, Opportunities for MSPs
January 21, 2022- “As demand for COVID-19 tests increased in recent weeks, the number of scams exploiting the scarcity of tests also went up. Barracuda researchers have seen an increase in COVID-19 test-related phishing attacks over the past couple of months. Between October and January, the number of COVID-19 test-related scams increased by 521%. The daily average peaked in early January, declining recently before starting to trend upward again.”
6 Tips for Pitching Cloud Backup Services to Your Clients
January 14, 2022- “When it comes to keeping clients’ data secure in the face of increased ransomware attacks, cloud backup can provide a significant value. Properly configured, housing redundant data in the cloud can help an MSP’s customers weather cyberattacks with confidence that they can quickly and easily restore their data in the event they get locked out of their files and folders.”
SMBs can benefit immensely from SOC services
December 27, 2021- “Cyber security requires constant vigilance, which means continuous monitoring of the network, applications, and email servers for suspicious activity. Even a few hours delay in identifying and responding to a potential attack could leave your clients vulnerable to a data breach or a ransomware attack. That level of monitoring can be accomplished by using a security operations center (SOC). The SOC serves as a central hub or command post where security experts and technology come together to monitor threat activity across the entire network. The SOC allows companies to monitor, detect, investigate and respond to attacks and cyber threats 24/7.”
A (Security-Centric) Look Ahead for MSPs
December 21, 2021- “As we approach the end of another year of pandemic living and read the economic tea leaves for 2022, it’s important to remember that while there have been significant ups and downs in the business environment, the fundamentals for MSPs have remained consistent. Security is a critical concern, and MSPs that haven’t shifted to a security-centric focus will be left behind.”
Are Web Applications Your Customers’ Achilles Heel?
November 29, 2021- “Companies are deploying Web-based applications today more than ever. As cloud-based and software-as-a-service models become more common for mission-critical apps, security vulnerabilities that can put data and applications at risk have emerged. For MSPs deploying and supporting these applications, investing in and offering a robust Web application security solution is a critical piece of the modern security profile. The need to strengthen Web app security is pressing. According to a 2020 report from Verizon, 43% of data breaches could be traced back to attacks against these applications, more than double the number from the prior year.”
Building a ransomware response team
November 19, 2021- “In 2020, a significant segment of the global workforce found themselves working remotely due to a once-in-a-century pandemic. As a result, many companies scrambled to connect employees to data and applications securely. In most cases, companies relied on virtual private networks (VPNs), a well-established remote access solution. However, it quickly became clear that when connecting remote workers, VPNs had their limitations and weren’t designed to address modern security challenges. In place of these legacy solutions, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) has emerged as a rapidly growing alternative that provides several key advantages.”
Never Pay the Ransom
November 18, 2021- “We all remember the Colonial Pipeline attack, which netted criminals $4.4 million. The company’s CEO told Congress that the company had no choice–the attack’s impact on fuel supplies was too severe to avoid payment. However, a recent Gartner column cautions against this approach, and official guidance from the FBI recommends not paying. Why? For starters, even if the cybercriminals make good on releasing your systems and data, it can take several weeks to recover, and some encrypted files may be completely unrecoverable. According to Gartner, on average, only 65% of data winds up being recovered.”
Grow Your MSP Business with Security Awareness Training
November 18, 2021- “The cybersecurity landscape continues to shift rapidly. The number of attacks has increased, and the complexity of those attacks (which may involve high levels of social engineering and sophisticated phishing and email compromise techniques) has grown. Cybersecurity technologies have also evolved to meet these challenges because attacks are now harder to spot with traditional email and firewall security. That is why it is easy to see modern cybersecurity as a continuing escalation of technological craftiness on both sides. In that context, MSPs with a security focus simply need to apply the right technology to their clients’ networks to ensure strong cybersecurity. But that approach overlooks one unchanging fact—the most vulnerable part of the infrastructure is still the employee accessing the network.”
Barracuda Delivers Strong Growth And Innovation In MSP Security Solutions
November 17, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced several key product milestones and sales growth achievements for its MSP business, which was accelerated by the increasing number of MSPs adding security to their services portfolio. Driven by the acquisition of SKOUT Cybersecurity for extended detection and response (XDR), new integrations for Barracuda RMM, and the introduction of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities for managed service providers (MSPs) through Barracuda CloudGen Access, annual recurring revenue for Barracuda MSP grew 70% year-over-year at the end of Q2 FY2022.”
Growth – Barracuda’s MSP-focused Business
November 17, 2021- “Annual recurring revenue (ARR) for Barracuda MSP’s security solutions grew 37% year-over-year as of September 30, 2021. Also, ARR for Barracuda MSP’s email security solutions grew 73% year-over-year as of September 30, 2021. Barracuda, backed by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, has been building and expanding its MSP-focused technology suite since 2015 or so. Overall revenue and profits from the effort are undisclosed.”
Podcast: How XDR and a SOC-as-a-Service Can Give MSPs a Much-Needed AI Edge
November 4, 2021- “In the latest episode of the XaaScast, James Hatzell, director of marketing for Barracuda MSP XDR and XaaS Journal Cofounder Jay McCall, discuss extended detection and response (XDR) and SOC-as-a-Service. These new security tools and services use AI to add context to security threats, helping MSPs prioritize the most critical CVEs and automate incident response and remediation processes.”
VPN vs. ZTNA: A security perspective for remote user access
October 26, 2021- “In 2020, a significant segment of the global workforce found themselves working remotely due to a once-in-a-century pandemic. As a result, many companies scrambled to connect employees to data and applications securely. In most cases, companies relied on virtual private networks (VPNs), a well-established remote access solution. However, it quickly became clear that when connecting remote workers, VPNs had their limitations and weren’t designed to address modern security challenges. In place of these legacy solutions, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) has emerged as a rapidly growing alternative that provides several key advantages.”
Your Restaurant Clients Need a WAF—Stat
October 25, 2021- “The trend away from on-premises dining to online ordering for takeout or delivery has accelerated over the past few years. Now, with more restaurants engaging customers and accepting orders and payments online, they must also adapt their security strategies to protect their businesses. Restaurant value-added resellers (VARs) and managed services providers may need to educate their clients about what it takes to secure restaurant operations online—and to answer questions including “What does a web application firewall do?” Tushar Richabadas, Senior Product Marketing Manager—Applications and Cloud Security, Barracuda, provides you with insights into which restaurants in your market will benefit from the protection of a web application firewall (WAF), how to communicate its value, and how VARs and MSPs can provide these solutions to their customers.”
Getting Smart About IT Asset Disposal and Security
October 22, 2021- “The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a lot about the current state of corporate IT. One of those lessons was that many employees required new endpoint hardware. This was especially true in cases where older computers were no longer operational or running out-of-date software applications, which in turn was creating security risks. This led many organizations to adopt more robust laptops, capable of running enterprise applications, or desktop units that were set up to accommodate remote access technologies. In some cases, companies even took another look at their data centers and server setups because they found themselves woefully unprepared for the emergency circumstances that forced everyone out of the office. Demand for new computers increased substantially over the past two years as a result. IDC has reported that global PC shipments increased almost 13% in 2020. With new hardware purchases, companies have been faced with difficulty in disposing of their old equipment.”
When Disaster Strikes: Preparing Your Customers with BDR
October 15, 2021- “The Atlantic hurricane season has arrived, providing plenty of reminders of just how vulnerable coastal cities are to these monster storms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that there will be as many as 21 named storms and 10 hurricanes this season, and we have already seen significant damage in the U.S. from Hurricane Ida. For businesses in the path of these storms, which are arriving with greater frequency every year, the potential for data loss and disruption is significant. Affected regions may be without power for weeks, and physical infrastructure (including data centers and offices) can be irreparably damaged by flooding and high winds. These companies need to have a robust backup and data recovery (BDR) solution in place, preferably one that’s part of an all-encompassing disaster preparedness plan. MSPs can help these firms minimize data loss and IT disruptions during severe weather events and other disasters, allowing them to focus on getting their businesses back up and running and ensuring their employees are safe.”
Skout Cybersecurity boss exploits scale at Barracuda
October 15, 2021- “When an acquisition is struck, the well-worn announcements include a comment from the acquirer and then a positive response from the leader of the business that has been snapped up. Often that person is then subsumed into the larger business or quietly exits after an agreed period. But neither of those paths is the one that Aidan Kehoe, founder and CEO of Skout Cybersecurity, is taking now his business is part of Barracuda Networks. Skout was snapped up in the summer as Barracuda looked to add more depth to its extended detection and response (XDR) offering. The technology has been delivered via MSPs and one of the other ambitions of the deal was that it would bolster the opportunities to put it in front of more channel partners.”
It’s time to prepare your cybersecurity checklist
September 28, 2021- “October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and that means it is as good a time as any for MSPs to prepare a cybersecurity checklist and revisit their incident response plans. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have stepped up their attacks over the past several years, both in frequency and complexity. As a result, companies of all sizes (including MSPs) have fallen victim to expensive and devastating attacks. As security-minded MSPs know, the weakest link in any security framework is the end user. Therefore, education, training, and simulations are critical for reducing the impact of cyber attacks, phishing, and ransomware. This is especially true as criminals have turned to more complex attacks that rely on exploiting human psychology.”
Podcast: Are You Getting the Full Value Out of Your RMM?
September 23, 2021- “The change from in-office work to a complete remote workforce over the past 18 months expanded MSPs’ management exponentially. Some MSPs weren’t prepared for the sudden shift to BYOD and struggled to manage their clients’ personal devices, which were now being used to access corporate resources. Besides the work-from-home (WFH) trend, we’ve seen a massive uptick in cybersecurity attacks. The Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI recorded 791,790 complaints of suspected online crimes in 2020, recording a 300,000 increase from 2019 with the reported losses from these internet crimes exceeding $4.2 billion. Mark Whiffen, the senior product manager for Barracuda MSP, discusses these trends and challenges, as well as the increasingly important role RMM tools play in helping MSPs detect anomalies, tracking increased endpoints and remediating and managing customers’ environments remotely.”
The QBR as an MSP Security Sales Tool
September 20, 2021- “One common mistake MSPs make is assuming that their customers don’t want to hear from them. After all, they’re paying you to keep their IT running so they can be more productive, so, if they have a problem or a question, they’ll call, right? Not exactly. What typically happens is that when a client doesn’t see or hear from their MSP, they wonder, “Why am I paying this company a monthly fee when I rarely have problems?” Before long, the client may begin questioning the value of the relationship, and so begin the conversations about discounts or even shopping for a cheaper provider. One of the best remedies to the scenario described above is a quarterly business review (QBR). QBRs allow MSPs to highlight everything they’re doing behind the scenes to keep their customers’ IT running smoothly. In addition to using QBRs to provide an overview of past performance and incidents, they also create an excellent opportunity to help your clients develop strategic plans for the future.”
Barracuda Introduces Data Classification Capabilities To Help Customers Find Sensitive Data And Malware
September 16, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced Barracuda Data Inspector to help customers automatically scan OneDrive for Business and SharePoint data for sensitive information and malicious files. Powerful data classification capabilities help customers identify types of data such as Personal Identifiable Information (PII), user credentials, credit card information, and more. Customers using Barracuda Data Inspector can identify whether data has been shared internally or externally, and where it’s stored to help them make decisions on how to act on it. A recent study commissioned by Barracuda captured the opinions and perspectives of global IT decision makers about Office 365, data security, backup and recovery, SaaS solutions, and a variety of related topics. The research found that data protection is both a security and a privacy concern”
Barracuda announces major SASE, email and data protection solution enhancements at customer conference
September 15, 2021- “Today, at their Barracuda Secured.21 Customer Conference 2021, cybersecurity vendor Barracuda is making a series of product announcements. They are announcing the enhancement of their cloud-native SASE platform to now combine Secure SD-WAN, Firewall-as-a-Service, Zero Trust Network Access, and Secure Web Gateway technology in a converged SASE solution. Their email capabilities have been expanded by new automated workflows that expands customer ability to create custom workflow solutions. Barracuda Data Inspector, a new SaaS-based service, has been added to automatically scan OneDrive and SharePoint to identify sensitive information and malicious files. Finally, Barracuda also released a new commissioned report on the state of network security in 2021. The report indicated that a high percentage of the 750 respondents acknowledged some sort of breach or compromise over the last year.”
Barracuda Announces New SASE, Incident Response, and Data Security Capabilities
September 15, 2021- “Barracuda Networks has introduced a cloud-native SASE platform, simplified incident response functionality, and a new tool for securing sensitive data in Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive. The SASE platform incorporates the vendor’s Content Shield, CloudGen Access, CloudGen WAN, and CloudGen Firewall products to provide SD-WAN, firewall-as-a-service, zero-trust network access (ZTNA), and secure web gateway functionality in the cloud, in the office, or on the device. In support of that vision, Barracuda has added the ability to run security services on cloud hubs as well as directly on onsite devices to CloudGen Firewall.”
Barracuda Among The Top 20 Email Security Providers You Should Know
September 14, 2021- “Barracuda Networks is listed as a leader on the Q2 2021 Forrester Wave for Email Security. Its product portfolio includes integrated solutions for email security, cloud backup, email archiving, defense, domain-based message authentication, reporting and conformance (DMARC), static application security testing (SA&T) and web security. Barracuda Total Email Protection brings together this suite of security solutions for comprehensive protection.”
Barracuda Expands Incident Response Capabilities With Automated Workflows And Public APIs
September 14, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced expanded incident response capabilities to help customers proactively identify threats and take quick and effective action to remediate them. Customers can use public-facing APIs to integrate with their current SOAR/SIEM/XDR investment. With new automated workflows, administrators can build a playbook that meets their specific needs for individual use cases. Named a Leader in “The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Email Security, Q2 2021,” Barracuda received the highest score possible in the deployment options, content processing capabilities, incident response, scalability and reliability, and support and customer success criteria.”
Hackers Up the Ante on Ransomware
September 2, 2021- “Earlier this month, international consulting firm Accenture became the latest target in a string of high-profile ransomware attacks when the LockBit group claimed to have breached the company’s servers and threatened to release its data. According to a CRN report, Accenture confirmed the attack, but downplayed the scope of the damage: “Through our security controls and protocols, we identified irregular activity in one of our environments. We immediately contained the matter and isolated the affected servers. In addition, we fully restored our affected servers from backup. As a result, there was no impact on Accenture’s operations or our clients’ systems,” Accenture wrote. It’s not just big companies being targeted. Every type of organization, from small IT firms, municipalities and school districts to big multinational corporations, is in the crosshairs as ransomware attacks become more aggressive and costly. According to a report from security consultant Unit 42, the average ransomware payment climbed 82 percent to $570,000 in the first half of 2021, up from $312,000 in 2020.”
Barracuda research identifies emerging traffic trends and live examples of bot behavior
September 1, 2021- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released key findings about bad bots and the ways these automated attacks are evolving. The report, titled Bot attacks: Top Threats and Trends – Insights into the growing number of automated attacks, explores emerging traffic patterns, live examples of bot behavior and detection, and the steps IT teams should take to protect their businesses. The report looks at current trends, such as the volume of traffic from these bad bots, where bot attacks are originating from, and the time of day attacks are most likely to happen. It also breaks down live examples and covers the steps IT teams can take and the technology they should be using to stop these types of attacks.”
Barracuda Research Reveals Skyrocketing Levels of Bot Traffic
September 1, 2021- “Barracuda, a provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, released key findings about bad bots and the ways these automated attacks are evolving. The report, titled “Bot attacks: Top Threats and Trends – Insights into the growing number of automated attacks,” explores emerging traffic patterns, live examples of bot behavior and detection, and the steps IT teams should take to protect their businesses. Barracuda’s report looks at current trends, such as the volume of traffic from these bad bots, where bot attacks are originating from, and the time-of-day attacks are likely to happen. It also breaks down live examples and covers the steps IT teams can take and technology they should be using to stop these types of attacks. “
Cybersecurity in Education: Threats Are Going Back to School
August 27, 2021- “As schools and universities prepare for a return to classes, they’re facing the challenges resulting from a recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases across the United States. As a result, many educators will have to support remote learning for their most vulnerable students. Also, a return to fully online classes is a distinct possibility in some regions. The rapid shift to hybrid learning in 2020 revealed an array of cybersecurity vulnerabilities that colleges and school districts were not prepared for. From Zoom crashers, to identity theft and email compromise, schools faced myriad challenges–all while trying to ensure access for students with varying levels of internet service availability.”
7 Things MSPs Should Do Right Now to Protect Their Retail Clients
August 18, 2021- “When much of the world shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, one sector saw an explosion of activity—online shopping. Without the ability to visit stores in person, consumers had everything from groceries and take-out meals to inflatable swimming pools and lumber delivered to their homes. Cybercriminals, sensing an opportunity, pounced. A study from cloud computing company Iomart found that large-scale breaches increased 273 percent in the first quarter of 2020. Between May 2020 and May 2021, the FBI reported that the number of cybercrime complaints increased by one million. For comparison purposes, it previously took nearly three years to reach the same number of complaints. In some cases, the number of daily complaints tripled or quadrupled.”
Barracuda beefs up Barracuda RMM with Windows Defender, ServiceNow integrations among other enhancements
August 17, 2021- “Today, Barracuda Networks is announcing major updates to their Barracuda RMM security-centric, cloud-based RMM platform. It includes new integrations with Windows Defender and ServiceNow, as well as an expansion of the integration with Barracuda’s own Intronis backup offering. The new release also enables the application of patches immediately to identified devices, and improves visibility on which devices are online or offline. New third-party software patch management has also been added as part of the onboarding process for all new MSP partners. “This release is about increasing the flexibility and enhancing the security posture of the RMM,” said Chris Crellin, Senior Director, Product Management, Barracuda MSP. “We want it to be a security-centric RMM to help them make their customers more secure. It is critical that our RMM plays a critical role in managing customer security.”
Enhanced Barracuda RMM to offer MSPs New Security Options
August 17, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, announced updates to Barracuda RMM, the company’s security-centric, cloud-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. “The continued enhancements we are making to Barracuda RMM are part of our ongoing commitment to supporting MSPs in improving their security offerings” said Chris Crellin, senior director, Product Management, Barracuda MSP. “RMM tools must become part of an MSP’s daily client security posture assessment and remediation. Today, we are making those tasks easier for service providers to drive business value within their customer base, by adding new features and capabilities focused on mitigating security risks and protecting customers’ data and applications.”
Barracuda Adds Microsoft Defender Antivirus Integration to RMM Solution
August 17, 2021- “Barracuda Networks has shipped an updated edition of its Barracuda RMM solution with built-in support for Microsoft Defender Antivirus, expanded integration with Intronis Backup, and enhanced patch management capabilities. The new release, officially version 12.4, is available immediately. The Microsoft Defender functionality lets technicians set and adjust security policies for multiple endpoints centrally from within their RMM interface. It augments similar, existing support for antivirus software from Avast. “[We’re] trying to provide additional flexibility for our MSPs and accommodate their antivirus options,” says Chris Crellin, senior director for product management at Barracuda MSP, which oversees Barracuda’s MSP-oriented products. “Defender is sort of our first step along that path.”
How to become a security-centric MSP
August 10, 2021- “Managed-services providers (MSPs) who don’t put security at the center of their services offerings may be missing out on the opportunity to reap their full benefits. With both a rapidly evolving universe of cyberthreats and an accelerated transition to remote and hybrid work environments, all organizations need to take a renewed look at their security profile. MSPs can service their customers better (and increase their market share) by taking a security-centric approach to their business. But what does that mean, and more importantly, how does an MSP successfully make the transition? “
Why Healthcare Organizations Need Email Security to Keep PHI Safe
August 10, 2021- “Healthcare data is an attractive cyberattack target. It’s crucial and monetizable—and people, who are often a weak link in the security chain, have access to it. One of the latest healthcare data breaches occurred at UC San Diego Health. From December 2020 through April 2021, attackers had access to names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers, payment account numbers, email addresses, insurance claims information, lab results, medical diagnoses and more. Investigators traced the breach back to unauthorized access to employee email accounts—more mounting evidence that healthcare organizations need email security solutions that include phishing protection. Chris Crellin, Senior Director, Product Management at Barracuda MSP, provides answers for managed services providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) about the need for email security and phishing protection for your healthcare clients and what you can do to make healthcare data more secure.”
14 Top Cybersecurity Trends To Expect At Black Hat Conference
August 3, 2021- “A lot of user and organization data had already been stolen in previous breaches and is now being weaponized against them in subsequent attacks, said Barracuda Chief Technology Officer Fleming Shi. Adversaries leverage the personally identifiable information they’ve already taken to obtain a user’s credentials and password, and then target the SaaS applications where these people are logging in.”
Barracuda: Average Company Hit with 700 Social Engineering Attacks Per Year
July 28, 2021- “Barracuda released a new report in which it investigated instances of spear phishing attacks, noting that “all employees” – and not only top executives – need to be better prepared. The company’s “Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends Vol. 6 – Insights” report examined the evolving techniques employed by attackers, as well as their most-common targets, noting that 10 percent of social engineering attacks relate to business email compromise, while 43 percent of phishing strikes are designed to impersonate Microsoft software.”
MSPs: Security Best Practices for Staying out of Cybercriminals’ Crosshairs
July 27, 2021- “Ransomware and other cyberattacks are increasing in frequency and cost, and MSPs are now often the target of these attacks. Because MSPs provide a gateway into the networks of dozens or hundreds of clients, attackers can use compromised credentials to move freely among MSP and customer networks. Applying security best practices is key to staying out of cybercriminals’ crosshairs. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning about the threat to MSPs and cloud service providers, noting that “MSPs generally have direct and unfettered access to their customers’ networks, and may store customer data on their internal infrastructure. By servicing a large number of customers, MSPs can achieve significant economies of scale. However, a compromise in one part of an MSP’s network can spread globally, affecting other customers and introducing risk.”
Barracuda Completes Acquisition of SKOUT Cybersecurity
July 14, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, announced it has completed its acquisition of SKOUT Cybersecurity, a Melville, NY-based leader in cyber-as-a-service software for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and provider of an extended detection and response (XDR) platform and service.”
Barracuda Completes Acquisition of SKOUT Cybersecurity
July 14, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, announced it has completed its acquisition of SKOUT Cybersecurity, a Melville, NY-based leader in cyber-as-a-service software for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and provider of an extended detection and response (XDR) platform and service.”
What solution providers need to know about Zero Trust
July 14, 2021- “With cybersecurity attacks and breaches getting more headlines than ever, security remains a hot topic in the channel, and the concept of Zero Trust is garnering a lot of attention. We dive into what Zero Trust is, how it solves for common security problems, and what solution providers need to know about it with Mark Ballegeer, systems engineer at Barracuda MSP, in this edition of the ChannelBuzz podcast.”
Ep. 12: The Danger of Post-Delivery Email Threats
July 13, 2021- “Stephanie Cavigliano, product marketing manager, and Olesia Klevchuk, principal product marketing manager, at Barracuda, discuss Barracuda’s research findings in post-delivery email threats and offer practical tips for MSPs to protect their customers in the latest episode of the XaaScast.”
Using services as an MSP growth driver
July 7, 2021- “As part of its fourth annual MSP Day event, Barracuda released the Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2021, which outlines opportunities that have emerged in the MSP space. This year’s key takeaway is the significant impact managed services are expected to have on revenue moving forward, with growth opportunities around digital transformation, cloud, and especially security. Barracuda surveyed more than 400 partners worldwide for the report and found a high degree of optimism. According to the report, 85 percent of MSP respondents believe there are opportunities in the market right now, including those driven by remote work, greater demand for security solutions and the know-how to implement these solutions, and the need to improve the overall customer experience.”
Do Your Clients Know About Content Filtering?
July 6, 2021- “Content filtering is a valuable tool that stops access to or from web pages or emails that can be threats to a business’ network or employee productivity. While firewalls control ingoing and outgoing traffic on the business’ network, content filtering looks at the website or email itself, searching for content patterns such as character strings, phrases, or objects within images. If it finds content that is restricted by company or security policies, it blocks it. It’s possible that a firewall won’t stop the traffic, but the content filter could identify the noncompliance and block it. Content filters are often a part of internet firewalls, but managed services providers can implement them via hardware or software for security purposes, possibly bundled with a firewall management service.”
Barracuda Buys SKOUT Cybersecurity to Enter Red-Hot XDR Market
July 1, 2021- “Barracuda Networks has signed a definitive agreement to buy SKOUT Cybersecurity, a provider of outsourced cybersecurity services for MSPs. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal, which is expected to close later this month, will allow Barracuda to add an eXtended detection and response (XDR) solution backed by a 24×7 security operations center to its current lineup of security services for MSPs. “We can basically take our security technologies, the XDR, and the SOC, and have a really cool offering that MSPs can use for their customers,” says Neal Bradbury, vice president of MSP strategic partnerships for the vendor’s Barracuda MSP unit. “
Barracuda acquires Skout Cybersecurity to enter the XDR market
July 1, 2021- “Barracuda Networks has purchased Skout Cybersecurity, a New York-based channel-only provider of extended detection and response (XDR) services. The deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, will see the California-based cybersecurity vendor enter the fast-growing XDR market. As a result of the ever-increasing attack surface as businesses shift to the cloud and embrace hybrid working, 80% of security professionals now say XDR solutions — which automatically collect and correlate data from multiple security layers to improve threat detection — should be a top priority for their organization, and 68% of enterprises plan to implement XDR in 2021 and 2022, according to recent research.”
Barracuda Acquires Skout for XDR Security, MSP-Focused SOC
July 1, 2021- “Barracuda Networks is acquiring Skout Cybersecurity, a Top 250 MSSP that develops XDR (eXtended Detection and Response) and Security Operations Center (SOC) solutions for MSPs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Skout through January 2021 or so positioned itself mainly as cyber-as-a-service for MSPs. The company also competes in the highly fragmented SOC as a Service (SOCaaS) market for MSPs. More recently, Skout — like much of the cybersecurity industry — has jumped on the XDR term to emphasize a platform that connects “with email, firewall, identity and access, and a 24×7 SOC that aids the detection and response of cyberattacks.””
Barracuda Networks to acquire MSP cybersecurity firm SKOUT
July 1, 2021- “Barracuda Networks has announced its intention to acquire cybersecurity firm SKOUT. The Thoma Bravo-owned security vendor has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SKOUT Cybersecurity, which offers cyber-as-a-service software for managed service providers (MSPs) and provides an extended detection and response (XDR) platform and service. “We are excited to add an XDR solution with a SOC to our already best-in-class security solution portfolio. Our goal is to accelerate our EMEA channel partners’ journeys to security-centric operations — where they can protect their clients’ users, devices, and applications and efficiently respond to a subset of critical threats. This is a great opportunity for our MSPs and partners to leverage Barracuda’s security expertise in growing their own portfolios with existing resources,” said Brian Babineau, SVP and GM at Barracuda MSP.”
Barracuda To Boost MSP Protection With Planned Acquisition Of Skout Cybersecurity
July 1, 2021- “Barracuda plans to buy Skout Cybersecurity to provide MSPs with the technology and manpower needed to respond more effectively to cyberthreats. The Campbell, Calif.-based cybersecurity vendor said its proposed purchase of Melville, N.Y.-based security monitoring and response company Skout Cybersecurity will help MSPs cull and correlate threat data as well as respond to incidents more efficiently. Skout offers an extended detection and response (XDR) platform for MSPs as well as an around-the-clock Security Operations Center (SOC). “All MSPs need to become security-first businesses and security-led, and I think we envision our platform being a mechanism for the market to be able to achieve that,” Skout Cybersecurity CEO Aidan Kehoe told CRN exclusively.”
The Executive Order on Improving Cybersecurity: Key Takeaways for MSPs
June 28, 2021- “Ransomware attacks are not only growing in number, but they are also targeting an increasing number of critical companies and operations. Several municipal governments and hospital systems were hit with attacks during the past several years: The recent Colonial Pipeline attack (which caused fuel shortages and price spikes in some areas of the United States), the health service in Ireland, the Massachusetts Steamship Authority and other entities have drawn attention to just how vulnerable key pieces of infrastructure are to cyberattacks. The Colonial attack is instructive (and typical): Hackers launched the attack via a compromised password to a disused virtual private network (VPN) account that wasn’t protected by multi-factor authentication. The White House issued an Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity in May. The order focuses on beefing up cybersecurity standards, with a specific focus on zero-trust architecture solutions. That could open up some new opportunities for security-centric MSPs, provided they have the right solution set in place.”
Moving Beyond Commodity Tech Support
June 22, 2021- “The rapid pace of technological innovation, focus on digital transformation across industries, shift to cloud computing, and a shortage of qualified IT professionals have led to an increased demand for third-party technical support across several sectors. Organizations need their IT infrastructure and networks to run reliably and securely so they can focus on their core business. But having full-time staff to handle those responsibilities is beyond the budget and means of many companies. For some, there simply aren’t enough skilled staff available to do it, even if they have the budget. As a result, the IT services market, in general, is expected to experience a CAGR of 8.87% through 2026. According to some estimates, there has been an attendant increase in the MSP market, with the number of MSPs in the U.S. now surpassing 40,000. Per Mordor Intelligence, the global managed services market reached $152.05 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $274.20 billion by 2026.”
New Vertical Market Opportunities for MSPs in 2021
June 4, 2021- “The past year has been an economic roller coaster across almost every sector, and MSPs have certainly not been immune. Businesses across the globe struggled during regional and global lockdowns, and supply chain disruptions wreaked havoc across many industries. Others, however, survived and even thrived, while requiring additional support because of the rapid shift to remote work. Cybersecurity threats continued to increase, with pandemic- and vaccine-related scams flourishing as networks and applications become more decentralized. In a new eBook from Barracuda, author Kevin Williams outlines several opportunities for MSPs that could have a big pay-off this year, both in terms of new business and strengthening relationships with existing clients.”
The Benefits of Zero-Trust Security over VPNs
June 3, 2021- “The shift to more remote work and collaboration has been happening for more than a decade, but the recent COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process. While many workers will eventually return to offices, several companies are looking at more flexible models—including zero-trust security–that will allow more employees to work at least part of the time remotely. As a result, over the past year, the use of virtual private networks (VPN) has expanded. While this approach can provide a secure connection to applications behind the corporate firewall, the increased use of cloud-based applications has complicated the security landscape. In some cases, network traffic generated by cloud applications is backhauled through a local data center before being passed on via a VPN to an end user. This can create significant latency issues (and a frustrating user experience).”
Threat Spotlight: Post-Delivery Email Threats
June 2, 2021- “Barracuda researchers recently looked at approximately 3,500 organizations to better understand threat patterns and response practices. They found that an average organization with 1,100 users will experience around 15 email security incidents per month, and on average 10 employees will be impacted by each phishing attack that manages to get through. Researchers identified actions that can make a measurable difference post-delivery. For example, our analysis found that organizations that train their users will see a 73% improvement in the accuracy of user-reported email after only two training campaigns.”
Barracuda Expands Scalable IoT Connectivity Solution
June 2, 2021- “Barracuda, a provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, announced customers can now run Crosser Edge Analytics software directly on Barracuda Secure Connector. Barracuda’s scalable IoT hardware connectivity solution running the Crosser node application addresses the need for secure connectivity in large, distributed environments and accurate analytics at scale. Barracuda’s scalable IoT hardware connectivity solution running the Crosser node application addresses the need for secure connectivity in large, distributed environments and accurate analytics at scale.”
Remote monitoring: An unexpected MSP growth driver
June 1, 2021- “During the past year, SMBs were forced to rapidly transform their businesses digitally to accommodate the sudden shift to remote work and the widespread adoption of cloud and SaaS-based applications. This growing digital footprint, combined with the heightened cyberthreat landscape, significantly increased their risk of a cyberattack. As trusted advisors to their SMB customers, MSPs must adopt a security-centric approach. This means having the tools and resources in places to detect, prevent, and remediate cyberthreats promptly through the continuous assessment of the customers’ security posture, and proactively address vulnerabilities with multi-layered security solutions, to protect their customers’, as well as their own data, devices, and users. This may sound like a tall order, but a tool already in an MSP’s arsenal, and one that has proven very useful in achieving this objective, is remote monitoring and management (RMM).”
Lots of opportunities for MSPs, says Barracuda
June 1, 2021- “There are shedloads of opportunities coming up for MSPs in the coming year, according to a Barracuda report. Barracuda’s The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, claims that the appetite for managed services is stronger than ever, with many survey respondents identifying managed services as the biggest sales opportunity in the coming year. The report said that that to seize this opportunity, MSPs can identify areas in which to focus their growth and expand their offerings. This is particularly key for those that are in the early stages of their journey or those that were forced down a specific route due to the demands of the pandemic.”
5 Channel Partner Progarms and MSP Updates
May 27, 2021- “The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, an annual research report from Baraccuda, has surfaced for 2021. Barracuda spoke to over 400 partners from across the globe for the report, and the answers all showed that MSPs are facing similar challenges when it comes to services provision and the increasingly complex needs of their customers.”
Security and the MSP: Highlights from Barracuda’s Managed Services Report
May 26, 2021- “It’s a great time to be an MSP as the appetite for managed services is stronger than ever. That’s according to Barracuda‘s new report, “The Evolving Landscape of the MSP.” Barracuda released the report in conjunction with MSP Day. The company created MSP Day in 2018 to highlight, challenge and celebrate the managed services industry. Barracuda spoke to more than 400 partners from across the globe. Combined answers indicate similar challenges for MSPs worldwide when it comes to service provisioning and meeting customers’ complex needs.”
Barracuda MSP Day 2021 reveals unparalleled opportunities for MSPs
May 26, 2021- “Now in its fourth year, MSP Day is an annual movement created by Barracuda in 2018 to highlight, challenge, and celebrate the managed services industry. Today, in conjunction with MSP Day, Barracuda is pleased to announce the release of The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, which points to numerous opportunities ahead for MSPs in the coming year. The 2021 report demonstrates that the appetite for managed services is stronger than ever, with many survey respondents identifying managed services as the biggest sales opportunity in the coming year. To seize this opportunity, MSPs can identify areas in which to focus their growth and expand their offerings. This is particularly key for those that are in the early stages of their journey or those that were forced down a specific route due to the demands of the pandemic.”
The Evolving Landscape Of The MSP Business Report 2021
May 26, 2021- “One of the biggest challenges for any MSP is knowing what areas to focus on when it comes to offering services. The services market is becoming increasingly crowded, and once a course has been set, it is not easy to change direction. So MSPs have to get it right the first time. Many are still in the early stages of their services journey and some were perhaps forced on the services path during the challenging year that was 2020. But as the fourth annual MSP Day Report shows, the appetite for services is growing, with more than half of our respondents (56%) revealing they saw managed services as the biggest sales/revenue opportunity for 2021.”
Barracuda MSP Day 2021 Reveals Unparalleled Opportunities for MSPs
May 26, 2021- “Now in its fourth year, MSP Day is an annual movement created by Barracuda in 2018 to highlight, challenge, and celebrate the managed services industry. Today, in conjunction with MSP Day, Barracuda is pleased to announce the release of The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, which points to numerous opportunities ahead for MSPs in the coming year. The 2021 report demonstrates that the appetite for managed services is stronger than ever, with many survey respondents identifying managed services as the biggest sales opportunity in the coming year. To seize this opportunity, MSPs can identify areas in which to focus their growth and expand their offerings. This is particularly key for those that are in the early stages of their journey or those that were forced down a specific route due to the demands of the pandemic.”
‘There are many reasons for service providers to be celebrating right now’
May 26, 2021- “Soaring demand for solutions to address ongoing security concerns surrounding remote work, and a white-hot private equity market, are two of the top indicators to show interest in managed services is “greater than ever before”, according to Barracuda MSP. The vendor has revealed the result of a survey of 400 MSPs from around the world to take the pulse of the services channel. Published today, it’s part of the vendor’s fourth annual ‘MSP Day’, which it uses to collate best practices, and common pain points. International director of sales Jason Howells spoke to CPI about the key findings.”
Barracuda MSP Day Reveals Unparalleled Opportunities for MSPs
May 26, 2021- “Now in its fourth year, MSP Day is an annual movement created by Barracuda to highlight, challenge, and celebrate the managed services industry. In conjunction with MSP Day, Barracuda has released “The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business”report, which points to numerous opportunities ahead for MSPs in the coming year. The 2021 report demonstrates the appetite for managed services is stronger than ever, with many survey respondents identifying managed services as the biggest sales opportunity in the coming year. To seize this opportunity, MSPs can identify areas in which to focus their growth and expand their offerings. This is particularly key for those that are in the early stages of their journey or those that were forced down a specific route due to the demands of the pandemic.”
New Research Reveals Today’s Biggest Application Security Challenges
May 18, 2021- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released key findings from a report titled The state of application security in 2021. Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed 750 application security decision makers responsible for their organization’s application development and security to get their perspectives on data breaches, top application security vulnerabilities, and the most important product capabilities needed to defend against multi-vector application attacks.”
Barracuda Launches Cloud Application Protection 2.0 to Defend Web Apps from Evolving Attack Vectors
May 18, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced significant new capabilities for its Cloud Application Protection platform to deliver an additional level of protection and make it even easier for organizations to secure their applications in a digitally transformed world. These new services and features include client-side protection, the ability to deploy containerized WAF nodes, and an auto-configuration engine. In addition, Cloud Application Protection now leverages machine learning, vulnerability scanning and remediation, and Advanced Threat Protection to provide active threat intelligence for more powerful protection. Cloud Application Protection is Barracuda’s platform for Web Application and API Protection (WAAP). According to Gartner: “By 2023, more than 30% of public-facing web applications and APIs will be protected by cloud web application and API protection (WAAP) services, which combine distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection, bot mitigation, API protection and web application firewalls (WAFs). This is an increase from fewer than 15% today.”
Barracuda enhances its Cloud Application Protection solution with new features, bundle
May 18, 2021- “In late 2019, Barracuda Networks introduced their Cloud Application Protection platform, which is essentially a Web Application Firewall on steroids, updated for the modern era and delivered as a service. It was also built on Azure and available in the Azure Marketplace. Today they are announcing Cloud Application Protection 2.0, which adds new features like client-side protection, powerful containerized deployment capabilities, and a brand new auto-configuration engine that makes recommendations about modifying security settings. They have also created a new bundle of threat intelligence offerings that both increases efficiencies and will make it easier for partners to sell them. “When we started with the Cloud Application Protection platform, the idea was that we could tell the customer that once you get it, we will worry about what’s inside it, and provide the protection,” said Nitzan Miron, Vice President of Product Management, Application Security Services at Barracuda. “Version 2.0 is about making it even easier than it was before.”
Barracuda Delivers Strong Growth in Cloud Email Security
May 12, 2021- “Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced product milestones and sales growth rates for its email protection business, which was accelerated by increased Office 365 adoption, and higher demand for Barracuda Sentinel, Barracuda’s advanced technology that leverages API integration to protect businesses from spear phishing, account takeover, business email compromise and other advanced threats.”
Office 365 and Regulatory Compliance
May 11, 2021- “Office 365 environments are expanding, and the recent shift to remote work has only accelerated business reliance on the platform. According to the Thexyz blog, the average gain in monthly Office 365 users nearly quadrupled between October 2019 and April 2020, primarily because of the need for more collaborative work environments during the global pandemic. With more users relying on Office 365, the need for security and reliable data backup is critical to ensure data and applications remain safe. In highly regulated industries like financial services, healthcare and the legal profession, compliance adds another wrinkle to the security challenge.”
Are You Using an RMM Tool to Grow Your Business?
May 11, 2021- “A remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool gives managed services providers (MSPs) the ability to monitor clients’ IT and troubleshoot and repair a range of issues without a trip to their offices or facilities. There’s no doubt RMM provides value—but are you maximizing it? An RMM tool can do more than help you efficiently run your business. It can help you grow it. Mark Whiffen, Senior Product Manager for Barracuda MSP, offers these three ways.”
5 Channel Partner Progarms and MSP Updates
May 11, 2021- “Barracuda’s email protection solutions, including Sentinel and Forensics and Incident Response, added 3,400 new customers in FY2021, which ended February 28, 2021. That’s 60 percent year over year growth in new customers, the company says. Also, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud backup experienced 112 percent growth. And annual recurring revenue (ARR) for Barracuda MSP’s email protection solutions grew 66 percent year-over-year at the end of Q4 FY2021.”
Remote Work is Here to Stay for SMBs
May 6, 2021- “Over the past year, many organizations had to rapidly shift to a work-from-home model because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies that had resisted remote work eventually discovered that productivity and employee satisfaction actually improved. However, for some companies, these work-from-home programs were hastily cobbled together in a way that didn’t provide the best performance or the right level of security. According to the Top 10 SMB Technology Trends study for 2021 (from the SMB Group), work-from-home operations will drive new technology investments in the next year and beyond. That means MSPs have an opportunity to provide new technology, new security infrastructure and consulting services to help the firms improve current remote work scenarios, expand their programs and better incorporate a variety of network and application access models in the future.”
Zero-Trust Security is a Lucrative Opportunity for MSPs
April 28, 2021- “Even before the abrupt shift to remote work in 2020, the old approach to network security was becoming outmoded. As more and more workers were on the move or working from home, the data center-centric approach that many firms took was no longer sufficient. For MSPs, zero-trust technology must be a vital part of the security portfolio to keep client data, networks and applications safe and ensure future growth. According to Gartner, as much as 60% of VPNs will be replaced by zero-trust solutions by 2023. The VPN market is worth between $25 billion and $40 billion, so more than half of that could be up for grabs over the next few years.”
The $4.2 billion cybercrime tsunami requires a new security strategy
April 27, 2021- “The FBI Internet Crime Report for 2020 was released earlier this year, and the news was grim. As expected, the ongoing pandemic, political instability, and sudden shift to remote and home-based work caused a significant spike in cyberattacks, specifically Business email compromise (BEC) attacks, phishing scams, and ransomware incidents. According to the report, cybercrime complaints are on a steep rise—the report says the FBI recorded a whopping 69 percent increase in total complaints compared to 2019. Financial losses due to these attacks exceeded $4.2 billion. With the rise in BEC attacks and sophisticated phishing scams related to the pandemic, MSPs and VARs in the tech sector will need to offer customers new and more advanced tools to help protect their data and applications, along with training and resources to recognize these new types of attacks.”
Podcast: The WFH Trend Confirms the Need for Zero-Trust Security
April 14, 2021- “Barracuda MSP’s Chris Crellin talks about how MSPs have less control over remote work environments, including the routers, Wi-Fi and devices that end users are leveraging to connect to their data and applications. Exposed networks, unmonitored user identities, unknown device security status and complex switching between VPNs are just the tip of the iceberg. Crellin discusses how MSPs must embrace both IT security and data protection by becoming security-centric in their offerings and adopting zero-trust network access strategies.”
Selling WAFs: Your Biggest Questions Answered
April 13, 2021- “Businesses and organizations that use protected or sensitive data and use web applications need to protect that information. So, which companies does that include? If you take a close look at your client list and the solutions they use, a web application firewall (WAF), which filters and monitors HTTP traffic between the application and the internet, is a good idea for most of them. Managed services providers (MSP) and a value-added resellers (VAR) new to selling WAFs, however, likely have questions about the potential to grow your business by expanding your portfolio to include these solutions. Chris Crellin, Senior Director of Product Management at Barracuda MSP, answered several of our questions on these topics.”
An MSP top priority: closing the cybersecurity skills gap
April 8, 2021- “As the pandemic subsides and the economy begins to recover, MSPs will be in demand to help their clients evolve and adapt to the next stage of their business journeys. There will be greater demand moving forward for mobile device security and MSPs that have expertise in public cloud infrastructure and hybrid cloud scenarios. But, both MSPs and their clients will be challenged by the cybersecurity skills gap in the industry. To succeed, MSPs will need to invest in training and education for their existing workforce and be more strategic in hiring as new talent enters the market. MSPs can also tap into external resources and expertise, such as services offered through vendors and partners, to ensure they have the right talent to assist their clients.”
IoTSSA Podcast: Zero Trust Architecture
April 6, 2021 “Has BYOD made the comeback and here to stay? Neal Bradbury, VP of MSP Strategic Partnerships with Barracuda MSP, catches up with the IoTSSA Podcast to discuss post pandemic technology and the escalating cybersecurity challenges that come with it. The adoption of Zero Trust policies with a remote and/or hybrid workforce now looks to be critical when upgrading your customers cybersecurity posture.”
Inoculate Your Customers Against Vaccine-Themed Phishing Attacks
March 29, 2021- “The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the lengths and depths to which cybercriminals will go to compromise their victims and exploit a catastrophe. Early in the pandemic, criminals leveraged the confusion around the rapid shift to remote work to increase their attacks and launch email scams that took advantage of the lack of information available about efforts to fight the spread of the disease. Now that vaccines are available, cyberattacks have expanded to include phishing scams centered around vaccine access. The FBI issued a warning in December about this emerging threat, outlining common email and phone scams. Things have only gotten worse in the ensuing months. Barracuda’s analyses found that vaccine-related emails were increasingly being used for spear phishing attacks. After the first vaccines were announced in November, these attacks increased by 12 percent. By the end of January, they were up by 26 percent.”
New Research Shows Shift To Remote Work Has Intensified Data Protection Challenges
March 25, 2021- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released key findings from a report titled The state of Office 365 backup. Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed global IT decision makers to capture their opinions and perspectives about Office 365, data security, backup and recovery, SaaS solutions, and a variety of related topics. Overall, the findings indicate that the worldwide shift to remote work during the pandemic has intensified the challenges associated with protecting Office 365 data.”
Barracuda CloudGen Access to Increase MSPs’ Security Capabilities
March 12, 2021- “Barracuda has expanded its portfolio to include CloudGen Access for MSPs. It’s also updated its remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. Barracuda CloudGen Access makes zero-trust network access (ZTNA) capabilities available to the company’s MSP partners. Enhancements to Barracuda’s cloud-based RMM platform, now called Barracuda RMM, deliver expanded integrations, improved Microsoft patch management capabilities and more. The RMM platform was formerly known as Managed Workplace.”
Barracuda Networks Enhances Zero Trust Security, RMM for MSPs
March 12, 2021- “Barracuda Networks has introduced new Zero Trust Security and RMM (remote monitoring and management) software capabilities for MSPs. The Zero Trust effort involves Barracuda CloudGen Access for MSPs. The software, based on Barracuda’s Fyde acquisition, allows MSPs to enable “secure, reliable, and fast access to cloud and on-premises applications and workloads from any device and location,” according to Sinan Eren, VP of Zero Trust Access at Barracuda. The MSP-centric offering features multi-tenant management and monthly pricing options for partners.”
Barracuda opens up zero trust network access solution to MSPs
March 12, 2021- “Barracuda Networks is making its CloudGen Access solution accessible for MSPs and making updates to its cloud-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. The zero trust network access solution, CloudGen Access, was launched in November 2020 following the acquisition of Fyde. It is being updated with monthly pricing options and multi-tenant management to allow MSP partners to add the solution to their offerings.”
Barracuda expands MSP offering to mitigate work-from-anywhere risks
March 12, 2021- “Security solutions provider Barracuda Networks has expanded its offering for IT managed service providers and announced significant changes to its cloud-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. To help MSPs protect customers’ apps and data and control access from corporate or personal devices, it has launched an MSP version of its Zero Trust Network Access solution, Barracuda CloudGen Access, introduced in November 2020, following Barracuda’s acquisition of Fyde. Barracuda CloudGen Access for MSPs adds multi-tenant management and monthly pricing capabilities that make it easier for MSPs to deploy and manage the solution. Changes to the RMM platform Barracuda acquired in 2019 include a change of name from Managed Workplace to Barracuda RMM and the addition of several new features.”
Barracuda bolsters MSP support
March 12, 2021- “Security vendors have seen accelerated adoption of subscription-based services and in response, many are increasing the support they can offer to managed service providers (MSPs). At Barracuda, the focus has been on adding more functionality into the mix that MSPs can pitch to customers. The firm has extended CloudGen Access for MSPs and announced updates to its RMM platform. CloudGen Access was launched in November 2020, following the acquisition of Fyde, and the firm has now added multi-tenant management and monthly pricing to the mix to make life easier for MSPs. The firm has also renamed its Managed Workplace offering “Barracuda RMM”, with the latest version providing integration with its Intronis Backup solution as well as improved Microsoft patch management capabilities.”
Barracuda Launches MSP Version of CloudGen Access and Updated, Renamed RMM Release
March 11, 2021- “Barracuda Networks has shipped an MSP edition of its CloudGen Access solution and an updated release of its RMM application with a new name. Going forward, Managed Workplace, the remote monitoring and management system Barracuda purchased in 2019, will be called Barracuda RMM. The new name better aligns with a changed IT landscape in which users are as likely to be doing their job from home as from an office, according to Brian Babineau, Barracuda’s senior vice president and general manager of MSP solutions.”
Barracuda strengthens MSP capabilities with Barracuda RMM and Barracuda CloudGen Access for MSPs
March 11, 2021- “Today Barracuda is making a pair of announcements which are both geared at improving their MSP offerings. They are announcing Barracuda RMM, a rebranded (and improved) version of the Managed Workplace RMM product they acquired in 2019. They are also announcing the availability of the ZTNA [Zero Trust Network Access] solution Barracuda CloudGen Access, which came from the Fyde acquisition late last year. At the time it was acquired, Fyde was not multi-tenanted, and Barracuda said then that a multi-tenanted version for MSPs would be quickly developed. What is now Barracuda RMM started out in life as Level Platforms’ Managed Workplaces RMM offering, which was acquired in 2013 by AVG to be used as a delivery method for their endpoint protection products. That acquisition was spectacularly unsuccessful, and after Avast acquired AVG they unloaded the RMM, which they saw as hurting their overall business by poisoning the well with companies who might otherwise partner with them. Barracuda also sees the RMM product as being differentiated by a security focus, but it’s a very different kind of security focus.”
Barracuda Enhances Solution And Service Offering For Today’s Security-Centric MSP
March 11, 2021- “Barracuda CloudGen Access for MSPs and Barracuda RMM help MSPs mitigate the cybersecurity risks associated with the growing remote workforce. Barracuda CloudGen Access makes Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities available to Barracuda’s MSP Partners. Enhancements to Barracuda’s cloud-based remote monitoring and management platform, now called Barracuda RMM, deliver expanded integrations, improved Microsoft patch management capabilities, and more.”
Barracuda Enhances Solution, Service for Security-centric MSPs
March 11, 2021- “Barracuda Networks Inc., a trusted partner and provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, announces the expansion of its portfolio of solutions and services for IT-managed service providers to include Barracuda CloudGen Access for MSPs. Additionally, the company is unveiling updates to its scalable, cloud-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. “As organizations continue to adapt to hybrid work scenarios to support their growing remote workforces, the introduction of Barracuda CloudGen Access and enhancements to Barracuda RMM are necessary next steps in our commitment to supporting MSPs in their security-centric journey,” said Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager, MSP Solutions. “By enabling MSPs to adopt a security-centric operational model, we are helping them to better mitigate the security risks associated with the work-from-anywhere approach and creating new business opportunities for them to deliver more flexible, secure access to valuable data, and streamline data protection operations.”
Your Clients are a Long-Term Commitment
March 4, 2021- “Attention and appreciation are critical to any successful relationship, including the relationships that MSPs have with their clients. And creating a successful relationship means prioritizing activities that will increase customer loyalty. Scott Bennet, Senior Director of MSP sales at Barracuda MSP, provides six tips to help keep your MSP practice on the right track when it comes to customer satisfaction and commitment.”
Why cyber criminals want to hijack your private conversations
March 3, 2021- “Small and medium-sized businesses have become increasingly reliant on technology as the COVID-19 pandemic altered the way they did business, delivered services, and interacted with employees, clients, and vendors. SMBs were already embracing the cloud before the pandemic because it offered cost savings, resource allocation, and ease of use. The pandemic pushed them to test these solutions across even more application areas, including security, IT access, and collaboration. And the cloud enabled them rapidly adjust their operations while reinforcing the overall value of working on these platforms.”
SMBs and the cloud: Evolving security needs
February 25, 2021- “Small and medium-sized businesses have become increasingly reliant on technology as the COVID-19 pandemic altered the way they did business, delivered services, and interacted with employees, clients, and vendors. SMBs were already embracing the cloud before the pandemic because it offered cost savings, resource allocation, and ease of use. The pandemic pushed them to test these solutions across even more application areas, including security, IT access, and collaboration. And the cloud enabled them rapidly adjust their operations while reinforcing the overall value of working on these platforms.”
SASE: The Key to Mitigating Business Transformation Risk
February 22, 2021- “Last year, business transformation efforts took on a whole new dimension. The global health crisis upended markets and supply chains, disrupted manufacturing operations, and pushed many companies (ready or not) into remote work scenarios and cloud-based workflows. For some, this meant existing transformation initiatives were suddenly accelerated and stress-tested–everyone got a good look at just how cloud-ready their vendors, applications and employees really were. Others saw ongoing projects grind to a halt while they took steps to adjust. Companies’ ability to embrace the opportunities presented by this abrupt shift, and to adapt and transform to meet the challenges of this new reality, was critical to surviving the harsh business conditions of 2020.”
CEO Outlook 2021
February 17, 2021- “Barracuda’s President and CEO BJ Jenkins recently spoke with CRN to provide his outlook on the industry and Barracuda’s partnerships as 2021 begins. Specifically, BJ offered his insights on the opportunities and obstacles Barracuda and its partners will tackle together, Barracuda’s adjusted practices in response to the effects of the pandemic, and the strategic investments Barracuda is making in 2021.”
Barracuda redesigns Email Threat Scanner tool to improve user interface and experience
February 11, 2021- “Today, security vendor Barracuda is announcing a redesigned version of their Barracuda Email Threat Scanner. This tool is for Office 365 environments, and is provided free to partners, where its ability to show customers threats that have already made it past their email gateway makes it valuable as a pre-sales tool.”
Barracuda Email Threat Scanner Detects Millions Of Attacks Missed By Organizations’ Existing Protection
February 11, 2021- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced a redesigned version of the Barracuda Email Threat Scanner, a free tool that helps businesses detect email threats that got past their email gateway. These threats include highly targeted attacks such as spear phishing, business email compromise, conversation hijacking and services impersonation, among many others. Each scan provides a report on attacks found inside the environment, as well as at-risk domains and employees. This helps organizations identify gaps in existing email protection and assess email security vulnerabilities.”
New Year’s Podcast Series: Brian Babineau of Barracuda MSP
February 8, 2021- “Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager of Barracuda MSP is our guest on this edition of the New Year’s Podcast Series. On it, Babineau walks us through how the company’s business went in 2020 and his thoughts on what’s to come in 2021.”
The SMB Cloud Adoption Trend has a Silver Lining for MSPs
February 3, 2021- “Over the past year, as a global pandemic forced businesses of all sizes to adjust to remote work scenarios and economic upheaval, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) increased their use of cloud-based technologies. As we move into 2021, MSPs should take this opportunity to help them leverage the cloud in ways that can enable them succeed and thrive. According to a new SMB Group report, Top 10 SMB Technology Trends, embracing new technologies and business processes will be critical for these smaller companies, many of which were pushed to the brink during the business disruption in 2020. “
How MSPs can grow their businesses in 2021
February 3, 2021- “As Australian and New Zealand businesses grapple with uncertain economic conditions and ongoing disruption to normal operations, many managed service providers (MSPs) are also facing a tough 12 months ahead. Because they need to service their clients and support IT infrastructures remotely, MSPs are realising their operation methods need to change. To avoid any revenue dips in 2021, new strategies are likely to be required. There are many ways in which MSPs can shore up their businesses and increase their chances of enjoying a profitable year.”
Five B2B website best practices to help attract and engage customers
February 2, 2021- “This summer will mark the 30th anniversary of the very first website. We have undeniably come a long way from those green screen days in terms of accessibility, content and web design. Many websites still fall short of their potential, however, so here are some tips that can help draw more traffic and make your site work harder for your business. A robust website plays a vital role in marketing and lead generation. But many companies don’t regularly revisit their page design or most visible content once the site is built and deployed. If your current website simply features a list of services, packages and prices, you’re likely under-utilizing this valuable marketing resource.”
Barracuda Introduces Fast, Scalable, And Resilient Backup Platform To Protect Data In Microsoft Office 365
January 28, 2021- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced the latest version of Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup with a new platform that delivers a fast search and restore experience for Office 365 data, including Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Compared to traditional backup and recovery solutions, a cloud-native solution provides scale and resiliency, fast performance, and wide global coverage to protect Office 365 data born in the cloud.”
Barracuda introduces fast, scalable, and resilient backup platform to protect data in Microsoft Office 365
January 28, 2021- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced the latest version of Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup with a new platform that delivers a fast search and restore experience for Office 365 data, including Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Compared to traditional backup and recovery solutions, a cloud-native solution provides scale and resiliency, fast performance, and wide global coverage to protect Office 365 data born in the cloud. According to an October 2020 Microsoft blog post: “This quarter, Microsoft 365 users around the world generated more than 30 billion collaboration minutes in a single day as people communicated, collaborated, and co-authored content across work, life, and learning. This new metric combines both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration and reflects the changing nature of work.”
Barracuda completely rearchitects Cloud to Cloud Backup platform to meet growth in Microsoft Office 365
January 28, 2021- “Today, Barracuda is announcing that in collaboration with Microsoft, they have entirely rearchitected their Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup solution, which had become sorely tested with the massive increase in Microsoft Office 365 use since it was first introduced four years ago. The rearchitected solution will be exponentially faster in the speed at which it does backups and high-fidelity searches, and will also provide more flexibility around where it restores. “We had a very successful $100 million purpose-built backup appliance business, and in 2017, we took that solution and pointed it at it at Office 365 and it became one of our fastest growing solutions,” said Tim Jefferson, SVP Engineering for Data, Network and Application Security at Barracuda. “Cloud to Cloud Backup has consistently grown 100% year over year.”
The Importance of Being Security-Centric
January 22, 2021- “Last year, as companies were abruptly thrust into work-from-home and remote work scenarios, IT security took on a new urgency. Outside the office network and corporate firewall’s perceived safety, it rapidly became apparent to many organizations that their approach to data protection and security was woefully outdated. For those who allowed some employees to work from home or on the road, the gaps in the security infrastructure suddenly looked like gaping holes. MSPs with existing security expertise and offerings scrambled to help their clients adjust to this new way of working while simultaneously helping shore up their security profile. As a result, it looks like 2021 may very well be the year of the security-centric MSP.”
New research reveals IT professionals’ growing confidence in public cloud despite security concerns
January 14, 2021- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released key findings from a report titled Cloud networks: Shifting into hyperdrive. Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed global IT decision makers to capture their attitudes and opinions about public cloud, access constraints, security concerns, emerging solutions, and a variety of related topics. Overall, the findings indicate that although IT professionals are gaining confidence in the cloud, organizations face growing constraints when it comes to cloud access.”
Barracuda Study Reveals Growing Confidence in Public Cloud
January 14, 2021- “IT professionals are becoming increasingly confident about the public cloud despite security concerns, explains Barracuda in a new report titled Cloud networks: Shifting into hyperdrive. The research surveyed global IT decision makers to capture their attitudes and opinions about public cloud, access constraints, security concerns, emerging solutions, and a variety of related topics. Overall, the findings indicate that although IT professionals are gaining confidence in the cloud, organizations face growing constraints when it comes to cloud access.”
The MSP Value Proposition
January 5, 2021- “Building a solid technology portfolio is essential for a successful MSP, but having a good lineup of products and services is just one part of fortifying client relationships, attracting new business and remaining competitive. MSPs have to establish a unique position in a crowded marketplace, and communicating their value is a critical component of meeting their business goals. To win new business and maintain margins, MSPs have to offer a value that their clients can’t get from other providers. If they’re doing a good job, it’s likely their clients may even be taking their efforts for granted because things are, generally, running smoothly. MSPs need a simple, easy-to-communicate value proposition to clarify why existing and new clients should spend money with them. That value proposition also needs to be communicated regularly. How can they do all these things? Barracuda has a new eBook, The MSP’s Guide to Demonstrating Value to Customers, that can help.”
COVID, Work From Home making spear phishing attacks more widespread and dangerous
December 17, 2020- “Business email compromise [BEC] attacks have almost doubled compared to last year, likely as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s a key takeaway from a new report by Barracuda on the evolution of email threats, which is being released today. The report identifies 13 types of email threats, running from spam, malware and data exfiltration at the least complex end, to BEC, conversation hijacking, lateral phishing and account takeover at the more complex. “Different vendors use different labels when talking about these threats,” said Don MacLennan, SVP, Email Protection, Engineering and Product Management, Barracuda. “We saw a need to educate the market, and thought we could best do this through a vendor-neutral framework. All the different vendors, including us, use our own terms, so we have structured a common order to how we all talk about these things, which translates all our proprietary language, and makes it clear what we are all referring to. That shows that there are 13 specific types of threats. We think this is helpful for educating the market.”
Three 2021 Predictions that MSPs Can Bank On
December 16, 2020- “Believe it or not, 2020 is almost over, and many MSPs and VARs are already gearing up to execute on their 2021 planning. This is also the time when industry experts make predictions about the vital trends and technologies that we should all be focusing on in the coming year. What’s interesting, though, is that just about anyone who made predictions for this year back in 2019 was way off base about what the business climate was going to look like. 2021 predictions have similar challenges given the current state of things. Still, our experiences this year – one in which technology companies found innovative and sometimes surprising ways to pivot, serve customers and keep the lights on – point to three key trends that we think will be important.”
Threat Spotlight: When bad bots attack
December 15, 2020- “Holiday shopping season makes e-commerce sites an attractive target for cybercriminals using bots to run distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, make fraudulent purchases, and scan for vulnerabilities they can exploit. In mid-November, Barracuda researchers ran Barracuda Advanced Bot Protection in front of a test web application, and the number of bots they detected in just a few days was staggering, with millions of attacks coming in from thousands of distinct IP addresses.”
Vandis Announces New Addition to Microsoft Azure MSP Portfolio: Managed VWAN with Barracuda CloudGen WAN
December 15, 2020- “Vandis Inc. announces the addition of the Barracuda CloudGen WAN solution to its Microsoft Azure Lighthouse managed service offerings. This technology allows organizations to implement a secure SD-WAN solution while leveraging Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN (vWAN) to obtain enterprise connectivity and throughput for meshed connectivity between Branch, Datacenter, and Cloud.”
Channel Partner and MSP updates
December 14, 2020- “Vandis has added Barracuda CloudGen WAN solution to its Microsoft Azure Lighthouse managed service offerings. This technology allows organizations to implement a secure SD-WAN solution while leveraging Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN (vWAN). The result is enterprise connectivity and throughput for meshed connectivity between Branch, Datacenter, and Cloud services, Vandis says.”
ChannelPro Weekly Podcast: Episode #168 with Neal Bradbury and Brian Babineau
December 4, 2020- “MSPs will bear the lion’s share of responsibility in the cybersecurity effort, according to Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager for MSP at Barracuda Networks. In this episode of the ChannelPro Weekly podcast is joined by Brian Babineau and Neal Bradbury of Barracuda MSP for a deep dive on how coronavirus security trends have shaken up the managed security landscape.”
A Baker’s Dozen of Cyberattacks
December 1, 2020- “The number and variety of cyberattacks continue to expand every year, with an increasing cost to businesses. The FBI estimates that cybercrime resulted in $3.5 billion in losses in 2019. The majority of these attacks are initiated via email, and they involve increasingly complex techniques that traditional email security solutions are not designed to protect against. The most successful of these attacks are designed to bypass email gateway defenses using social engineering, fraud, and other strategies. In Barracuda’s eBook 13 Email Threat Types to Know About Right Now, the company outlines an unlucky number of common attacks and how to guard against them. While a robust email gateway is a good start, more advanced solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and an API-based inbox defense approach can provide much more comprehensive protection.”
Cybersecurity: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
November 24, 2020- “In many ways, 2020 has been a year like no other, and the holidays will likely be unusual, too. With COVID-19 numbers spiking worldwide, there will be less holiday travel, fewer gatherings, and much less in-person shopping. Holiday shoppers and revelers are adjusting their behavior to these conditions, and cybercriminals are, too. An enormous boost in online shopping — not just for presents, but for groceries and other items people would typically buy in person — presents a much broader threat vector for online scams.”
Barracuda expands Zero Trust capabilities with acquisition of Fyde
November 11, 2020- “Today, cybersecurity vendor Barracuda is announcing the acquisition of Fyde, a Zero Trust Network Access [ZTNA] provider based in Palo Alto, and originally out of Porto, Portugal. Fyde’s technology will be rebranded as Barracuda CloudGen Access, and will expand the Barracuda CloudGen SASE platform with ZTNA capabilities. Zero Trust is a relatively new space for Barracuda. They first entered the space in July with the launch of the Barracuda CloudGen WAN service, a secure SD-WAN service built natively on Microsoft Azure, in close collaboration with Microsoft, to run inside Azure Virtual WAN Hubs.”
Barracuda Acquires ZTNA Innovator Fyde
November 11, 2020- “Barracuda has acquired Fyde, a zero trust network access provider, to expand the Barracuda CloudGen SASE platform. It will be available in the coming weeks for MSPs. Fyde’s zero trust solution enables secure, reliable, and fast access to cloud or on-premises applications and workloads from any device and location. Fyde’s ZTNA solution addresses the security risks associated with traditional remote access by continuously verifying that only the right person, with the right device, and the right permissions can access company resources. The solution is ideal to connect users directly to cloud-native and legacy corporate applications deployed in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.”
Barracuda Acquires Zero Trust Network Access Company Fyde
November 11, 2020- “Barracuda, backed by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, has acquired Fyde, a zero trust network access (ZTNA) cybersecurity company. So, what exactly is zero trust security? Forrester Research offers this definition: “A Zero Trust (ZT) architecture abolishes the idea of a trusted network inside a defined corporate perimeter. ZT mandates that enterprises create microperimeters of control around their sensitive data assets to gain visibility into how they use data across their ecosystem to win, serve, and retain customers.”
Barracuda Buys Remote Access Startup Fyde To Protect Apps
November 11, 2020- “Barracuda has purchased early-stage remote access vendor Fyde to apply a Zero Trust approach to safeguarding applications, workloads and devices.
The cybersecurity vendor said its acquisition of Fyde will provide employees and contractors working from home on BYOD equipment with quick and secure access to cloud or on-premises applications and workloads, according to Klaus Gheri, Barracuda’s vice president and general manager of network security. “We want to make sure we seize the opportunity,” Gheri told CRN. “For partners, the opportunity is right now.”
Everyone Needs Firewall Management
November 4, 2020- “As businesses’ IT environments expand with remote teams and new cloud services, firewall management has become a more vital – and a more complex – task. But how much of an opportunity does it represent for your business? Chris Crellin, Senior Director of Product Management, Barracuda MSP, responds to timely questions, giving managed services providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) a snapshot of how firewalls are being managed, tips for how to educate your clients and prospects on their need for more effective solutions, and important trends to factor into your planning.”
It’s time to talk to customers about conversation hijacking
November 2, 2020- “While not as widespread as other types of cyber-attacks, conversation hijacking is a rapidly growing account takeover (ATO) attack method that can be highly effective and difficult to detect. To protect their employees and their data, your clients will need both education and the right technology. For MSPs who want to keep client networks safe, it may be time to discuss conversation hijacking.Recent research by Barracuda Networks highlights the growing dangers of these attacks. According to the report, an analysis of approximately 500,000 monthly email attacks shows a 400 percent increase during 2019, going from about 500 incidents at the beginning of the year, to roughly 2,000 incidents by November of last year.”
5 Things MSPs Should be Doing Now to Drive Revenue and Protect Customers
October 27, 2020- “As we approach the end of 2020 and make plans for the first quarter of 2021, there appears to be no end in sight for the ongoing economic and political uncertainty that has plagued businesses since March. The cold weather on the way may further exacerbate the COVID-19 pandemic, with cases rising in some regions where the worst seemed to be over. Your MSP clients may continue to struggle both with falling revenues and the challenges of remote work. It brings to mind that dire warning from Game of Thrones: “Winter is coming.” How can you keep your own business in the black while continuing to protect your customers? Here are five things MSPs should do now to keep their businesses healthy heading into the new year.”
Podcast: What’s new in email protection?
October 22, 2020- “Email has been a vector of attacks for almost as long as attacks have been a thing, and yet, email remains at least an aspect of virtually every security breach today. How are email-based attacks evolving, and what can MSPs do about it? We tackle those topics with Mark Ballegeer, systems engineer at Barracuda MSP on this edition of the podcast.”
Solve the Cybersecurity People Problem with Security Awareness Training
October 20, 2020- “When it comes to cybersecurity threats, most organizations’ biggest weakness is employees who may inadvertently fall victim to phishing or malware attacks. Why? Usually it’s because they lack information—and security awareness training. Remember the saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know?” Although it sounds like one of Yogi Berra’s malapropisms, the phrase appears to have originated with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The concept is related to the Dunning-Kruger effect, a form of cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate their knowledge or abilities. And when it comes to cybersecurity, what most of your clients’ employees don’t know could fill a book–a book that gets re-written every few weeks. That’s why security awareness training is so critical in combating these increasingly complex attacks.”
The ChannelVision Podcast: Discussing Cybersecurity with Barracuda SE Mark Ballegeer
October 16, 2020- “In this edition of the ChannelVision podcast, Mark Ballegeer, a systems engineer at Barracuda Networks, a global leader in security, application delivery and data protection solutions, provides an overview of the threat landscape, some of the top security challenges facing businesses and some cybersecurity best practices.”
XaaScast: 5 Steps to Building Managed Security Services
October 14, 2020- “Mark Whiffen, senior product manager for Managed Workplace at Barracuda MSP, joins this episode of the XaaScast to discuss the rising opportunities for MSPs to take on a greater role in providing security services to their customers even if they don’t become an MSSP (managed security services provider).”
Help your customers do their part to #BeCyberSmart
October 5, 2020- “As October has arrived, it’s an excellent time to remind IT solution providers about National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), which is now in its 17th year. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) promote NCSAM to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity across our Nation. This year’s theme is “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart,” which encourages individuals and organizations to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, stressing personal accountability, and the importance of taking proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity. One way that MSPs can help keep their clients safe from cyberattacks is by educating them on the latest and most pernicious threats. Two of those — domain impersonation and brand hijacking — are on the rise”
Remote Learning: Help Your K-12 and Higher-Ed Clients Get Back to School Safely
September 25, 2020- “Educators have been faced with a very unusual return to school this year. At every level, from colleges and universities to preschools, the education system is struggling to provide services to students during the pandemic. Some organizations and districts are operating fully remotely this fall; others are offering a mix of in-person and online classes. Because most of these schools weren’t equipped for distance learning, they’re using a mix of Google Classroom, Zoom meetings and other services that have been cobbled together–in some cases with very little preparation, and in most cases being used by novice users. This has left schools and students vulnerable to cybercriminals. Over the summer, the FBI issued a Private Industry Notification warning that cybercriminals would increasingly target K-12 schools as they shift to remote learning.”
11 Things To Have In Your Coronavirus Business Continuity Plan
September 25, 2020- “High-performance VPN and endpoint security tools spanning both corporate and personal devices allowed businesses to access corporate and internal resources from anywhere during the coronavirus pandemic, while older computers, poor throughput firewalls and unscalable two-factor authentication were really put to the test, said Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager for Barracuda MSP.”
Hurricane Season and Your Customers’ Business Continuity Readiness
September 24, 2020- “You probably don’t need any further evidence that 2020 may go down in history as one of the most challenging, unpredictable years in recent history. But, consider this: the 2020 hurricane season has been so bad that we have almost run through the alphabetical list of names already, and we’re barely halfway through September. For many MSPs, data backup and recovery, as well as disaster response and preparedness, are vital services for ensuring client networks and systems remain safe and available. This year, however, the definition of disaster is evolving. Many companies were caught unaware by a slow-rolling pandemic that seems like it may never end. In its wake, the coronavirus set off a series of other disasters, from supply chain disruptions to widespread unemployment and an abrupt shift to remote work that has put even more strain on overtaxed IT departments.”
Threat Spotlight Podcast: Impersonation and BEC Attacks on the Rise
September 23, 2020- “No matter which technology niche an IT solution provider specializes in – unified communications, enterprise networking, cloud services – it all has to be built on a foundation of security. Recently, Olesia Klevchuk of Barracuda Networks joined the XaaScast podcast on impersonation and BEC attacks to explain how malicious attacks work, what makes them successful, and what MSPs can do to protect their customers.”
Barracuda upgrades CloudGen WAN with personal remote access, IoT capability
September 22, 2020- “Today, cybersecurity vendor Barracuda has announced enhancements to the CloudGen WAN secure SD-WAN service built natively on Microsoft Azure which they launched in July. They include cloud-delivered personal remote access functionality that eliminates the implicit trust model deployed by traditional point-to-site solutions. Barracuda also announced the introduction of two new CloudGen WAN devices for Internet of Things [IoT] endpoints.”
10 Tips For Choosing The Best MSSP For Your Company
September 21, 2020- “There are multiple entry points into a company that cybercriminals can use, meaning that if an MSSP is focused on just email, cloud or endpoint, they’re leaving the customer susceptible to risk, according to Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager for Barracuda MSP. If an MSSP just manages firewalls or offers endpoint security, hackers will find and exploit the areas where there isn’t coverage.”
WAF’s Critical Role in the New WFH Movement
September 8, 2020- “The pandemic has forced IT administrators at many companies to expose internal-only apps previously to the public internet so remote workers can access them, opening up new vectors of vulnerability to a growing number of cyberattacks. Nitzan Miron, vice president of product management, application security services at Barracuda, shares his perspective on how MSPs can adapt their security strategies to protect customers no matter where they’re working.”
Threat Spotlight: Ransomware
August 27, 2020- “Cybercriminals are targeting government, healthcare, and education organizations with ransomware. While an uptick in attacks was expected due to the upcoming presidential election, cybercriminals are also leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work to wreak havoc on organizations. Although ransomware has been around for more than two decades, the threat has been growing rapidly in recent years. In the past 12 months, Barracuda researchers identified and analyzed 71 ransomware incidents. The majority of ransomware attacks looked at this year were on municipalities, including local governments, schools, libraries, courts, and other entities.”
Barracuda: Ransom Payments Rise Amid Jump in Attacks
August 27, 2020- “Ransomware attacks and ransom payments are on the rise, and ransoms now are more likely to exceed $1 million. That’s according to new research by Barracuda. In the past year, Barracuda researchers identified and analyzed 71 ransomware incidents. Cybercriminals are targeting government, health care and education organizations with ransomware. An uptick in attacks was expected due to the upcoming presidential election. However, cybercriminals are also leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work to wreak havoc on organizations. Attacks on education – including colleges – include the theft of personal information and medical records, as well as health care research.”
Priced to Sell
August 27, 2020- “In the current economic climate, conversations around service pricing are often going to be tense and possibly even counterproductive. When an MSP receives a call asking for a quote, odds are the prospect is price shopping. MSPs that have built their pricing around the actual value they create may not fare well in a price-only comparison. That’s why it’s important to shift those inquiries into a different type of conversation that focuses on the solutions the potential client needs, and the value the MSP can create for them.”
Barracuda highlights study on remote working trends in India
August 21, 2020- “Barracuda Networks, a trusted partner and a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, highlights key findings from a recent study on remote working trends in India. It reveals that COVID-19 has accelerated the introduction of remote working by at least five years for 59% of organisations in India, yet, organisation must address relevant security challenges. The mindset of business leaders in the region has now shifted to optimism, with 92% planning to keep remote working in place for employee productivity and business continuity once the pandemic is over for a more flexible and hybrid workplace.”
Best Practices for Protecting the Network Edge Include SASE
August 14, 2020- “The increased use of remote and cloud-based resources resulting from the COVID-19-fueled work-from-home trend has highlighted another trend that was already underway before the pandemic: The network edge isn’t what it used to be. According to a 2019 Gartner report, “The Future of Network Security is in the Cloud,” the entire concept of the network perimeter has rapidly evolved. “The enterprise perimeter is no longer a location,” Gartner says. “It is a set of dynamic edge capabilities delivered when needed as a service from the cloud.”
Threat Spotlight: Malicious Accounts in Business Email Compromise
August 10, 2020- “Since the beginning of 2020, researchers at Barracuda have identified 6,170 malicious accounts that use Gmail, AOL, and other email services and were responsible for more than 100,000 BEC attacks on nearly 6,600 organizations. In fact, since April 1, malicious accounts have been behind 45 percent of the BEC attacks detected. Here’s a closer look at how cybercriminals are launching attacks with these accounts, along with solutions to help protect your business by detecting, blocking, and remediating the evolving threats.”
Four pandemic security risks requiring MSPs’ immediate attention
August 4, 2020- “As COVID-19 re-emerges in many geographies, it looks like work-from-home orders may stay in place for many organizations through the end of the year. Cybercriminals have been staying busy exploiting the vulnerabilities created by the abrupt shift to remote work earlier this year. Perhaps more than ever, MSPs will be front and center in helping their clients manage their remote workforce and ensure they don’t suffer any catastrophic security breaches. Here are four key security risks MSPs should keep top-of-mind as we all navigate these unchartered waters.”
MSP Survival Skills for the COVID-19 Pandemic (and Beyond)
July 28, 2020- “In mid-March of this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies (including MSPs) had to quickly ramp up infrastructure and processes to enable a complete shift to remote work. How long will companies need to operate this way? Right now, the question remains open ended. What is clear, however, is that organizations must re-evaluate what went right (and wrong) during this unexpected transition, and use those lessons to inform their ongoing efforts toward digital transformation.”
5 Big Bets Barracuda Is Making To Become A $1 Billion Vendor
July 28, 2020- “Barracuda hit the $500 million billings mark in 2019 a decade-and-a-half after the company’s founding, and the cybersecurity vendor expects to reach $500 million in revenue for the first time ever this year despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, according to President and CEO BJ Jenkins. A narrower technology focus coupled with five acquisitions over the past half-decade has propelled Barracuda to the half-billion mark, and Jenkins said Barracuda can reach $1 billion in sales in the next three-to-four years if it continues on its current growth trajectory. Investments in business systems, a strong relationship with Microsoft and the IT channel will play a key role in that growth, Jenkins said.”
Is the channel missing the ‘human touch’?
July 27, 2020- “A recently published vendor survey suggests the IT channel today is missing ‘the human touch’. This may come as a surprise, given the importance of relationships to the channel, but the research by Kaspersky shows that nearly seven out of 10 resellers and distributors want better relationships with vendors. The same number say they would like more personal contact with their dedicated account manager. “There is much more for us all to do to build better relationships. It is, however, a two-way street,” says Jason Howells, Director of International Sales at Barracuda MSP.”
5 Mid-Year Threats MSPs Need to Address Now
July 24, 2020- “There are times when it seems the year 2020 – and the cavalcade of emergencies, crises and disasters it has brought with it – will never end. But believe it or not, we are already halfway through the year. As we prepare for the third quarter and beyond, here are five cybersecurity trends you should be prepared to address for your clients.”
2020 Retail Industry Challenges and the Tech Solutions to Conquer Them
July 21, 2020- “New retail industry challenges emerged without warning in 2020. The pandemic impacted nearly every aspect of business, from in-store operations and supply chain to labor and customer engagement. The depth and breadth of change required demanded that retailers respond with agility, innovation – and, in many cases, the right technology. Nitzan Miron, Vice President of Product Management, Application Security Services at Barracuda, reminds managed services providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to stress the importance of ensuring all new solutions are secure.”
Barracuda, Microsoft Tout SD-WAN on Azure for Multi-Cloud Services
July 18, 2020- “Barracuda and Microsoft have announced a new secure SD-WAN service built natively on Microsoft Azure that the companies hope will spur greater public cloud adoption while addressing security challenges. The announcement comes less than a week before Microsoft Inspire 2020, an annual worldwide partner conference that will be held virtually this year. In the recent report “Secure SD-WAN: The Launch Pad into Cloud,” Barracuda found that SD-WAN is being used by more than half of those who have added security to their public cloud. The report explains that “SD-WAN can help overcome the top two security challenges organizations are facing when it comes to public cloud: lack of access control and backhauling traffic.”
Barracuda becomes first to market with secure SD-WAN service built natively on Microsoft Azure
July 16, 2020- “Today, Barracuda is announcing its Barracuda CloudGen WAN service a new secure SD-WAN service built natively on Microsoft Azure. The product of extensive co-development work with Microsoft, Barracuda CloudGen WAN becomes the first SD-WAN solution that runs inside Azure Virtual WAN Hubs. Barracuda already has its Cloud Gen Firewall offering, with SD-WAN as a part of it, but the company is stressing that the CloudGen WAN service is a very different product, which has been built through deep collaboration with Microsoft.”
New Barracuda SD-WAN Service Built Natively on Microsoft Azure
July 16, 2020- “A new Barracuda SD-WAN service is the first SD-WAN offering that runs inside Microsoft Azure virtual WAN hubs. With Barracuda CloudGen WAN, companies and service providers can create a secure access service edge (SASE) in public cloud.”
Wanted: Trustworthy Guidance from a Security Professional
July 2, 2020- “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are facing the dual challenges of supporting employees working from home while absorbing the fallout from the associated economic downturn. Although economies are slowly re-opening around the world, it’s unclear just how long it will take to get back to where it was before the shutdown. Work-from-home is going to be a reality for many through the end of summer, and possibly the end of the year. Security will remain a critical challenge as companies struggle to ensure data safety in a distributed computing environment, while keeping a handle on budgets.”
Summing Up the Value of RMM for MSPs
June 23, 2020- “Managed services providers (MSPs) who are serious about growing their businesses research remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools and implement the best solution for their operation. In fact, successful solution providers often view shops that haven’t discovered the benefits of RMM for MSPs as “no competition.” Mark Whiffen, Senior Product Manager, Barracuda MSP, explains, “An RMM is the backbone for MSP businesses. It allows them to deliver managed services and fulfill service level agreements (SLAs), all the while growing their profitability and business branding in their communities.”
Cybercriminals are targeting your Work-From-Home customers
June 18, 2020- “While much of the world is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic through a variety of shelter-in-place orders and other restrictions that have shut down offices and large gatherings, another type of “virus” is sweeping the globe. An increase in cyber attacks, particularly phishing, has followed in the wake of the pandemic. A security manager with HP reported a 600 percent increase in attacks since the COVID-19 crisis forced the majority of workers to shift to remote work. A Google report found a 350 percent increase in phishing websites, many of them fake COVID-19 sites. Cyber attacks were already increasing independent of the virus, and according to a recent report from Dell, 82 percent of organizations had experienced a disruption of some sort in the past 12 months, up from 76 percent the previous year.”
Study Reveals Demand for Cloud Security Services
June 16, 2020- “The current COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdown of various sectors of the economy– including retail, hospitality and entertainment–along with several months of work-from-home mandates across many industries, have forced many companies to re-evaluate their IT infrastructures and their approach to security. A recent Barracuda survey of more than 1,000 business decision-makers in the United States and Europe, conducted by independent research agency Censuswide, found that many companies are struggling to fund both data protection and security, while also maintaining their workforce. More than half of companies would consider making workforce reductions to support security initiatives adequately, but 40% have already cut their cybersecurity budgets as a cost-saving measure during the pandemic.”
Enterprises Turn to SD-WAN in Move to the Cloud: Barracuda Survey
June 12, 2020- “Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) is a key part of the overall security picture for enterprises as they migrate workloads to the cloud, according to a survey released this week by network security vendor Barracuda Networks.”
New Research Reveals SD-WAN is the Solution of Choice for Securing Public Cloud Deployments
June 11, 2020- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released key findings from a report titled Secure SD-WAN: The Launch Pad into the Cloud. Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed global IT decision makers to capture their attitudes and opinions about SD-WAN adoption, along with data about acquisition preferences, variations by industry, and a variety of related issues.”
Barracuda Networks Optimizes SD-WAN Traffic with Patented Erasure Correction Technology from Steinwurf
June 10, 2020- “California-based Barracuda Networks and Denmark-based Steinwurf ApS announce an OEM relationship to use Steinwurf’s Kodo Software libraries to add Erasure Correcting Codes (ECC) with the Barracuda CloudGen Firewall. The network world is transitioning from the use of dedicated leased lines like MPLS toward SD-WAN with uplinks provided by shared broadband lines. Analyst firm Gartner predicts that 60 percent of all companies will have adopted SD-WAN technology by 2024.[1] Widespread acceptance of SD-WAN creates new network challenges.”
Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 9 June 2020
June 9, 2020- “Barracuda Networks’ CloudGen Firewall will leverage Steinwurf ApS’s Kodo Software libraries for Erasure Correcting Codes (ECC) technology. The ECC technology mitigates latency issues.”
Third Annual MSP Day Highlights Global MSP Opportunities
June 9, 2020- “This year marks the third annual MSP Day, a movement Barracuda MSP started in 2018 to celebrate and champion the managed services industry and the changes and challenges it meets with each new year. 2020’s report takes a deep dive into the global MSP market, as channel partners the world over are presented with the opportunity to bolster their security offering to better support the new, more vulnerable mobile workforce that has emerged in the wake of the novel coronavirus.”
Selling services in tough times
June 8, 2020- “We are in the midst of one of the most uncertain economies in many of our lifetimes, and that uncertainty isn’t going away any time soon. The global shutdown in response to COVID-19 has brought many sectors of the economy to a screeching halt. How managed services providers are being impacted varies, but the overarching question is this: How can MSPs continue to sell services during what could be a deep recession? The silver lining here is that many MSPs (particularly those with a diverse client base) could come out of this experience even stronger than before. The last time there was a significant recession (2008-2009), managed IT serves grew as many companies reduced their in-house IT investments. That growth snowballed in the ensuing years as more companies embraced outsourcing and implemented cloud-based IT solutions.”
Now is a Good Time to Modernize Your Business Continuity Plans
June 8, 2020- “The current pandemic has been an unusual sort of disaster for businesses and the MSPs that help support their IT operations. Things happened very quickly, yet, somehow, in a highly organized and almost quiet fashion. Well-organized operations invest in planning for disaster preparedness, business continuity, and recovery. But, those plans are usually focused on singular, dramatic events like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and fires. Those are the types of disasters that can destroy your IT infrastructure. What’s happening now is the inverse of one of those events. All of the infrastructure is still in place, but the employees have been swept out of the building. That makes this as good a time as any to revisit those business continuity plans with your customers, measure just how prepared they were for this particular problem, and make updates where necessary.”
The Opportunity and Challenges of Offering Managed Security
May 26, 2020- “With new cyberattack vectors and new bad actors continually increasing, managed security — and skilled managed security services providers (MSSPs) are in demand. Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report states that web application breaches now account for 43 percent of data breaches, twice as much as last year, and ransomware attacks are on the rise, now making up 27 percent of all malware incidents. Furthermore, 17 percent of breaches can be traced to human errors — that’s twice as many as last year. The Verizon report also confirms that virtually every industry is a target, including financial, healthcare, restaurants and hospitality, entertainment, construction, education, IT, manufacturing, and mining, energy and utilities. Regardless of its size, the business or organization may lack in-house resources to address cybersecurity — and they are looking for help.”
MSPs seek to diversify portfolios
May 22, 2020 – “Managed service providers aiming to diversify their portfolios are finding growth in security and backup services. New reports on the MSP market from Barracuda MSP and Kaseya Corp. reveal service providers are looking to expand their offerings. Barracuda MSP’s The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2020, found 91% of the nearly 300 global partners surveyed plan to increase “the breadth and depth of their services capacity in the next 12 months.”
Cybersecurity and Remote Working Present Challenges for MSPs
May 21, 2020- “MSPs see big opportunities for growth this year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but cybersecurity and remote working require changes. That’s according to the Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2020 by Barracuda MSP. The company polled nearly 300 MSPs spanning the United Kingdom, the U.S., Germany, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Australia and Spain. The report coincides with Barracuda’s third annual World MSP Day.”
Third Annual MSP Day Highlights Global MSP Opportunities
May 21, 2020- “This year marks the third annual MSP Day, a movement Barracuda MSP started in 2018 to celebrate and champion the managed services industry and the changes and challenges it meets with each new year. As has become tradition, today Barracuda MSP launched its latest The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2020 to coincide with this year’s event. For this year’s MSP Day, The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a leading voice and advocate of the global IT ecosystem, will be joining Barracuda for the first MSP Day virtual event. CompTIA’s Director of Member Communities, Miles Jobgen, will join Barracuda’s Director International MSP, Jason Howells, and VP MSP Strategic Partnerships, Neal Bradbury, to discuss this year’s report, alongside a host of videos and discussions on the state of the industry.”
Security a Top Opportunity for MSPs, Barracuda MSP Says
May 21, 2020- “Most MSPs plan to expand their portfolio of services this year and security will be a key focus, according to a report released today by Barracuda MSP, which offers advanced protection solutions to managed service providers.”
MSP Day: Lessons for MSPs in new Barracuda report
May 21, 2020- “MSP Day was first launched in 2018, with Barracuda’s first Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report. Today, Barracuda is issuing their third such annual report. It both provides a snapshot on the state of the MSP industry globally, and indicates both areas of opportunity and areas where MSPs need to pull up their socks – some of which are the same. This year’s event, of course, comes under the shadow of the global pandemic, and Brian Babineau, SVP and GM, MSP Solutions at Barracuda, paid tribute to the way the MSP community has responded to the crisis.”
MSP day research shows priority tasks for providers
May 21, 2020- “In a report to mark the third annual MSP Day, research for Barracuda has found that most MSPs want wider portfolios of services to meeting rising customer demand. And security is key – some 88% of those questioned said that demand for security services was either ‘moderately’ or ‘significantly’ increasing. Endpoint Security, Email Security and Network Security all made it into the top five services table in 2020. In 2019, email security was the only security service in the top five.”
Managed services more popular than ever
May 21, 2020- “Barracuda MSP has launched its latest The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2020 which provides insights into the changes and challenges that managed service providers are seeing across nine countries, including Australia and New Zealand. The 2020 report takes a deep dive into the global MSP market as channel partners the world over are presented with the opportunity to bolster their security offering to better support the new, more vulnerable mobile workforce that has emerged in the wake of COVID-19.”
5 Things MSPs Can Do to Mitigate the Economic Impact of COVID-19
May 20, 2020- “The impact of COVID-19 has upended the global supply chain, and regional stay-at-home orders have severely curtailed economic activity. Many companies across all sectors are taking a significant revenue hit, and that includes MSPs. Some clients will have difficulty maintaining services because of the cash crunch. Others may go out of business. In either case, MSPs should brace themselves for at least some client losses. But the right strategy can help minimize the damage.”
Closing the Cybersecurity Skills Gap
May 12, 2020- “Companies often struggle to create and enforce robust cybersecurity strategies, partly because compliance varies among employees. This inconsistency could be caused by the specifics of job roles within the company that might make policies more or less inconvenient to employees based on their position. In addition, different levels of security awareness and technical skills across an organization can create further security challenges.”
The Role BDR Solutions Play in Protecting a Remote Workforce
April 28, 2020- “Many businesses and organizations had the assurance that their backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solutions were running in the background, protecting their data, especially when their technology solutions provider (TSP) administered them. Then, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic hit. Organizations suddenly had remote workforces, and leaders may have lost some confidence in their BDR solutions’ capabilities, wondering, “Will we be able to access all of our data, and is it safe?” Chris Crellin, Senior Director of Product Management for Barracuda, weighed in on BDR in the era of social distancing, what businesses and organizations should be doing to protect their data, and the most important lessons learned about BDR during a pandemic.”
Now’s the time to upgrade customer security
April 27, 2020- “For VARs and MSPs, things have not slowed down – clients need your help now more than ever as they deal with the logistics of managing employees that have been forced into remote work scenarios. You should consider upgrading your security offerings during the pandemic to help drive new business. Leveraging security-centric tools will not only provide new revenue streams, it will also help your clients adjust to the “new normal” of working from home in a highly volatile business environment.”
MSP Day coming at a time when trust is being earned
April 24, 2020- “Along with everyone else, managed service providers (MSPs) are having to adapt to a new normal and work with customers through the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown. Next month will give them the chance to pause and reflect on the role they play, with the third annual MSP Day on 21 May. Research from the Evolving landscape of the MSP business report, which was shared at 2019’s event, found that managed services was seen by the channel as the most significant revenue opportunity, dwarfing other potential sources of growth. Customers struggling with a lack of in-house skills was the main catalyst for turning to an MSP for support.”
Remote Security: It’s Not Just about Devices Anymore
April 20, 2020- “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend businesses, companies that can remain operational via work-from-home scenarios are now in the middle of a massive, unplanned experiment. Can work be done effectively and securely with hundreds (or thousands) of employees remotely accessing the network on a wide variety of devices? For these newly remote employees to work securely, businesses must shift from a device-centric approach to security focused to one that is both user- and data-centric. Many employees likely don’t have their office equipment with them. They are accessing the network on personal computers and tablets, and they may be sharing these same devices with other family members.”
Channel Partner Updates: Friday 17 April 2020
April 17, 2020- “CompTIA and Barracuda MSP will be celebrating MSP Day on May 21, 2020. The effort includes an MSP survey, which is open to partners worldwide. It also includes a series of virtual events that Barracuda MSP will be hosting on Thursday May 21”
Threat Spotlight: Coronavirus-Related Phishing
March 30, 2020- “Barracuda researchers have seen a steady increase in the number of coronavirus COVID-19-related email attacks since January, but they have observed a recent spike in this type of attack, up 667-percent since the end of February. Between March 1 and March 23, Barracuda Sentinel has detected 467,825 spear phishing email attacks, and 9,116 of those detections were related to COVID-19, representing about 2 percent of attacks. In comparison, a total of 1,188 coronavirus-related email attacks were detected in February, and just 137 were detected in January. Although the overall number of these attacks is still low compared to other threats, the threat is growing quickly.”
Coronavirus Email Phishing Attacks Skyrocket, Barracuda Research Finds
March 29, 2020- “Coronavirus-related email phishing attacks have spiked 667 percent since March 1, sparked by opportunistic hackers capitalizing on widespread fear and uncertainty surrounding the contagion, a new threat intelligence report said. Cyber creeps are using Covid-19 information to target and trick people into opening malicious documents or clicking on malignant links, Fleming Shi, Barracuda’s chief technology officer, said in a blog post. While the number of coronavirus themed phishing attacks is still relatively low compared to other threats, the uptick in incidents isn’t, according to Barracuda’s figures. As is with pedestrian phishing infections, the Covid-19 cyber attackers are looking to distribute malware, steal credentials, and scam users out of money.”
Barracuda: Cybercriminals Preying on COVID-19 Vulnerabilities
March 26, 2020- “Coronavirus-related spear phishing attacks have jumped a staggering 667% since the end of February, according to Barracuda’s latest Threat Spotlight report. Between March 1 and March 23, Barracuda Sentinel, the company’s AI solution for spear phishing and cyber fraud defense, detected nearly 468,000 spear phishing email attacks, and more than 9,100 of those detections were related to COVID-19. In comparison, nearly 1,200 coronavirus-related email attacks were detected in February, and just 137 were detected in January.”
Survey Results: Public Cloud Security Is a Top Customer Concern
March 24, 2020- “In a new report, “Future Shock: The Cloud is the New Network,” Barracuda evaluates just how big a challenge security concerns will be when it comes to public cloud investments. Barracuda and market research Vanson Bourne interviewed 750 IT decision-makers across EMEA, APAC and the United States with responsibility for or knowledge of their organizations’ cloud infrastructure.”
RMM Pitfalls That Can Derail Your Success
March 17, 2020- “Mark Whiffen, the senior product manager for Managed Workplace at Barracuda MSP recently appeared on a recent episode of XaaScast. This episode covers higher-level business pitfalls like not capitalizing financially on the value RMM brings to your customers as well as more tactical points such as ensuring your RMM doesn’t become a gateway for cybercriminals to gain access to your customers. One point Mark gets into during the discussion is the vital role RMM plays in patch management and the different strategies MSPs should be considering.”
How to Standardize Processes and Offerings Using an RMM Tool
March 17, 2020- “Managed services providers (MSPs) are all working toward the vision of an ideal business that runs like the proverbial well-oiled machine. Some, however, forget that to achieve that level of efficiency, the machine has to run the same way time after time. MSPs may also overlook the fact that you already have an answer to how to standardize processes and offerings: your remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool.”
Security-Centric RMM: Making Managed Security Better
March 17, 2020- “As the number of cyberattacks targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) increases, there is more pressure to protect against those attacks. That’s why MSPs handling the IT needs of these businesses must place security at the top of their priority list. One way to build a strong security offering is from the ground up, starting with one of the most fundamental tools used by and MSP – their remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution.”
How managed services can help SME security teams take back their time
March 10, 2020- “For many organisations, a shared resolution in 2020 will likely be to free up the valuable time of their security teams so they can focus their attention where it truly matters, not at their desk managing the latest patches or investigating every perceived threat. Just as we may appoint a friend to keep us accountable as we abstain from chocolate or wine, these businesses would be wise to look to managed services to help them see their resolutions through. “
A New, Harder-to-Detect Phishing Scheme is Infiltrating Your Customers’ Inboxes
February 28, 2020- “New research from Barracuda Networks highlights a rapidly growing cyber threat – conversation hijacking. An analysis of 500,000 emails showed that this type of attack rose by more than 300 percent between July and November of 2019. That’s a jump from around 500 attacks to more than 2,000 in just a few months.”
CEO Outlook 2020
February 27, 2020- “CRN asked nearly 80 of the industry’s top CEOs five questions regarding their views for how 2020 will shape up for the channel. Here’s what Barracuda CEO BJ Jenkins had to say about innovation, investments, and the keys to success for their channel partners.”
Channel Partner Updates: Thursday 20 February 2020
February 20, 2020- “On average, organizations currently have 45% of IT infrastructure running in the public cloud, but that number is expected to increase to 76% in the next five years, Barracuda Networks reports.”
Barracuda adds new local availability zones in Canada as its email security posts strong growth
February 20, 2020- “Cybersecurity vendor Barracuda Networks has expanded its regional email protection availability zones in both Canada and Australia, in response to strong triple digit growth of their email protection business in both of those geos. This expansion comes as Barracuda releases a new report emphasizing that the cloud is the new network, and that the kind of public cloud support represented by the new Canadian zones is essential to deal with security concerns as more IT infrastructure moves to the public cloud.”
Cyberthreats to Watch out for in 2020
February 18, 2020- “Cybercrime continues to increase, and cybercriminals persist in developing new and more insidious approaches to escalate their success rate at compromising business networks and stealing credentials, data and cash. These attacks are becoming more sophisticated, highly targeted and increasingly costly.”
Professional Services Businesses Need Your Help with Cybersecurity
February 17, 2020- “When data breaches make headlines, it’s common to hear about cyberattacks on retailers, restaurants, healthcare, and hotel chains. Value-added resellers (VARs) and managed services providers (MSPs), informed by this news, may focus on the undeniable need for cybersecurity solutions in these verticals. Your other clients, however, including professional services offices of all sizes, need your help as well.”
The top IT trends MSPs need to watch in 2020
February 13, 2020- “The MSP market is expanding at a healthy rate, with estimates putting the value of MSPs at $319.5 billion by 2024. For MSPs looking to take advantage of the increasing demand for their services, it will be essential to stay ahead of rapid developments in the information technology space. In 2020, MSPs should target their investments in technology and personnel around a few key trends.”
Channel Partner Updates: Thursday 13 February 2020
February 13, 2020- “Barracuda has expanded its local availability zones in Australia and Canada. The expansion allows customers and partners in those regions to protect data locally.”
Channel Chiefs 2020: What’s The Key To Success For Your Channel Partners In 2020?
February 12, 2020- “We here at CRN asked each of the honorees of the Channel Chiefs 2020 list to offer their advice on what solution providers should focus on to succeed this year. Here’s what Neal Bradbury, VP of MSP Strategic Partnerships at Barracuda MSP, had to say.”
Follow-Up Phishing Attacks on the Rise
February 6, 2020- “Cybercriminals are getting craftier and sneakier when it comes to email account takeover attacks, according to new research from Barracuda and UC Burkeley. Researchers conducted a large-scale analysis of email account takeover and the timeline of attacks, the behaviors hackers are using to try to avoid detection, ways to identify suspicious activity that could indicate an email account has been compromised, and precautions businesses can take to protect themselves.”
Do Your Clients Need Spear Phishing Education?
January 28, 2020- “Cybercriminals are constantly coming up with more sophisticated ways to breach network security protections. Spear phishing attacks are growing and becoming increasingly expensive–and the companies in your client base may not be fully prepared to deal with these new threats. While your customers may be generally familiar with phishing emails and how they work, spear phishing schemes are more sophisticated and can rope in end users that otherwise wouldn’t fall for traditional email scams.”
Best Practices for Combating Spear Phishing
January 28, 2020- “As we head into 2020, it’s clear that cybercriminals will continue using spear-phishing attacks as a go-to tactic for attacking victims. In these breaches, attackers heavily research their targets and craft carefully designed messages, usually impersonating a trusted colleague, website, or business. The attacks are designed to steal login credentials, financial data, and other information that can be used for other crimes.”
Podcast: Catching a growth trend
January 6, 2020- “Generating growth is a challenge for all technology companies. Few can create lightning in a bottle on their own. In many cases, vendors can catch a ride on the growth train by attaching themselves to another growing technology that they complement. In the case of Barracuda MSP, a division of Barracuda Networks that provides managed services for security and backup, that opportunity came with Microsoft’s push to increase the number of Office 365 business users.”
Survey says: Cloud Security Confidence is Growing
December 31, 2019- “As an increasing number of businesses adopt the public cloud, security remains a crucial concern. However, it appears that organizations are getting more confident in their cloud security strategies. According to a recent Barracuda Networks survey of 850 security professionals, just over 44 percent of respondents believe that public cloud environments are as secure as on-premises platforms, while 35 percent of respondents feel that on-premises environments were more secure than the public cloud. When it came to cloud security confidence, nearly 60 percent of respondents were either very confident or somewhat confident in their cloud platform. Only 14 percent were either not very confident or not confident at all.”
5 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2020
December 20, 2019- “As 2019 comes to a close, MSPs should already be ramping up their plans to grow their customer and product base in 2020. Cybersecurity will continue to present massive challenges for everyone’s client base, and even those MSPs that aren’t currently in the security market will find themselves inexorably drawn into working with security solutions. The continued focus on security as a top concern as we head into the New Year is not surprising, but certain dynamics will certainly influence shifts in the cybersecurity landscape. To help MSPs better target their resources and position themselves for success, here are a few predictions about what the security landscape is going to look like in the near future.”
7 New Year’s Security Predictions from Top Vendors
December 19, 2019- “MSPs will bear the lion’s share of responsibility in the cybersecurity effort, according to Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager for MSP at Barracuda Networks. “MSPs will need to become security professionals in order to position themselves for growth and success and remain relevant to their customers,” he says. “Instead of worrying about how to sell or market their MSP business, MSPs need to focus on getting better at security by embracing extended security skillsets.””
Barracuda begins to build out security-centric RMM offering with Content Shield integration
December 11, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has taken the first step to further build out the Managed Workplace RMM [Remote Monitoring and Management] platform they acquired earlier this year. They have announced an integration with their Barracuda Content Shield web filtering and malware protection solution. It is the first in what the company says will be a series of integrations to build out Managed Workplace as a security-focused RMM platform for MSPs.”
Barracuda Integrates Managed Workplace Platform with Content Shield Web Filtering Solution
December 11, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has embedded functionality from its Content Shield web filtering solution directly within its Managed Workplace platform. Available now at no extra cost to MSPs who use both systems, the new integration lets Managed Workplace users deploy Content Shield agents on customer endpoints from within the same interface they use to deploy other agent-based software. It also allows technicians to view metrics on security-related topics like threats detected and quarantined, among others, without exiting their RMM. “
Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 10 December 2019
December 10, 2019- “Barracuda Networks is connecting the dots between the company’s products to assist MSPs with business automation and security. The latest step involves Barracuda Content Shield integrating with Managed Workplace, the company’s remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. MSPs that run Managed Workplace can now leverage Content Shield’s web filtering and malware protection. The integration comes amid Barracuda MSP’s rapidly expanding international footprint.”
Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: December 10, 2019
December 10, 2019- “Each business day, MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis, and chatter from across that managed security services provider ecosystem. In today’s MSSP news alert, Barracuda Networks is connecting the dots between the company’s products to assist MSPs with business automation and security. The latest step involves Barracuda Content Shield integrating with Managed Workplace, the company’s remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. MSPs that run Managed Workplace can now leverage Content Shield’s web filtering and malware protection. The integration comes amid Barracuda MSP’s rapidly expanding international footprint.”
Barracuda MSP Reveals Managed Services Market Growth Clues
December 5, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has pulled back the curtain a bit on the company’s MSP-focused software and technology business worldwide. Although actual dollar and profit figures remain undisclosed, Barracuda MSP’s percentage growth figures — particularly outside of North America — sound impressive.”
Timely Tips for Choosing the Right RMM Tool
December 2, 2019- “Remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools have proven to be invaluable for MSPs. These solutions help service providers shift from break-fix to proactive support structures, improve service and increase profitability. With the right RMM solution in place, MSPs can improve resource utilization, reduce service delivery costs and automate many routine tasks. Because these solutions can play such a critical role in an MSP’s business, it is essential to evaluate both the RMM tool and the software provider carefully. Do your due diligence, find out what other services/tools the vendor offers, and make sure the solution can meet your business goals.”
The 3 Biggest Mistakes Users Make with Endpoint Security
November 26, 2019- “Effective endpoint security has a different look in this era of cloud, BYOD, and IoT. Nagarajan Rajan, Vice President of Web Security at Barracuda, explains, “The explosion of mobile device usage and cloud-deployed SaaS solutions is creating security challenges for organizations of all sizes. Endpoint devices are consistently connected to the internet, which can expose them to threats from ransomware such as WannaCry, CryptoLocker, and other vulnerabilities.”
Cybercriminals’ New Favorite Attack Vector: Your RMM
November 21, 2019- “MSPs are increasingly becoming the targets of a variety of different types of cyberattacks. Criminals are attempting to leverage the fact that by breaching an MSP’s network, they can potentially gain access to client credentials. Not only does this provide a potentially lucrative way to increase the damage caused by a ransomware attack, it also gives hackers multiple platforms where they can launch attacks using trusted credentials from several companies, all at once. To keep their internal networks and their clients’ data safe, MSPs must fully secure their remote monitoring and management (RMM) platforms and other systems. A critical step in this process is to implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) strategies.”
Barracuda Research Uncovers Techniques Cybercriminals are Using to Make Business Email Compromise Attacks More Convincing
November 21, 2019- “Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released a new report with key findings about business email compromise attacks. The latest report, titled Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends Vol. 3 – Defending against business email compromise attacks, reveals new details about these highly targeted threats, including the latest tactics used by cybercriminals and the steps you can take to help defend your business.”
Anatomy of a BEC Scam
November 21, 2019- “They typically land in no more than 25 inboxes in an organization — on a weekday first thing in the morning, posing as an urgent or time-sensitive email from a co-worker or executive. Business email compromise (BEC) scams represent just a small fraction of spear-phishing attacks overall, but these lucrative campaigns contain a few telltale traits. Barracuda Networks analyzed the characteristics and trends of 1.5 million spear-phishing emails — of which just BEC made up just 7% — to determine the key methods scammers are using in their BEC campaigns. Don’t let the tiny percentage fool you: BEC scams caused $26 billion in losses to businesses in the past four years, according to the FBI.”
Why Improving Incident Response Times is the Key to Preventing Loss
November 12, 2019- “We’ve all heard the phrase “time is money,” but when it comes to security incident responses, lost time isn’t just lost revenue — it can also mean a loss of new business, loss of existing customers, loss of critical data, and a loss of brand reputation. In fact, the inability to respond to email and other cyberattacks is resulting in billions of dollars of losses each year for affected businesses. Because the threat landscape is continually evolving, identifying and removing these email-based threats is often a slow, manual, and resource-intensive process. The longer it takes to root out malicious emails, the farther they can spread and the more damage they can cause.”
IoTSSA Podcast: Cybersecurity Mindset
November 6, 2019- “SVP and GM at Barracuda MSP, Brian Babineau, talks about how MSPs can adopt and maintain a strong cybersecurity mindset in order to be successful. Brian also discusses the rise in lateral phishing attacks and how taking a multi layered approach with the adoption of new tech such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can help in multiple ways.”
The switch from ‘If’ to ‘When’
November 1, 2019- “With cybersecurity month winding down Brian and Tania have some fun in a round table discussion with Neal Bradbury, VP MSP Strategic Partnerships with Barracuda. Neal states that MSP’s need to switch their thinking from ‘If’ we or our clients get breached to ‘When’ and talks about some great new tools that are on the horizon for IT Service Providers in order to better help secure the IT Channel.”
ConnectWise Acquires Continuum: Barracuda’s Perspective
November 1, 2019- “Barracuda, meanwhile, is best known in the security market but also has backup and RMM (remote monitoring and management) software in the MSP sector. Barracuda, like ConnectWise, is owned by Thoma Bravo.” Brian Babineau, SVP and GM of managed services providers at Barracuda, had this to say about the recent business acquisition.”
Partners and Competitors React to Epic ConnectWise/Continuum/ITBOOST Deal
November 1, 2019- “Security has been a massive change catalyst for the MSP marketplace—the dynamic threat environment has challenged MSPs to evolve their offerings and skill sets, while at the same time driving vendors to expand their security offerings beyond anti-virus. Most of this expansion has come in the form of M&A versus organized R&D. More specifically, most of the MSP supplier consolidation has centered on larger tool providers buying smaller, emerging security vendors. This really highlights how hard it is to truly innovate and sustain information security intellectual property. At Barracuda, we have taken a bit of a different approach in applying our battled-tested security offerings to critical MSP operational tools, and it turns out that having a heritage in security matters a whole lot to MSPs who are just getting into it.”
Securing the Vote: 8 Best Practices for MSPs
October 29, 2019- “While the electorate may be divided on many issues, the government entities tasked with managing election logistics are united in their concern about security at the polls. Whether those fears are centered around foreign influence, voter registration fraud, or voting machine vulnerabilities, security is top of mind as we head into another campaign season.”
Providing More Value to Your Customers over Time
October 29, 2019- “Providing IT and security services is not a “set it and forget it” business. To maintain client relationships, MSPs and VARs need to continually evaluate and evolve their services, the technology they provide and their communication strategies. Customer needs and demands change all the time, and service providers must keep up to ensure long-term, mutually beneficial business partnerships. But as an MSP, how can you achieve this? Here are a few best practices you can follow.”
Advice to MSPs and VARs on Marketing and Selling Email Security
October 21, 2019- “According to a global study, almost 92 percent of malware is sent through email. Scott Bennett, Senior Director, MSP Sales, Barracuda, says, ‘These emails are the front door into your business’ or your customers’ sensitive data, and there are more ways for cybercriminals to break in than ever before. Whether it is phishing, identity theft, or spam, every employee can be the key to opening the door for an attacker.’ Bennett adds that regardless of which vertical your customers are in or what size their company is, email is an integral part of how businesses operate today. However, convincing your clients and prospects that the solutions you provide are the best choice for their business and deliver value takes some research, planning, and strategy.”
4 Simple Steps to Get Started Selling BDR
October 7, 2019- “Every business that relies on data needs a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) plan in place. Chris Crellin, Senior Director of Product Management at Barracuda MSP, points out that although it has always been important for businesses to recover from user error, hardware failure, natural disasters, and more, with the security landscape posing such a heightened risk, it is even more critical.”
Tips, Observations, and Takeaways from 2019 GlueX
October 3, 2019- “At IT Glue’s GlueX event, Brian Babineau, SVP and GM at Barracuda MSP, explained to attendees why they should be putting focus on selling Security-as-a-Service, if they are not doing so already. Here are some highlights from his presentation.”
Inefficient Incident Response Times Are Costing Businesses Billions
October 2, 2019- “Cybercriminals aren’t just stealing your customers’ credentials and financial information–they are also stealing your time. As cyber attacks continue to increase in frequency, organizations are spending countless hours manually finding, identifying and removing malicious email threats. This can be a lengthy process, which gives attacks time to spread across the organization and cause more damage.”
Strengthen Your Patch Management Processes
October 1, 2019- “IT departments are often overwhelmed and understaffed, which is why so many companies turn to IT service providers. However, even VARs and MSPs suffer from patch anxiety. For instance, even if patches were deployed, it can be challenging to know if the updates were implemented correctly on every device and, as a result, whether the patch will protect customers from emerging security threats. There are tools like Barracuda’s Managed Workplace that can make it even easier to stay on top of patch management. The solution includes a patch scanning feature that helps identify which devices need additional patches, or which patches may have been missed during the normal update process.”
Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: September 26 2019
September 26, 2019- “Each business day, MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis, and chatter from across that managed security services provider ecosystem. In today’s MSSP news alert, Barracuda Networks has introduced Forensics and Incident Response as a dedicated solution. The service was previously available only to Barracuda Total Email Protection customers.”
Barracuda Networks Adds Cybersecurity Tools to RMM Platform
September 24, 2019- “Barracuda Networks is starting to embed security and data management capabilities into the platform for delivering managed services that it acquired from Avast Software earlier this year. One of the primary reasons Barracuda Networks acquired the Managed Worksplace remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform is that it’s become obvious that managed service providers (MSPs) are being required to provide cybersecurity service alongside every other IT service they currently provide, says Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager at Barracuda MSP, an arm of Barracuda Networks focused specifically on MSP partners.”
Microsoft’s Backup Miss is a Big Opportunity for MSPs
September 23, 2019- “This past summer, Microsoft surprised several customers when the company revealed that it had not backed up the registry in Windows 10 since last October. The decision to turn off this feature was part of an effort to reduce the overall size of the platform. Understandably, most users assumed backups were still occurring. Even though they weren’t receiving data transfer confirmations, there also weren’t any alerts from Microsoft telling them that there was anything wrong. The company has since published a support page explaining its decision.”
Barracuda Unleashes RMM Platform Update
September 18, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has unveiled the first major update to Managed Workplace, its security-centric remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform, since it acquired the solution earlier this year. With the launch of Managed Workplace 12, MSPs and solution providers now gain access to new capabilities delivered by advanced software management, which enables service providers to offer expanded patch and software update management for thousands of different software versions from more than 100 software vendors. Service providers can automatically apply these patches and software updates to devices under management.”
Image Gallery: GlueX 2019 Featuring Barracuda
September 18, 2019- “During GlueX, Barracuda MSP announced the first major update to Managed Workplace since it acquired the solution earlier this year. The new features and functionality allow partners to manage third-party patches, updates and monitor backup activity for their customers.”
Barracuda Updates Managed Workplace Solution
September 17, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has shipped an updated edition of Managed Workplace, the remote monitoring and management solution it acquired earlier this year. Available immediately, version 12 of the product is designed to support Barracuda’s larger strategy to make Managed Workplace the industry’s RMM platform of choice for securing end user environments.”
Elevate Security with These Web Application Firewall Best Practices
September 17, 2019- “Web applications and websites are desirable targets of cyberattack. Unprotected web applications can give hackers access to an extensive pool of user data or the ability to distribute malware to a large number of people. To protect your clients, their networks, their customers and their data from cyberattack, you need to deploy an end-to-end security solution that includes a web application firewall (WAF). Managed services providers (MSPs), value-added resellers (VARs) and other solutions providers, however, need to observe WAF best practices — from the sales process to delivering ongoing services — to provide their clients with the highest possible level of security. “
Barracuda MSP emphasizes automated patch management in Managed Workplace 12
September 17, 2019- “Last February, Barracuda Networks acquired the Managed Workplace RMM [Remote Monitoring and Management] solution. Today, with the launch of Managed Workplace 12, they are announcing their first major release since the acquisition. While it includes other elements like integration with the Intronis backup line, the main focus is on enhancing the automation of third-party patch and software update management, so that patch management can better scale to keep pace with today’s demands.”
Barracuda Bulks Up Updating, Patching in RMM Solution
September 17, 2019- “Barracuda Networks continues to build on its acquisition earlier this year of Managed Workplace with the latest release of remote management and monitoring (RMM) tool that includes features enabling MSPs to deliver expanded software patch and update management capabilities. With Managed Workplace 12, service providers can ensure that their customers’ software remains protected through the latest patches and updates, an important step in defending against increasingly sophisticated cyber-threats.”
Barracuda MSP continuing to increase options for managed service players
September 17, 2019- “In a blog post explaining the rationale for the purchase of Managed Workplace in February, Brian Babineau, senior vice president and general manager of Barracuda MSP, stated that the RMM tool made it easier for partners: ‘Managed Workplace, MSPs can routinely assess security risks across their customer base, test and update password policies, patch devices, and manage email accounts and security from one console.’ In the months that have gone by since the deal was struck, Barracuda MSP has been busy adding more depth to the Managed Workplace offering and is launching the latest version of the product with expanded patch management and software update capabilities.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: September 17, 2019
September 17, 2019- “Barracuda MSP has enhanced Managed Workplace, an RMM (remote monitoring and management) software platform that the company acquired earlier this year. The enhancements simplify patch management and tighten integration with Barracuda Intronis Backup.”
Barracuda Adds Cloud and SD-WAN Automation Features to CloudGen Firewall
September 10, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has shipped an updated edition of its Barracuda CloudGen Firewall with functionality designed to boost speed and security while promoting operational efficiency through increased automation. Those are capabilities businesses of all sizes increasingly need amid skyrocketing adoption of hybrid cloud and SD-WAN solutions, according to Klaus Gheri, Barracuda’s vice president of network security.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: September 10 2019
September 10, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has announced Release 8 of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall. The new functionality helps streamline SD-WAN management, optimize cloud connectivity, and automate scalable protection across multi-cloud deployments, the company asserts.”
Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: September 10 2019
September 10, 2019- “Each business day, MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis, and chatter from across that managed security services provider ecosystem. In today’s MSSP news alert, Barracuda Networks has announced Release 8 of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall. The new functionality helps streamline SD-WAN management, optimize cloud connectivity, and automate scalable protection across multi-cloud deployments, the company asserts.”
Lateral Phishing Is on the Rise–Are Your Customers Protected?
September 3, 2019- “Account takeover attacks (ATO) involving cyber criminals stealing email credentials continue to grow. And, attackers are developing new techniques to help skirt traditional spam and malware filters. One such approach is lateral phishing, and recent research from Barracuda Networks indicates that the threat is increasing. In a lateral phishing scheme, attackers use compromised email accounts to send phishing emails to the victim’s close contacts or other potential targets in the organization or business.”
Under Pressure
August 27, 2019- “According to Barracuda’s new “Special Report: 2019 Email Security Trends” research, more than 82 percent of organizations have faced an attempted email-based security threat in the past year. Additionally, 66 percent claim that the attacks had a direct monetary cost to their company (with nearly a quarter of respondents putting that cost above $100,000). The IT professionals responding to the survey also noted that the attacks reduced productivity, resulted in downtime and business disruptions, and hurt the reputation of the IT team. That last statistic points to a seldom discussed side-effect of these attacks — the stress and anxiety that they produce within an organization.”
Overcoming Public Cloud Security Pitfalls
August 23, 2019- “It’s no secret that public cloud use is increasing in the majority of businesses. Worldwide public cloud spending is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 22% over the next five years, reaching $500 billion USD, according to IDC. Because the public cloud offers on-demand and highly scalable compute power, storage and application access, it can enable faster innovation and growth, while also providing greater flexibility. With that agility, however, comes new risks and vulnerabilities–both internal and external–that IT solution providers will need to be prepared to address.”
RMM Software: Barracuda MSP’s Managed Workplace Revenue Clues
August 16, 2019- “When Barracuda Networks acquired Managed Workplace from Avast in early 2019, the niche deal didn’t turn too many heads in the IT channel. Still, it caught ChannelE2E’s attention for multiple reasons back when the deal was announced — and again this week. Managed Workplace, originally developed by the former Level Platforms, was an early leader in the RMM (remote monitoring and management) software market for MSPs (managed IT services providers). The software’s early tagline — essentially “See All, Manage All” — provided a grand vision for the emerging MSP market in the 2005 timeframe or so.”
MSP Email security opportunities continue to grow: Barracuda
August 16, 2019- “Email security may be a heavily commoditized market. But it’s a market where core demand continues to grow. Barracuda has released a pair of new studies, on the state of email security, and on spear phishing specifically. While much of the data is discouraging, in the sense that awareness and education seem to have had little impact on core problems, it certainly provides ample ammunition for MSPs offering protection to clients. Neal Bradbury, VP MSP Strategic Partnerships at Barracuda, talked about the state of email security and MSP opportunities within it at the CompTIA ChannelCon event here.”
CompTIA ChannelCon: Barracuda Networks, Cloud Plus, Emerging Tech Take Center Stage
August 14, 2019- “X-as-a-service has fundamentally changed the way that technology is delivered. So says Neal Bradbury, the head of business development at Barracuda MSP. Bradbury is a familiar face in the channel, which warmed to the data protection technology Barracuda MSP began selling several years ago.”
Modular Malware: A Multi-Level Threat
August 1, 2019- “While not a new threat, modular malware has increasingly become a tool of choice for cybercriminals looking to diversify their attacks. This type of malware, which can launch different types of malicious payloads based on the target, presents a complex security challenge. Barracuda’s research indicates that the use of modular malware has been on the rise since the beginning of 2019. A recent analysis of email attacks targeting Barracuda customers found more than 150,000 unique malicious files in the first five months of this year.”
Modular Malware Attacks Grow in Frequency
July 30, 2019- “Although it is not a new threat, modular malware is quickly increasing in frequency. Since the start of 2019, Barracuda Labs have identified more than 150,000 unique malicious files. Modular malware is malware with an even more dangerous twist. The robust and evasive attacks are launched in stages, adapting its tactics by analyzing the target’s environment and defenses.”
MSSP Partners, Endpoint Security and the Future
July 29, 2019- “In the future, endpoint security, cybersecurity and other tech companies will only want to work with MSSP partners who have a vision. So MSSPs should know the direction they want to go within the industry, in general, and their MSSP partner program, in particular.”
Barracuda Report: Workers Need More Phishing ID Training
July 25, 2019- “Email attacks continue to plague businesses of all sizes with 85% of Americas-based companies reporting an attempted email-based security threat over the past 12 months, according to a just released 2019 Email Security Trends report from Barracuda Networks. Not only do these security threats take a direct hit on the reputation of the IT team, almost half (48%) of all survey respondents claim a loss of employee productivity, 36% report downtime and business disruption, and 78% of companies report that the cost of email breaches is on the rise.”
Partners Embrace Barracuda MSP’s Email Security Services
July 25, 2019- “Demand for Barracuda’s email security services continues to accelerate. Indeed, the company’s Barracuda Sentinel service generated 440 percent year-over-year growth in Q1 of fiscal year 2020 compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019. What’s driving the demand? Recent Barracuda research offers some potential answers.”
Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: July 25 2019
July 25, 2019- “Each business day, MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across that managed security services provider ecosystem. In today’s MSSP Partner Program and Strategic Alliance news, demand for Barracuda’s email security services continues to accelerate.”
Don’t Leave Your Data Protection Plan Behind
July 24, 2019- “As more and more companies expand their digital strategies, data threat levels have continued to increase. Companies–both big and small–are vulnerable to these attacks, which has driven more investments in data security. However, with the focus on security, VARs and MSPs that provide security services might be missing a critical marketing opportunity. Data protection can be more than just a routine task that helps mitigate the threat of ransomware or phishing attacks. Having a well-managed data protection plan can be a competitive differentiator for your clients.”
Industry Thought Leaders Share Advice on Offering Managed Security Services
July 23, 2019- “Cyberthreats continually escalate. You may have provided antivirus or email security solutions to your customers up to this point. But, in light of the changing threat landscape, you may be contemplating doing more. Are you ready to take your business to a new level by offering managed security services? DevPro Journal reached out to thought leaders for advice that can help you plan a successful entrance into the managed security space — and provide the most effective defenses for your clients moving forward.”
Are You Overlooking Hidden SD-WAN Opportunities?
July 18, 2019- “While more companies are shifting to cloud-based applications, legacy wide area networks (WAN) are struggling to provide the required levels of service that customers need to support multiple locations, and remote workers. The answer is simple: Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) technologies allow companies to build lower-cost WANs using broadband resources. This improves the speed and efficiency of moving data to the cloud and between different locations. Barracuda recently issued a report on the opportunities (and some challenges) that SD-WANs present for MSPs that want to help their clients improve the performance of their applications and their networks.”
Navigating the Path to Managed Services Success: Lessons Learned From a Real-World MSP
July 11, 2019- “Boring Business Systems has served as a leading technology provider throughout central Florida since 1924. Originally starting with typewriters and office equipment sales, Boring evolved to delivering managed print and network services in order to keep the pace with technology and market changes. While it thrives as a $10 million MSP business today, Boring Business Systems faced some roadblocks when they looked to transition to exclusively delivering managed services. This challenge was not unique to their business – it is one that many aspiring Managed Service Providers (MSPs) struggle with.”
Firewall Management Best Practices for MSPs
July 9, 2019- “There’s an art to firewall management. Managed services providers (MSPs) need to restrict network traffic to keep malicious content out while enabling businesses to communicate freely with their partners, customers and prospects. MSPs also need to update policies in response to new threats and client requests and continually monitor firewalls for alerts — and manage it all in a way that’s most efficient and profitable. Klaus Gheri, Vice President of Network Security at Barracuda, offers advice on firewall management best practices that can help MSPs successfully provide this service.”
Unencrypted Data: A Villain in Disguise
July 5, 2019- “Data breaches are on the rise, and new threats are emerging every week. These cyberattacks harm companies and consumers, and their cost is rapidly rising. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Ponemon Institute and IBM Security put the average cost of a data breach at $3.86 million. With the use of robust encryption, those costs could potentially be reduced or completely mitigated. After all, when there is a breach, the real harm comes when the cybercriminals can read and use the data they have gained access to. If no one can decipher the contents of the stolen files, there’s little risk of harm. However, many companies don’t encrypt their data. Instead, they rely on other security technologies that protect data access, rather than the data itself.”
How AI Can Protect Your Customers’ Inboxes
June 26, 2019- “Business email compromise (BEC) and account takeover (ATO) attacks are on the rise, and the damage they inflict is getting more expensive. An FBI report found that BEC scams grew 136 percent from 2016 to 2018, totaling $12 billion in losses. Other estimates put BEC growth in the past year alone at nearly 500 percent. Further, a study by Barracuda found that there was a “startling rise” in the number of ATO attacks in March 2019 alone, where hackers had compromised Office 365 accounts in 29 percent of the organizations surveyed. As a result, hackers were able to send more than 1.5 million malicious and spam emails.”
Will Password Elimination Solve Your Security Problems?
June 20, 2019- “Password proliferation has become a problem for both individuals and businesses. Most people have so many different passwords for both work and home that they frequently forget and have to reset them. To eliminate changing them so often, some people even scribble them on sticky notes or they use the same password over and over just to make things simpler.”
What Is a Security-centric Approach to RMM?
May 31, 2019- “Security services play a vital role in establishing a service provider as a trusted partner by helping clients keep their data safe and their business running smoothly. While many MSPs want to make security an integral part of their daily management and monitoring routine, they often run up against a lack of time, resources or internal expertise to adequately stay ahead of the rapidly changing security threat landscape. Remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools offer a well-established means for making it easier and more efficient to keep up with the demands of supporting many customers by allowing MSPs to automate tasks, provide remote IT support, and more. Time is money, and time saved on these types of tasks is money made for MSPs.”
Barracuda adds more proactive defense capability with Barracuda Advanced Bot Protection
May 28, 2019- “Barracuda has upgraded the anti-bot capabilities in their Web Application Firewall [WAF] platform and WAF-as-a-Service with the introduction of Advanced Bot Protection and its machine learning and AI-based capabilities. “We have focused a lot of protection around industry best practices and we have had bot protection in place, but that protection has been more passive,” said Tim Jefferson, SVP of Data Protection, Network and Application Security, Barracuda. “You can have very strong passive protections in place, but the newer bots we are seeing today require that you build a model that is capable of learning good behavior and bad behavior.”
Barracuda Adds Advanced Bot Protection to Web Application Firewall
May 23, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has added a new, machine learning-based feature to its Web Application Firewall and WAF-as-a-Service solutions designed to ward off malicious bots and automated threats. Called Advanced Bot Protection, the new technology safeguards websites from content scraping, data theft, and non-human traffic that can compromise availability and performance.”
Barracuda Unleashes Advanced Bot Protection
May 23, 2019- “Barracuda Thursday unveiled its new Advanced Bot Protection, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to protect against the latest automated threats. It is available for both the Barracuda Web Application Firewall (WAF)-as-a-Service and WAF platforms. Barracuda WAF customers now have access to functionality that includes: bot spam detection; credential stuffing prevention; request risk scoring to detect attackers; client fingerprinting; and dedicated bot mitigation user interface.”
Barracuda Does Not Welcome Our New Robot Overlords
May 23, 2019- “Barracuda is taking the fight to the machines with a new set of defenses designed to identify and block malicious bots wreaking havoc on Web apps. The new Barracuda Advanced Bot Protection is being added to both the company’s Web Application Firewall platform and its WAF-as-a-Service offering. Officials claim the added functionality uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver spam detection, credential stuffing prevention, request risk scoring, and client fingerprinting.”
Managed services is the number one revenue opportunity
May 23, 2019- “Managed services are the number one revenue opportunity, which offers the highest potential revenue according to a new Barracuda report. To coincide with the second ever MSP Day, which celebrates the changes and challenges faced by the managed services industry, Barracuda MSP has today released its latest The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2019. The report found that managed services were the number one revenue opportunity, bigger than all others combined.”
MSP Day: More education needed but the future is bright
May 23, 2019- “It has been a year since the last MSP Day and in that time the channel has seen more firms move to increase their services credentials and boost recurring revenues. Not only does MSP Day turn the spotlight on the managed services community it also comes with state of the nation research providing an insight into the current state of the market.”
Where Healthcare Organizations Need Your Help the Most Right Now
May 16, 2019- “XaaS Journal recently reached out to industry experts, including Jonathan Tanner, senior security researcher at Barracuda Networks, to get their takes on the top IT challenges healthcare organizations are facing today, along with the solutions and services VARs and MSPs should be offering.”
Your Customers’ Biggest Summer Security Risk
May 15, 2019- “As nearly everyone knows, employees represent the biggest threat vector when it comes to cybersecurity. Most attacks originate with phishing emails, and many employees have difficulty identifying these suspicious messages. Quite a few also open phishing emails (which may contain suspicious links or attachments). The majority of successful attacks stem from these errant employee actions. Summer is quickly approaching, and with it a new flock of summer interns ready to land in their new positions.There’s one thing to consider: You will want to help ensure they don’t leave your clients’ businesses vulnerable to a ransomware or malware attack while they’re on their lunch break or even while conducting internet research.”
Barracuda Sentinel protects email where others fail
May 14, 2019- “Traditional email protection platforms and appliances sit between a network and the outside world, shielding that critical gateway and chokepoint. They filter incoming email to weed out spam and viruses, and sometimes also prevent things like personal or confidential information from leaving a network the same way. They are good at what they do but are becoming increasingly ineffective against things like advanced phishing and targeted impersonation attacks. And they do nothing to prevent some new kinds of attacks, like when a hacker takes over an email account and then sends their malware or phishing attacks internally to other users.”
Overcome Cloud Backup Objections
April 29, 2019- “Backup and recovery are an essential part of an enterprise IT ecosystem. This isn’t just because of the threat of cyberattacks and ransomware, or even natural disasters that can destroy on-premises servers and desktop devices. While those are dramatic examples, businesses need to plan for employee error, as well. This includes accidentally deleting important emails, documents or even large amounts of data. (Remember when that Pixar animator almost wiped out Toy Story 2?) In addition to employee errors, corporate data is vulnerable to power outages, hardware failures and software glitches.”
The evolving spear phishing threat
April 24, 2019- “We hear daily of new attacks and the rapidly evolving threat landscape facing IT Service Providers and the SMB. Our feedback from the IT Channel is ‘Yes we are aware of the threats, but now what? What do we do and how do we effectively lock down ourselves and our clients?’”
BEC Attackers Are Raising Their Game. Are You?
April 19, 2019- “In the last five years, business email compromise (BEC) attacks cost U.S. firms $2.9 billion, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Not only are these attacks on the rise, but cybercriminals also are rapidly expanding their toolbox when it comes to account takeovers, spoofing and defrauding companies with misleading emails from sources believed to be trustworthy. BEC attacks involve the use of a legitimate email account (obtained via an account takeover) to convince employees to share valuable data, passwords and, in some cases, even corporate cash.”
Product Comparison: RMM (Remote Monitoring and Management)
April 10, 2019- “Remote monitoring and management (RMM) is a core function of any managed services business. By leveraging this powerful automation tool, IT solution providers can efficiently and remotely monitor and manage their customers’ IT assets. Thanks to the intelligence of the software, you can proactively attend to many customers and receive alerts if, or even before, problems arise. There are many RMM platforms to choose from today. In an attempt to give you a jump start in your evaluation, DevPro Journal rounded up a handful of the most popular products”
Ransomware and MSP Lockout
April 10, 2019- “As a managed services provider (MSP), you want to ensure that your clients’ networks, servers, data, and applications remain secure. You don’t want to overlook any gaps in their cybersecurity defenses that could leave them vulnerable to a data breach or other type of attack. To that end, MSPs need to ensure that their own systems and applications aren’t creating vulnerabilities. We know that groups of cybercriminals are now specifically targeting MSPs: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued warnings to MSPs about these attacks and conducted additional briefings in February about malicious activity in China that targeted MSPs.”
‘I’d love to get us to a billion dollars’ – Barracuda CEO
April 3, 2019- “There’s a family feel to our work culture,” claimed Barracuda CEO BJ Jenkins. The chief exec is proud of the environment he has helped cultivate in his six and a half years heading the email security vendor. Employee kinship is important to the success of the company, according to Jenkins, who speaks proudly of the education and support that employees are given by Barracuda. “We’ve grown to over half a billion in billings on a run-rate basis, but we’ve managed to keep a smaller feel about us,” he told CRN.”
Barracuda Report Focuses on Data Protection in the Cloud
March 28, 2019- “Barracuda today released key findings from a global study that focuses on data protection strategies. The research reveals new details about the attitudes and approaches SMBs have when it comes to backing up and recovering data, the impact that cloud and SaaS solutions are having on data protection strategies, and confusion that is exposing firms to significant risk. Overall the study shows that the migration to the cloud is well underway, but organizations are not protecting their cloud and SaaS data effectively.”
Protecting your SMB Customers from Tax Scams
March 26, 2019- “The April 15 filing deadline is looming, and so far, the 2019 tax season has been a lively one. Businesses and individual filers alike have been struggling to understand the full ramifications of the significant changes made to the tax code in 2018 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Additionally, a government shutdown threw a monkey wrench into the IRS’ ability to process tax returns and issue refunds. Cybercriminals are expected to take advantage of the confusion and turmoil, increasing their use of tax scams to steal personal information and email credentials.”
Make Security Part of Your Daily Routine
March 20, 2019- “Managed services providers (MSPs) that want to establish a reputation as a reliable partner and a go-to source for security services and technology need to practice what they preach–and that means making security part of your daily routine, not just for your customers, but also internally. MSPs are currently in the crosshairs of organized cybercriminals, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other security agencies have taken notice. DHS warned MSPs last year that hackers are targeting them because of their interest in leveraging MSP networks to breach multiple companies simultaneously.”
Barracuda Networks: 280% International MSP Partner Growth Since 2017
March 18, 2019- “Barracuda Networks, a data protection and security solutions company, has accelerated its managed service provider (MSP) partner growth over the past few years. Furthermore, the Barracuda “Ready, Set, Managed!” MSP and value-added reseller (VAR) educational and networking program posted 136 percent year-over-year growth. Barracuda’s EMEA team also plans to host its second annual “MSP Day” to engage the company’s MSP partners on May 23.”
Product Comparison: Web Application Firewall (WAF)
March 5, 2019- “Security is a priority for all of your clients, from large enterprises to one-person shops. No business, regardless of size or industry, is immune to the threat of cyberattacks and data breaches — or the costs and reputation damage that they cause. Some companies never recover from the outfall of a data breach and are out of business within months after an attack. As crucial as security is to protecting a business, many of your clients simply don’t have the in-house resources or time to adequately protect their web applications. This creates an opportunity for managed services providers (MSPs) to solve a significant challenge for their clients and to grow their businesses by providing web application firewalls.”
IoT Security: A winning strategy for MSSPs
March 1, 2019- “The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) has vastly expanded cybercriminals’ attack vector options. Millions of connected devices — many of them lacking basic security features or that are deployed using default passwords — have provided new gateways into networks around the world, in homes and businesses alike. In 2016, a large-scale Mirai botnet DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack was launched. This attack was partly enabled by poorly protected CCTV cameras that were connected to the internet. It took down a significant chunk of Internet access on the east coast of the United States.”
3 Steps to Building a Successful Sales Pipeline
March 1, 2019- “Over the years, I’ve met many VARs and MSPs that rely solely on referrals as a source for winning new business. Often, with a recommendation from an existing client, initial sales conversations go more smoothly because these are warm or even hot leads. It makes sense that you would want to take what is often the quickest path to a closed sale. Although referral business is extremely important, relying entirely on referrals is quite risky. The number of those leads tends to flatten over time. Simply put, consistent growth requires taking a more aggressive approach to initiating new client relationships. Here are a few steps that can help keep your sales pipeline full:”
3 Tips For Increasing Customer Loyalty
February 27, 2019- “In today’s world where competitors are never more than a click away, it’s always a good idea to be looking for new products and services to offer, as well as new ways to serve your customers. Sometimes, however, taking a critical look at your existing offerings and internal processes in order to deliver the best possible customer experience can yield significant long-term gains in customer loyalty and revenues. Not sure where to start? Here are three tips to help move the needle on your market position and keep customers coming back for more:”
Healthcare Organizations Desperately Need your Cybersecurity Skills
February 12, 2019- “Healthcare organizations face intense challenges when it comes to cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance. New federal guidance and an ongoing convergence between security and privacy may help MSPs better protect patient information. Privacy and security are intersecting as more Internet users understand the value of the information they share online, and as more stringent requirements like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) emerge.”
Tips for Launching an Actionable Cloud Security Framework
February 8, 2019- “When it comes to cloud security, SMB customers need your help. As more organizations shift their workloads to the cloud, they are finding it increasingly difficult to provide the same security measures that they employed in their on-premise environments. While it is important to secure the environment as soon as possible, providers often jump from solution to solution and miss some key security elements. That’s why it is best to take an actionable and sequential approach to cloud security. To improve the management of cybersecurity risk, NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework created a set of best practices for MSPs and MSSPs to utilize in their customers’ public cloud environment.”
Email Security Comparison: Avast, Barracuda, Bitdefender
February 7, 2019- “According to Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report, 92.4% of malware is delivered via email. Add research from Accenture, which shows that the average cost of a malware attack to a company is $2.4 million, while the average cost in lost time is 50 days, and you can begin to understand why email security is such an important service for you to offer your customers.”
Barracuda MSP Barracuda Beefs Up MSP Security Offer with Avast Acquisition
February 4, 2019- “Barracuda Networks has acquired Avast’s Managed Workplace remote monitoring and management (RMM) product line, and has entered into a multiyear agreement with Avast to resell its business security services to MSPs and their customers. The Managed Workplace platform includes security tools and services, such as security site assessments, Office 365 account management and integrated antivirus. This combination reinforces its commitment to the MSP marketplace and builds on the 132 percent year-over-year growth Barracuda MSP has seen for its security solutions.”
Barracuda MSP Explains Managed Workplace Software Acquisition
February 1, 2019- “What are Barracuda Networks’ plans for Managed Workplace, an MSP-centric RMM (remote monitoring and management) software platform acquired from Avast? In an email interview, ChannelE2E gathered some clues from Brian Babineau, senior VP and general manager for Barracuda MSP.”
7 Timely Tips For Planning A Successful New Year
January 29, 2019- “As with any great endeavor, you can’t expect to grow your business without a strong plan in place. Perhaps you want to add new products, services, or business lines to the mix. Maybe you are trying to tap into new markets, or maybe you want to sell more to existing customers. You probably have some ideas, but until you codify and turn those thoughts into a concrete business plan, you aren’t likely to hit the milestones you’ve envisioned. Before you scribble down revenue goals and present them to your team, keep these business best practices in mind:”
Massive Breach Exposes 773 Million Emails, 21 Million Passwords
January 18, 2019- “If you thought after Marriott and Facebook that data breaches couldn’t get any bigger, think again. With nearly 773 million unique emails and more than 21 million unique passwords exposed, “Collection #1″ is the largest public data breach by volume. It was discovered and reported Thursday by security researcher Tory Hunt, who maintains I have Been Pwned.”
Using AI to Protect Your Customers’ Inboxes
January 16, 2019- “Business email compromise (BEC) attacks and email account takeovers are increasing in frequency. In these types of attacks, hackers gain control over legitimate corporate emails by stealing credentials. They can then use those accounts to launch other types of attacks. When cybercriminals gain control of a trusted email address and impersonate an employee, they can wreak havoc by tricking staff into sharing private company or customer data, or even wiring company funds to criminals.”
A Fresh Approach to Security Awareness Training
January 2, 2019- “The job of educating your customers and their employees about cybersecurity best practices and emerging threats is never going to be finished. The skills required to identify and stop the spread of malicious emails, attachments, and viruses need to be updated on a regular basis, as the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve.”
Security Awareness Training: The Key to Email Security Success
December 21, 2018- “As email has become an increasingly popular cyber-attack vector, companies have responded by throwing more technology at the problem–firewalls and filters, spam blockers and blacklists. All of these are critical steps in helping to secure a business. However, it’s important to note that most email-based phishing, ransomware and other attacks also rely on human fallibility to make their exploits successful.”
6 Tips For Building Vertical Market Expertise
December 20, 2018-“With competition increasing and pricing pressures cutting into margins, many of you have opted to target vertical markets and applications in order to differentiate yourselves and tap into more lucrative lines of business. Customer demand for providers with vertical industry skills and applications knowledge is on the rise. In fact, two-thirds of channel firms say that they embarked on a vertical specialty to satisfy customer demand and to become more competitive.”
Vendor Predictions 2019 Part 3: Cyber security
December 19, 2018-“2018 was the year when cyber attacks reached new levels of frequency and complexity. Targeting everyone from small businesses to global brands, data breaches became part of the daily news cycle. Moreover, the problem looks set to escalate in 2019 with cyber criminals reportedly spending upward of $1 trillion annually on developing attacks.”
The Year Ahead in Security: A Roundup of Vendor Predictions
December 19, 2018-“There are currently about three million more cybersecurity specialists needed than available, according to recent data from (ISC)2. That big, scary number will get bigger and scarier still in 2019, according to Michael Flouton, vice president of product ops and security strategy for Barracuda Networks.”
CIAs Winners’ Circle: Best Digital Marketing Innovation – Barracuda MSP
December 11, 2018-“Barracuda MSP provides IT service providers with multi-layered security and data protection solutions that help MSPs better protect their customers, while at the same time growing their own business. Barracuda MSP solutions can detect, prevent and recover customers from today’s advanced cyber threats. We offer hardware, cloud and virtual deployment options, providing flexibility without jeopardizing security.”
CEO Outlook: 5 Questions on 2019
December 6, 2018-“What’s the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2019? In 2019, the biggest market opportunity that Barracuda will tackle with our channel partners is…”
What MSPs Need to Know to Succeed in Cloud Security
December 3, 2018- “As cloud computing enters its second decade, it’s no longer just a place to experiment. It’s now ready for wider scale investment, says Gartner. However, experts believe that effective cloud security needs to be a part of an overall managed-service-provider (MSP) strategy and not something that can be treated as a separate practice.”
Hot Tips and Trends in Security Training for 2019
December 1, 2018- “According to a recent Channel Futures IT Security Trends Survey, training end-users to spot phishing is highly successful in thwarting some attacks.End-user training and education are responsible for a marked decrease in exposure, said 30 percent of IT practitioners and 43 percent of channel pros in that survey. But there’s still more work to be done to throttle new and increasingly sophisticated phishing and social engineering attacks. Here are hot tips and trends MSSPs should focus on or add to their training curricula for 2019 to improve both their clients’ outcomes and their own bottom lines.”
Masergy, Barracuda Call for ‘Single-Box’ SD-WAN, Security
November 30, 2018- “Business buying and deploying SD-WAN are indicating that they want additional protection as more of their workloads traverse the public internet. A recent Vanson Bourne commissioned by Barracuda Networks found that 92 percent of IT leaders view security as the top criteria for picking an SD-WAN solution. This presents an opportunity for security experts to gain another share of their customers’ technology spend.”
Predictions for 2019: Cybersecurity, Specialization and Overcoming Objections
November 30, 2018- “It was no surprise that cybersecurity and industry consolidation continued to be hot topics for the IT channel in 2018. Looking into the future, I don’t expect much to change in this regard. But, how channel partners adapt to and address these challenges could make all the difference when it comes to driving success.”
Finding The Best Backup Approach For Your Customers
November 26, 2018- “The advent of cloud-based backup and data recovery services has made remote backup services easier to offer and deploy for MSPs. Interest is high, and one report predicts the cloud backup market will have a CAGR of 26 percent over the next several years. However, not every customer is best served by cloud-based backups, and even those who are still face a choice between public and private cloud resources; others may benefit from a hybrid approach.”
Security Roundup: Symbol Security, Vade, Barracuda, DigiCert
November 20, 2018- “Even though there [are] different outcomes in certain verticals … the reality is we’ll tailor content for each vertical and sometimes for each customer through these custom templates,” he said. “Yes, we have verticals that we’re going to focus on, but ultimately we’ll be able to go deeper than that and be able to customize per customer through templates that speak to them irrespective of their vertical.”
Cyber security: A must-have for MSPs
November 2, 2018- “The 2018 (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study shows 63 percent of organizations have a shortage of IT staff dedicated to cyber security. And, as a result, 59 percent say their companies are at moderate or extreme risk of cyber security attacks.”
Today’s channel rundown – 25 October 2018
October 25, 2018- “Networking challenges are driving adoption of SD-WAN, according to research released today by Barracuda Networks. The study, Security, Connectivity, and Control: The Challenges and Opportunities of SD-WAN, shows 98 percent of IT leaders cite challenges with their current WAN setup, including complexity (48 percent), cloud performance (47 percent), and performance between locations (46 percent).”
Barracuda: Pure-Play SD-WAN Vendors, Keep Your Paws Off My Firewall
October 25, 2018- “Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) vendors are using security to differentiate themselves from the competition, but what happens when security vendors set themselves apart with SD-WAN?”
Targeted Attacks on MSPs Create Opportunities with SMBs?
October 22, 2018- “MSPs are used to having hard conversations with their customers about implementing better security practices, but recently MSPs have found themselves being the ones advised to take more serious precautions.”
Making The Case For Unified Data Protection
October 19, 2018- “In the past, security services and backup and recovery services existed in separate (albeit closely related) spheres. Security focused on malicious external and internal threats, while backup and recovery took a more generic approach to ensuring data could be salvaged after any type of incident — whether a cyberattack, a flooded data center, or Jim from accounting accidentally deleting two year’s worth of spreadsheets.”
IT Security Tools and Accreditations
October 18, 2018- “At the midpoint of Cybersecurity month Brian sits down with the leadership team from the CompTIA IT Security Community… Lisa Person, Director of Member Communities at CompTIA, Ron Culler, Senior Director of Technology & Solutions with ADT Cybersecurity and Neal Bradbury, Senior Director Business Development with Barracuda MSP.”
Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: 11 October 2018
October 11, 2018- “Each morning MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across the global managed security services provider, SOC (security operations center) and IT outsourcing ecosystem. Here’s the update for Thursday, October 11, 2018.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: Thursday 11 October 2018
October 11, 2018- “Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, October 11, 2018. Actually, there are 12 timely updates designed for managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), IT consulting firms, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents, and telco agents to sip on. Take a look:”
Barracuda Expands Leadership In Public Cloud Security Solutions, Exceeds 200 Net New Customer Deployments Over The Past Four Quarters
October 10, 2018- “Campbell, Calif. (OCTOBER 10, 2018) – Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-delivered security and data protection solutions today announced expanded public cloud security solutions leadership through its network and application security business. Over the past four consecutive quarters, Barracuda exceeded more than 200 net new customer public cloud deployments per quarter, including Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and CloudGen WAF solution deployments. Barracuda customers consumed more than 3 million Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) hours annually on Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) combined. Additionally, Barracuda CloudGen Firewall net bookings grew 57 percent year-over-year for the second quarter fiscal 2019 that ended August 31, 2018. CloudGen Firewall bookings through its MSP business grew 173 percent over the same period.
The Top 3 Email Threats Facing Your Customers Today
October 10, 2018- “According to Barracuda’s recent Email Security Trends special report, 87 percent of security professionals reported that their company faced an attempted email-based attack in the past year, and more than one-third had experienced a ransomware attack.”
Now Is The Time To Make The MSP Transition
September 25, 2018- “The IT industry is moving toward a managed service model. But when is the right time for a VAR to make the transition to becoming an MSP, and how do you take the first step?”
Why cybercriminals are targeting MSPs (and how to avoid being victimized)
September 28, 2018- “More and more, hackers are targeting managed services providers (MSPs). This is because MSPs can be a weak link when it comes to security if they aren’t implementing the same security practices they encourage for their clients.”
Why MSPs should never hang their gloves up early
September 19, 2018- “The Ultimate Fighting Championship and MSPs… Impossible to find a connection between the two topics, right? Well, it may not be as hard as you think, bear with me. Take the recently retired Michael Bisping, growing up in a small northern town in the UK no one would expect him to be a future Hall of Famer in the sport. He climbed the mountain to a number one contender fight 3 times in his career, losing all of them. The vast majority of people in the same situation would give up after the first failed attempt.”
Weathering the Storm: Are Your Clients Prepared for Natural Disasters?
September 20, 2018- “The 2018 hurricane season began dramatically, with Hurricane Florence, a massive storm, bearing down on the East Coast of the United States. While residents either evacuated or secured their homes against the storm, tech companies also prepared. Microsoft, IBM, Google Cloud, Apple, Amazon and others all have data centers and other assets that were in Florence’s path.”
The Increase In Cloud Platform Cyberattacks Could Be Good News For VARs
August 31, 2018- “As more companies shift their IT infrastructure, data, and applications to the cloud, the need for reliable cloud security has become more acute. Fact is, the cloud has increasingly become a target for cyberattacks, as criminals follow the data from on-premises servers to cloud platforms.”
Barracuda Accelerates Growth in Email Protection
August 24, 2018- Barracuda MSP (MSP-focused division of Barracuda) acquired Intronis back in 2015. The company conducted a recent survey showing that over 3/4 of the threats come via email. Therefore, a lot of innovations have been made on the email security side of the business. Through a couple of acquisitions, they built an entire multilayer email security stack, starting with advanced protection against bad attachments to gateway protection for continuity, compliance and archiving. Barracuda MSP also protects against spear phising, using APIs within Office 365. Lastly, they educate their users through security awareness training, For more information, please visit www.barracudamsp.com
How WAF-as-a-Service Addresses Critical Customer Vulnerabilities
August 20, 2018- “For MSPs that want to extend their security footprint within their client base, providing web application firewall (WAF) services offers a way to increase revenues while reducing data breaches for customers.”
Top tips on how to deal with email security
August 10, 2018- “The aim of any business is of course to create revenue and profit, therefore finding new ways to make this possible is always on the cards for SMEs. In Barracuda MSP’s recent Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, we found 65% of SMEs said that reducing capital expenditure is one of the main drivers for introducing MSP’s into their operations. But, as well as the monetary benefits, the survey also highlighted addressing security concerns (30%) and overcoming skills shortages (47%) as other key drivers. Furthermore, our research showed that 86% of SME customers are turning to MSPs for email services, which could suggest that this is an area that SMEs are not only focused on but where attempted cyber attacks are taking place.”
Soft launch of Managed Phishline builds on Barracuda MSP Momentum
August 6, 2018- “Barracuda made Managed Phishline, an MSP-focused version of the technology they acquired from Phishline this year, available to MSPs in July.”
The Doyle Report: Email Threats Are Still Your Customers’ Worst Nightmare
July 31, 2018- “COMPTIA CHANNELCON — If you’re looking to help your end customers protect their data, apps and networks, don’t overlook their email boxes. They’re still the epicenter of an estimated three-quarters of all successful cyberattacks.”
Live Blog: CompTIA ChannelCon 2018 Day One
July 31, 2018- “Channel partners, IT professionals and technology companies have gathered this week for CompTIA ChannelCon 2018 in Washington, D.C. The conference is perhaps best known for attracting small business VARs and MSPs. But the times are changing — and CompTIA is evolving.”
7 Best Practices for Raising Your Prices
July 30, 2018- “It happens to every MSP sooner or later–that awkward moment when you need to confront your customers with an increase in the cost of their monthly services in order to stay profitable.”
Today’s channel rundown – 27 July 2018
July 27, 2018- “Barracuda Networks says the expansion of its MSP business has contributed to the accelerated growth of its email security business in Q1. Barracuda Essentials, the company’s all-in-one email security, backup and archiving service, saw 232 percent growth year over year in sales bookings through its MSP business in Q1.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: Thursday 26 July 2018
July 26, 2018- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, July 26, 2018. Actually, there are 15 timely updates designed for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look:”
Everything You Need To Know About Phishing
July 23, 2018- “Phishing attacks are on the rise, and they’re increasingly costly for businesses. The most recent State of the Phish Report indicates that 76 percent of information security professionals experienced a phishing attack in 2017, and Verizon reports that 90 percent of all cyberattacks (which increasingly include ransomware) begin with phishing emails.”
Backup and Disaster Recovery
July 12, 2018- “Backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solutions ensure the user’s data and applications are backed up and can be restored in the event of a disaster or data loss. Cloud solutions usually have this feature built-in, but for your clients that operate non-cloud systems, a BDR solution will ensure they can maintain business continuity.”
8 Tips For Building Stronger, More Profitable Vendor Relationships
June 28, 2018- “For many resellers, vendor relationships don’t extend much beyond the contract signing and some initial training. That may be fine for some product lines, but if you aren’t fostering a closer working relationship with a vendor, you’re probably leaving money on the table.”
Business pros beware: Phishing attacks are impersonating Netflix and Citibank
June 25, 2018 – “Email phishing attempts are not a new phenomenon, but cybercriminals are getting creative. The month of May alone saw over 10,000 unique phishing attempts, and June has already seen 2,000 attempted attacks, according to a report from cybersecurity company Barracuda on Monday.”
Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: 21 June 2018
June 21, 2018- “Each morning MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across the global managed security services provider, SOC (security operations center) and IT outsourcing ecosystem. Here’s the update for Thursday, June 21, 2018.”
5 Tips for Helping Customers Overcome Data Protection Denial
June 14, 2018- “Ransomware attacks continue to happen more frequently, but many companies still aren’t taking the necessary steps to protect their data. When large attacks happen, companies may start to worry and begin investigating potential solutions, but the energy behind those efforts often dwindles. Despite the big headline-grabbing attacks like the WannaCry or NotPetya outbreaks in 2017, companies often fall back into bad habits because the ransomware threat doesn’t feel imminent after the news cycle moves on.”
Consolidate Your Buying With Barracuda MSP
May 23, 2018-“There are many benefits for IT resellers transitioning to a managed services model. There are also obstacles they must overcome before turning a profit, including logistics and timing as it takes a while to build this infrastructure within their organization. Their sales force might also not be happy when they don’t receive an immediate paycheck for a service they sell.”
Why IoT Must be Part of Your Customers’ Data Protection Strategy
May 22, 2018- “Not only are your customers’ IoT devices more vulnerable to tampering than traditional IT assets, many of these devices are designed with minimal protection. Security concerns around the Internet of Things (IoT) seems to have caused some confusion in the market. Companies that over-estimate IoT threats have slowed progress on related initiatives, while other companies have deployed connected devices with little concern or awareness of the vulnerabilities.”
Channelnomics MSP Awards: Barracuda MSP talks being an MSP ally and more
May 17, 2018- “Barracuda MSP’s VP of channel development, Neal Bradbury, talks to us about what it means to be an MSP ally, building trust with MSP partners and the toughest MSP challenges of the day.”
Best Practices For Cross-Selling And Upselling To Your Customers
May 22, 2018- “Most VARs are aware that cross-selling and upselling can boost their revenue, but not as many put the required effort into executing this type of program. The least-expensive and most profitable way to obtain new business is to target your existing customer base. Your customers are buying every product or service they use from somebody — why shouldn’t they be purchasing more of those things from you?”
As You Pursue New Growth Opportunities, Don’t Forget Your Existing Customers
May 21, 2018- “For MSPs in high-growth mode, customer churn is a persistent problem. You add new clients every month, but turnover is leaving your overall growth rate only slightly up or flat. You are replacing customers instead of growing your total portfolio, and it seems like the business is running in place.”
MSPs to get their day of recognition
May 3, 2018- “Get out your diaries and circle 23 May because from now on it will mark the day when managed service providers are celebrated. There are days for nearly everything, including backup and passwords, but the thought behind the latest addition to the calendar is to promote MSPs and increase support for that section of the channel.”
Helping Customers Find The Right Fit For Security
April 26, 2018- “When it comes to data security, there’s often a gap between what your clients think they need and what they really need. Your job as an MSP is to create and deploy a solution that will deliver both. But, determining what that solution is will require more than just checking off a list of features and capabilities.”
3 Email Security Challenges You Can’t Afford to Ignore
April 25, 2018- “Protecting emails and their content presents a significant challenge for your customers. According to IBM’s X-Force researchers, not only is the number of spam emails rapidly increasing, it’s estimated that more than half of all emails are spam. Considering the number of emails that pass through each employee’s inbox on a given day, this represents an ever-present threat of an infected network, unauthorized access to files or a ransomware attack that could result in data loss.”
Cast a Wider Net With Phishing Education
April 17, 2018- “The Anti-Phishing Working Group reports that phishing attacks continue to increase every quarter, showing up most frequently in the payment, financial, and webmail sectors. Attackers are also increasingly targeting Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications and webmail providers. As a result, anti-phishing solution providers have reported activation rate increases over the past year that range from double-digit to quadruple-digit growth.”
Meet the Channel: How Barracuda MSP’s Jayne Haggard Approaches Partner Education
March 30, 2018- “Meet the Channel is a recurring Channel Futures column that leaves the C-suite and focuses on how channel trends impact the day-to-day job functions of employees “in the trenches.” This week, we sat down with Jayne Haggard, training program manager at Barracuda MSP.”
Barracuda snaps at European cloud cluelessness
March 23, 2018- “New research from Barracuda shows that while cloud has been a industry bussword for some time, most EU businesses are clueless when it comes to the technology.The company’s recent “Firewalls in the Cloud” survey asked 164 EMEA IT professionals responsible for cloud environments and 57 per cent of organisations still believe their on-premise security is superior to the cloud.”
Barracuda uncovers user issues with cloud licensing
March 23, 2018- “A failure to provide customers with a menu of payment options for cloud services could be a problem, according to the vendor’s research.”
Barracuda: IT Pros Increasingly Concerned About Traditional Firewalls in the Cloud
March 22, 2018- “Barracuda Networks commissioned the study, which was conducted by Dimensional Research. Data was collected from more than 600 respondents from around the world to help capture a view of experiences and attitudes in regard to cloud security. Tim Jefferson, Barracuda’s vice president of public cloud, tells Channel Partners the challenge for the channel is to shift their business and value proposition around consulting and helping customers build and migrate workloads to public cloud.”
CIOs fear cloud is less secure than on-premises servers, Barracuda finds
March 22, 2018- “More than half (57 per cent) of IT decision makers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa believe their on-premises servers are more secure than the cloud, according to a new survey.”
Is Your Firewall Missing Part of Your Customers’ Data Traffic?
March 22, 2018- “The proliferation of mobile devices and cloud services is increasing the frequency of corporate communications that bypass traditional firewalls yet still must be protected.”
Cloud Versus On-Premises Security: 3 Myths MSPs Must Address
March 22, 2018- “When it comes to moving workloads to the cloud or leaving them on premises, there are still a few lingering myths customers believe that must be debunked for everyone’s sake.”
Barracuda Security Insight Platform Promotes Awareness, Aims for Vigilance
February 16, 2018- “Cloud-based security provider Barracuda Networks has unveiled a new platform designed to chronicle real-time threat levels based on email, network and web traffic. The vendor’s newly live Security Insight website aims to keep IT pros and consumers abreast of worldwide threat levels.”
3 Tips For Using Headlines To Improve Your Sales
February 14, 2018- “One of the best ways to engage, inform, help, and bring value to your customers and prospects is by providing content on your website, email newsletter, or even in a hard copy format. While original content is necessary for boosting your SEO (search engine optimization) with the major search engines, learning how to leverage the latest headlines from major media sources and trade publications can be invaluable, too. Plus, it’s free. Following are three tips for finding and using the latest news and other kinds of articles to improve your sales process.”
3 Tips for Improving Your Security Awareness Training
February 14, 2018- “It’s a well-known fact that the most significant security vulnerability at any company isn’t a technical flaw — it’s human error. Cybercriminals know this truth all too well, which is why 43 percent of documented breaches involve social engineering attacks, according to the 2017 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report.”
Thoma Bravo Wraps $1.6 Billion Barracuda Buy
February 12, 2018- “PRESS RELEASE — CAMPBELL, Calif., Feb. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Thoma Bravo, LLC., a leading private equity investment firm, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-enabled security and data protection solutions, in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.6 billion.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 13 February 2018
February 13, 2018- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, February 13, 2018. Actually, there are 15 timely updates designed for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…”
5 Areas Your Office 365 Customers Need Extra Help
February 6, 2018- “Within the past three years, Microsoft has made an impressive transformation in its quest to become a subscription company where customers rent rather than buy software. In fact, a survey conducted by Barracuda Networks in April 2017 with customers in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa found adoption of Office 365 increased more than 50 percent between April 2016 and April 2017. While companies are becoming more comfortable giving up control of their data and IT infrastructures to a third party, it doesn’t mean they’re completely confident — nor should they be.”
3 Ways To Reduce (And Delay) MSP Labor Costs
January 23, 2018- “According to LinkedIn’s State of Salary Report 2017, the highest paying field of study is computer science, with an average salary of $92,300, and the highest paying industry is software and IT services, with an average salary of $104,700. This is great news for those who’ve chosen an IT profession. But, when you add benefits and taxes to an IT professional’s salary, it’s easy to see how IT labor is the single biggest cost MSPs must account for when mapping their growth strategies.”
Don’t Leave Referral Marketing to Chance
January 16, 2018- “It’s become a truism over the years to say that MSPs struggle with marketing. The fact is most MSP business owners have engineering or technology backgrounds, not marketing or sales. Solving a computer problem requires a much different strategy than solving a branding problem. However, even the most marketing-averse MSPs are drawn instinctively toward one kind of marketing — word-of-mouth or referral-based marketing. In fact, some take pride in stating that referrals are their only source of marketing.”
Barracuda Acquires Cybersecurity Education Software Provider PhishLine
January 7, 2018- “Barracuda Networks has acquired cybersecurity education software provider PhishLine for an undisclosed sum. Together, Barracuda and PhishLine will help organizations combat email-borne and social engineering attacks, according to the announcement.”
Barracuda adds social engineering training capability with PhishLine acquisition
January 3, 2018- “Barracuda said this new capability is something that their partners have been asking for, and will allow them to take a more full-featured offering to their customers – which will be an additional revenue generator as well.”
Barracuda Buys Training Provider PhishLine To Bolster Protection Against Email-Borne Threats
January 3, 2018-“Storage and security vendor Barracuda has purchased social engineering simulation and training platform player PhishLine to help customers better measure and report on risks.”
A Look Back at the Top 5 Channel Trends of 2017
December 22, 2017- “As 2017 winds down and the holiday season is in full swing, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on the key moments that defined the year. In regard to the channel, these five trends topped our list:”
3 Predictions for MSPs: Security, Automation, and Growth
December 21, 2017- “From vendor consolidation to cyberattacks and widespread concern about the forthcoming GDPR compliance deadline — the IT channel was full of calls-to-action during 2017. Looking into the future some of these issues will continue to evolve and cause channel partners to work smarter and faster to meet the needs of their clients and the demands of the market. And, with that in mind, while no one knows exactly how these trends will manifest themselves, here are three predictions we have for MSPs in 2018:”
Opportunity knocks: Answer the door to managed next generation firewalls
December 21, 2017- “We understand that keeping up with security requirements can prove stressful, especially with increasingly sophisticated attackers breathing down you and your customers’ necks.”
ConnectWise IT Nation: 33 Products Bringing New Capabilities To MSPs
December 7, 2017-“Last month’s IT Nation conference was founded by ConnectWise to bring together the vendor’s MSP community and a variety of vendors of services looking to work through ConnectWise’s platform. But the IT Nation conference is more than one management platform developer’s showcase of its own capabilities. Instead, it brings together a wide range of companies looking to sell its services to or through with wider MSP base.”
Avoiding the MSP Integration Blues
December 5, 2017- “Integration has always been a challenge. It’s actually a dirty word for a lot of IT technicians. That’s because a lot can go wrong during an integration as a result of poor planning, unexpected complexity, and system incompatibilities.”
The Why and How of Selling Long-Term Managed Service Contracts
November 30, 2017- “A lot of MSPs can agree on the basics of selling managed services, including what to feature in their bundles, how much to charge for implementation and management services, and even the main points on their service level agreements (SLAs). But, when it comes to contract terms, lines get drawn in the sand, and passionate debates ensue.”
Barracuda Hopes to Turn VAR Partners Into Cloud-Savvy MSPs
November 30, 2017- “The announcement this week that tech investment firm Thoma Bravo reached a $1.6 billion deal to purchase Barracuda Networks and take the company private offered yet another clear signal that the “smart money” is betting on MSPs to profit big from the growth of cloud.”
Thoma Bravo Buys Barracuda Networks
November 28, 2017- “Security and backup vendor Barracuda Networks Inc., of Campbell, Calif., has agreed to be acquired by Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC, in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.6 billion.”
Are You a Hybrid MSP by Design or by Accident?
November 28, 2017- “The majority of MSPs are offering hybrid IT services, but for many it’s by accident, which leads to unpredictable income and lower profit margins. “
Thoma Bravo Acquires Barracuda Networks, Extends MSP technology Footprint
November 27, 2017- “Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is acquiring Barracuda Networks for $1.6 billion in cash, the two companies announced today. The deal, subject to regulatory and shareholder review, is expected to close before Barracuda’s fiscal year end of Feb. 28, 2018.”
Private Equity Strikes Again: Thoma Bravo To Buy Barracuda Networks For $1.6 Billion
November 27, 2017-“Investment titan Thoma Bravo plans to purchase Barracuda Networks for $1.6 billion, just four years after the storage and security vendor filed for an IPO. The Campbell, Calif.-based security vendor said Chicago-based Thoma Bravo will purchase the company for $27.55 per share, or 22.5 percent higher than Barracuda’s average trading price of $22.49 in the 10 days leading up to the deal. Barracuda’s stock is up $3.73 (15.75%) to $27.42 per share in pre-market trading Monday.”
Security in the Cloud: Four Things Your Customers Need To Know
November 17, 2017- “A recent survey of 300 IT decision makers, conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne on behalf of Barracuda Networks, found that 44 percent of the respondents’ IT infrastructure is now on a public cloud. This isn’t a big surprise; after all there are often big cost-savings to moving IT workloads to the public cloud. The trend also suggests that many companies don’t want to deal with the headaches that come with managing on-premises IT systems.”
Managed Security Services provider Morning News: 16 November 2017
November 16, 2017- “Each morning MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across the global managed security services provider, SOC (security operations center) and IT outsourcing ecosystem. Here’s the lineup for Thursday, November 16, 2017:”
Today’s channel rundown – 15 November 2017
November 15, 2017- “Barracuda Networks has expanded the public cloud functionality on its Barracuda Web Application Firewall and Barracuda NextGen Firewall in response to a growing number of customers running their infrastructure in the public cloud.”
Barracuda Expands Public Cloud Option for Firewalls
November 15, 2017- “Campbell, Calif. (Nov. 15, 2017) – Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA), a leading provider of cloud-enabled security and data protection solutions, today announced expanded public cloud functionality for the Barracuda Web Application Firewall and Barracuda NextGen Firewall. The updated cloud generation firewalls allow for utility-based consumption and automated security controls for DevSecOps workflows, giving customers an easy migration path to public cloud. Barracuda will demonstrate its award-winning cloud generation firewalls in booth number 1533 during AWS re:Invent, Nov. 27-Dec. 1, in Las Vegas.”
IT Nation 2017: ConnectWise Marketplace builds out vendor integrations
November 13, 2017 – “In conjunction with last week’s IT Nation 2017 conference, hosted by PSA vendor ConnectWise, numerous vendors in the MSP software space launched integrations with the ConnectWise platform.”
6 Partner Stories from IT Nation 2017
November 12, 2017- “Barracuda Networks Inc. has equipped its virtual and physical Barracuda Backup appliances to use Amazon Web Services as a replication target for protected data.”
ConnectWise IT Nation: 30 Managed Services Meeting Recaps for MSPs
November 12, 2017- “ConnectWise made plenty of news last week at its IT Nation partner event in Orlando, but so did its partners. Here’s a roundup of some of what they announced.”
Live Blog: ConnectWise IT Nation 2017
November 8, 2017- “The IT Nation 2017 conference, hosted by ConnectWise, kicks off today in Orlando, Florida. More than 1,000 technology solutions providers and MSPs are expected to attend. (No doubt the actual figure will be significantly higher… but we don’t have an official count as of this writing.)”
Barracuda MSP launches Intronis Backup integration for ConnectWise Automate
November 7, 2017- “Barracuda MSP builds on earlier integrations with LabTech/Automate with new automated deployment capabilities, as well as improvements to manageability.”
Now’s the Time to Make a Foray into Security Services
October 24, 2017- “The majority of businesses are being inundated with security threats, and they’re looking for trusted business partners who can help protect their networks and data.”
MSPs Selling Security Services: Bright Future Ahead
October 23, 2017- “According to recent research from The 2112 Group, the majority of MSPs (85 percent) currently are not offering any form of security services. It’s understandable why an MSP might be reluctant to delve into selling IT security services. After all, it puts an extra level of responsibility and pressure on the service provider to protect customers from what seems to be a losing proposition based on the latest cyberattack and data breach headlines we’re confronted by on a regular basis.”
MSP Data Protection and Security Solutions: A Two Run Homer
October 19, 2017- “With the onslaught of cyber-incidents that have made headlines this year — WannaCry, NotPetya, Wikileaks CIA Vault 7, Cloudbleed, and the Equifax breach, just to name a few — it’s easy to understand why many companies are feeling under protected. MSPs can also feel overwhelmed, especially after being inundated by so many data protection and security products claiming to be the ideal solution to today’s threats.”
Six Best Practices for Securing Multiple Sites
October 13, 2017- “When businesses agree to hand over monitoring and management of their IT environments to an MSP, they expect those environments to be protected. That puts the burden on MSPs to implement technology and best practices to secure client environments, not only at headquarters but also at any other sites the client operates.”
Is Your Company Name Stifling Your Branding Efforts?
September 29, 2017- “Take a moment and think about some of the biggest global brands you know. What do all those brands have in common? Most likely they represent a high standard of product quality and customer satisfaction.”
3 Warning Signs of a Problem Client
September 28, 2017- “No MSP likes to lose a client. Acquiring clients is hard work and expensive, so it’s usually in your best interest to do whatever it takes to avoid parting ways if a client relationship doesn’t work out as expected. But, once in a while MSPs have to face the uncomfortable decision of whether to fire a client.”
Build A Stronger Managed Services Offering Now. Here’s How
September 26, 2017- “According to a recent report from by The 2112 Group and Barracuda MSP, 64 percent of the channel partners surveyed report that services sold on a recurring revenue basis are their best growth drivers. For those new to selling managed services, however, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start. Based on years of experience interacting with companies that have successfully made the move — and hearing the lessons they’ve learned along the way — here are three tips to keep in mind as you build or improve your service offering.”
Barracuda highlights growth in demand for security services
September 25, 2017- “The growth in demand for Security-as-a-Service is on the rise creating an opportunity for those MSPs in a position to add that to their portfolio. Barracuda, which has been actively engaging and recruiting managed service players, has carried out a report to gauge the state of the market, revealing that security is an in-demand solution.”
MSPs And Resellers Can Amplify Their Social Media Reach With Employee Advocacy
September 21, 2017- “Studies have shown that businesses are starting to increasingly rely on social media to help build brand awareness and drive the sale of their products and solutions. For example, according to a recent Forrester report, 98 percent of sales and marketing leaders see value in social selling in the short and long term, and 49 percent have already developed a formal social selling program. Many Channel companies would agree with the potential benefits of social media marketing, but they also acknowledge they’re a long way from realizing its full potential.”
Is It Time To Step Up Your Managed Security Services Game?
September 21, 2017- “End users of all sizes are faced with a myriad of digital threats that can cause problems ranging from business disruption to reputation damage — or worse. In fact, last year there were so many breaches, ranging from the IRS to Wendy’s, that it was difficult to keep track of them, and this year’s breaches will likely eclipse 2016’s results. Earlier this year, for instance, the worldwide cyberattack by the WannaCry ransomware cryptoworm infected more than 230,000 computers in more than 150 countries in just one day. If that’s not bad enough, security experts predict that nearly one million new threats are released into the wild each day.”
How to Strengthen Your Technology Stack with Security
September 14, 2017- “As businesses of all sizes face a growing number of cyber threats, customers have come to expect that their managed services provider (MSP) will provide at least some level of IT security. After all, with stories like WannaCry, NotPetya attacks and the Equifax breach dominating today’s headlines, businesses are realizing that they need help to avoid becoming the next victim.”
Barracuda rebrands MSP arm Intronis
September 14, 2017- “Barracuda has rebranded Intronis MSP following the acquisition of the firm, in addition to introducing an enhanced ECHOplatform for new and existing MSP partners. Now known as Barracuda MSP, the offering retains its commitment to equipping MSPs with the tools they need to protect their customers from data loss and security breaches.”
Barracuda Strengthens MSP Brand
September 13, 2017- “Two years since the acquisition of Intronis, Barracuda Networks is getting less wordy with its branding. The vendor is doing away with the Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda brand and is now Barracuda MSP, the company announced Wednesday.”
Barracuda Rebrands Intronis In Full MSP Endorsement
September 13, 2017- “Nearly two years to the day after Barracuda acquired Intronis in a $65 million symbiotic deal that transitioned the company from a VAR-leaning network security provider to fully engaged with managed services providers (MSPs), we have a rebranding of the business.”
Intronis name gives way to Barracuda as new ECHOplatform, educational resources roll out
September 13, 2017- “Global expansion is a key factor in retiring the Intronis brand as a business unit in favor of Barracuda MSP. The Intronis name will live on as the backup product within the MSP platform.”
Today’s channel rundown – 13 September 2017
September 13, 2017- “Barracuda has re-branded its MSP business unit Intronis as Barracuda MSP. In its announcement today, the vendor said the name change is a signal of its commitment to the managed services market. Barracuda claims that in the past two years, it has increased MSP-based billings, grown its partner base by 25 percent and entered the European market.”
How MSPs Can Build Midmarket Managed Services Practices
August 30, 2017- “Regardless of an MSP’s vertical market preference, the most popular go-to customer for most MSPs is an SMB. More specifically, MSPs primarily target the “S” in SMB, which Gartner defines as companies with less than $50 million in annual revenue. Small businesses are a natural fit for MSPs because there are so many of them (nearly 30 million, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration). Plus, small businesses often can’t afford enough IT staff to cover their business technology needs, so the MSP model is very attractive.”
Backup vs. Archiving: Three Qualifying Questions
August 21, 2017- “By definition, backup and archiving serve two distinct purposes and both have different requirements. While backup is about getting a business up and running after an outage or crisis through the rapid recovery of data and applications, archiving pertains primarily to compliance and governance. Yet, it is not uncommon today for MSPs to come across customers who confuse these two terms, and understandably so given that both backup and archiving are broadly related to data protection.”
3 MSP Metrics (Beyond Profitability) That Indicate Success
August 18, 2017- “It’s tempting for MSP business owners to gauge their success based solely on profitability. And, while this highly important metric shouldn’t be ignored, it doesn’t offer the total picture of a company’s success — especially if you’re a VAR that’s only recently made the transition to selling managed services. Before you make a judgment about the success of your company, consider how you fare in the following three areas.”
Barracuda Adds Amazon Web Services as Replication Option for Cloud Backups
August 15, 2017- “Barracuda Networks Inc. has equipped its virtual and physical Barracuda Backup appliances to use Amazon Web Services as a replication target for protected data.”
Barracuda Backup Gains Amazon AWS Cloud Replication
August 15, 2017- “Barracuda Networks‘s data protection platform now supports public cloud replication to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company says the solution will allow customers, channel partners, and MSPs added flexibility to choose between the company’s own Barracuda Cloud option and public cloud storage.”
Barracuda Networks Extends Backup Reach to AWS
August 15, 2017- “Aiming to provide IT organizations with a maximum amount of flexibility when it comes to backup and recovery, Barracuda Networks today announced it can now replicate data into Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud via a physical or virtual Barracuda appliance running Barracuda Backup software.”
Barracuda Adds AWS Support to Backup Product
August 15, 2017- “Barracuda Networks on Tuesday expanded support for its Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Up until now, businesses could send data to the Barracuda Cloud or another backup appliance.”
Barracuda Backup now enabled for replication to AWS cloud
August 15, 2017- “Barracuda Networks has announced that their Barracuda Backup solution can now replicate data from either an on-premises physical or virtual backup appliance to the AWS S3 cloud. It’s a customer choice issue, offering another replication source for customers who want AWS. While this is the first public cloud option for Barracuda Backup, it won’t be the last. Azure will also be added as a replication target at some point in the future.”
4 Reasons Why SMBs Should Embrace Digital Transformation
August 14, 2017- “Any SMB company planning to use the cloud as an integral part of its IT infrastructure and looking to adopt emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) needs to be thinking about digital transformation. And, MSPs have a major role to play in helping customers plan, implement, and manage their digital transformation plans.”
Managed services pulling profits
August 9, 2017- “Most solution providers in North America are now offering a managed service of some type, according to new research. State of North America Managed Services, commissioned by Barracuda’s MSP business, Intronis, and undertaken by The 2112 Group, indicates managed services are driving growth and profitability in the channel.”
Intronis, Ingram Micro Studies Show Big MSP Security, Cloud Opportunities
August 4, 2017- “COMPTIA CHANNELCON — Channel research firm The 2112 Group has teamed with Barracuda-owned Intronis, the provider of backup and recovery for MSPs, and distribution giant Ingram Micro on separate studies that reveal eye-opening channel trends. The first, State of North America Managed Services, homes in on the importance of recurring revenue and the role managed-services sales can play in keeping a channel business viable and growing.”
3 Simple Ways to Improve MSP Customer Retention
August 4, 2017- “Depending on which study you read, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. Even at the low end of the spectrum, it requires significantly more time and effort to obtain a new customer, especially when you take into account all the money spent on sales and marketing activities. The costs are even higher in cases where new customers are always being brought on to replace customers that have been lost. To ensure your MSP runs smarter — instead of just working harder — here are three tips to help keep your existing customers happy and to minimize the high cost of churn.”
Study shows startlingly slim penetration rates in security and backup managed services
August 4, 2017- “Just because a managed service is commoditized doesn’t mean that everyone is doing it. That’s one of the findings of a new State of North America Managed Services report. It’s not, however, the most significant finding. Those revolve around the growing role of security in managed services, and include the fact that while only a small minority of managed services providers sell security today, over 60 per cent may add security services within the next twelve months. The report was released at the CompTIA ChannelCon event here.”
6 Revealing Security, BDR, and Cloud Insights from Webroot, Intronis, and Ingram Micro
August 2, 2017- “Today in Austin, Texas, at the 2017 edition of IT membership organization CompTIA’s ChannelCon partner conference, Webroot, Ingram Micro, and the Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda division of Barracuda Networks all published interesting research studies on the state of play in the all-important markets for security solutions, managed services, and cloud computing. Here’s a look at some of the most revealing findings from those reports.”
More Evidence Recurring Revenue Drives MSP, VAR Profits
August 1, 2017- “Managed services are driving growth and profitability in the channel more so than other products and services, according to new research from the The 2112 Group for Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda.”
5 CompTIA ChannelCon Partner Updates: 01 August 2017
August 1, 2017- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, August 1, 2017. Actually, there are 13 timely updates — many of which come from CompTIA ChannelCon in Austin, Texas. All of our updates are designed for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look:”
5 Channel Partner Updates: Monday 24 July 2017
July 24, 2017- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, July 24, 2017. Actually, there are eight timely updates for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…”
3 Tips for Building an Effective MSP Ecosystem
July 19, 2017- “Most MSPs didn’t start out as MSPs. More likely than not, they were project-based VARs and/or break-fix providers at one time, and at some point made a decision to become an MSP. As many MSPs can attest to, perhaps the most challenging part of that transition was choosing the right IT tools (e.g., RMM and PSA).”
Three Inconvenient Truths about Cybersecurity
July 18, 2017- “If one of your clients gets hit by the next ransomware attack,, that will reflect on you as much as on the client, unless you have done everything you can to help them address the inconvenient truths of cybersecurity.”
5 Invaluable Vendor Value-Adds You Need Right Away
July 18, 2017- “Let’s face it: The pace of business today is super-fast, and at times the only constant seems to be change. In this accelerated environment, it can be easy for MSPs to overlook their IT vendors — both the ones they use to operate their businesses more efficiently (e.g., PSA and RMM vendors), as well as the vendors behind the solutions they sell to customers (e.g., BDR and security). Each of these companies likely offers value well beyond the products they make, and taking the time to leverage this value can serve your business well. Here are five specific IT vendor value-adds that often are underutilized by MSPs:”
Barracuda CEO; Intronis Cloud Backup Surpasses 2,400 MSP Partners
July 12, 2017- “Barracuda Networks (CUDA) continues to gain momentum with managed services providers (MSPs), and much of the credit involves the security company’s Intronis business unit, according to CEO BJ Jenkins. “The MSP route to market is [an] area where we continue to invest to make solid progress,” Jenkins said during an earnings call earlier this week. “We achieved another quarter of record billings and now have 2,400 partners on the Intronis platform.””
Intronis brings fresh channel blood to Barracuda
June 30, 2017- “Intronis plans to continue expanding its channel base as it works with a greater number of managed service providers (MSPs). The Barracuda-owned firm has seen demand for its security platform increase and a greater number of partners come forward to work with the online backup and disaster recovery specialist.”
Controlling Hidden Costs Boosts MSP Success
June 26, 2017- “Handling hidden costs is a kind of business self-awareness. If an MSP can identify and manage these costs, you’ll know your business better. And that helps you set a course for managed services success.”
Why U.S.-based MSPs Should Care About Europe’s GDPR
June 21, 2017- “The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) clock is ticking. GDPR will be enforceable beginning May 25, 2018, and it is designed to empower citizens within the EU to control who has access to their personal data, including personally identifiable information such as a name, photo, email address, social media posts, or their computer’s IP address.”
WannaCry: The Perfect Managed Security Services Sales Starter
June 19, 2017- “It’s sometimes hard for an MSP to start the discussion about the value of the IT security services they provide. WannaCry, the latest widespread ransomware variant, offers the perfect conversation starter. WannaCry has infected hundreds of thousands of systems in just a few weeks, encrypting files and holding them for ransom. Using a tool developed by the NSA, WannaCry exploited a Microsoft Windows vulnerability in the implementation of the Server Message Block protocol. Although Microsoft issued a patch in March 2017, many systems were still unprotected when WannaCry first appeared two months later on May 12, 2017.”
6 Ways to Talk to Your Clients about Ransomware
June 15, 2017- “Rather than dealing with the fallout after an attack occurs, have proactive conversations about IT security with your customers. When WannaCry made its first appearance in May and infected hundreds of thousands of systems in just a few weeks, the issue of ransomware again moved to the forefront. Most victims of ransomware will agree that it’s better to be proactive about IT security and prevent ransomware rather than dealing with encrypted mission-critical files, a request for ransom and system restoration after an attack.”
Talking data protection with Neal Bradbury [Podcast]
June 13, 2017- “Data protection has been thrust into the spotlight by the recent WannaCry ransomware attack, but it’s always a hot topic for managed service providers eager to both help their customers protect their business, and maximize their own value.”
Today’s channel rundown – 12 June 2017
June 12, 2017- “Barracuda has introduced two new professional services offerings targeted at MSPs. The new Managed Firewall and Managed Backup Appliance have been developed under the Intronis brand, Barracuda’s dedicated MSP business.”
Barracuda Expands Service Offerings for Managed Backup Appliances and Managed Firewalls
June 6, 2017- “Barracuda Networks has announced the introduction of two new MSP Professional Services offerings to complement the MSP editions of the Barracuda NextGen Firewall and the Barracuda Backup Appliance.”
Barracuda Unveils NextGen Firewall, Backup Appliance Services for MSPs
June 6, 2017- “Barracuda Networks has launched NextGen Firewall and Backup Appliance professional services for MSPs. The new professional services are designed to help MSPs streamline security and data protection, the company indicated. The NextGen Firewall service enables MSPs to provide advanced threat protection, intrusion detection and prevention, traffic optimization and other firewall capabilities to customers, according to Barracuda. It works in combination with the Barracuda NextGen Firewall – Intronis MSP Edition security solution and offers 24/7/365 security event management, Barracuda said.”
Barracuda Expands MSP Offerings
June 6, 2017- “Barracuda Networks on Tuesday announced two new MSP professional service offerings – Barracuda NextGen Firewall – Intronis MSP Edition, and Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition, for MSPs looking to expand their monitoring and management services.”
Barracuda expands MSP Professional Services offerings
June 6, 2017- “Barracuda has announced new Managed Firewall and Managed Backup Appliance Professional Services offerings. These complement the MSP editions of the Barracuda NextGen Firewall and the Barracuda Backup Appliance respectively, and join the Intronis Managed ECHOplatform service that has been offered since 2015.”
How MSPs Can Find Extra Time Each Day
May 25, 2017- “If you’ve ever caught yourself saying, “There aren’t enough hours in the day,” it might be a sign you need to hire another employee–or it might just mean you’re not running your managed service practice as efficiently as you could be.”
Identify and own your company brand and label
May 19, 2017- “As technology has advanced over the years, IT channel businesses have evolved in response. Differences in hardware pricing structures, software delivery, business models, and more have forced IT channel companies to adapt. In the midst of this rampant channel change, an interesting phenomenon has occurred: Businesses are uncertain about what to call themselves.”
10 ways to protect against ransomware and other advanced threats
May 17, 2017- “The ransomware outbreak shows no signs of slowing down. Like a digital plague, it doesn’t discriminate, infecting anyone from individual users to small businesses to multinational corporations.It works by encrypting data in computers, preventing users from accessing their own files. To regain access, users must pay for a decryption key, but this doesn’t always guarantee the user will get their data back. In 2016, ransomware attacks cost victims roughly $1 billion, according to the FBI, but that figure accounts for only the reported incidents.”
Cloud and security: The next big MSP money makers?
May 10, 2017- “Last month, ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini told MSPs at IT Nation Europe – the vendor’s customer event in London, UK – that to be successful, they must invest in two areas: cloud and IT security.”
How to Transition From VAR to MSP
May 9, 2017- “There is currently a trend among value-added resellers (VARs) to adopt a new business model and become a managed services provider (MSP). In CompTIA’s 5th Annual Trends in Managed Services report, the IT industry trade association states that more than half of all IT solutions providers predict 75 percent of their revenue will come from managed services in the next two years.”
9 Questions MSPs Should Be Asking Their Prospects And Customers
May 5, 2017- “The best way for an MSP to increase their chances of closing a deal is to understand the customer. You also need to know what problem the customer is trying to solve and how the solution you are offering can help them address the challenges they’re facing.”
Five reasons your MSP isn’t getting as much business as it could
May 4, 2017- “One of the most vexing challenges MSPs have always faced is explaining to prospective customers what “managed services” means. But if you have to explain it, you’ve probably approached the conversation the wrong way.”
Barracuda Adds 690 Intronis MSPs, 1000 Cloud Security Customers
April 18, 2017- “Amid the shift from appliance sales to cloud and subscription services, Barracuda Networks won’t get left behind, CEO BJ Jenkins asserts. In fact, Barracuda added 690 MSPs and 1,000 cloud security customers to its ecosystem over the past fiscal year, Jenkins revealed during an earnings call yesterday.”
3 Tips for Uncovering IoT Security Sales Opportunities
April 18, 2017- “The Internet of Things (IoT) isn’t a distant vision of things to come. It’s here. Businesses are connecting devices, processes, and people to collect data that helps them make smarter decisions, take automation to new heights, improve the quality of products and services, and lower their costs. Cisco’s report Digital Business Transformation: Disrupt to Win projects there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020, and estimates that 75 percent of businesses will be fully digital, or are planning to be, by that same year.”
What the Rise of Industry 4.0 Means for MSPs
April 14, 2017- “We’re on the verge of a $6.1 trillion technology revolution; embrace it now, so you can capitalize on it in the near future.The Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies and cloud computing have sparked an evolution in the manufacturing industry, and the monikers being used to describe this merging of technologies and business principles are “Industry 4.0” and the “Industrial IoT (IIoT).” Research from Accenture predicts that Industry 4.0 could add $6.1 trillion in cumulative GDP to the United States by 2030, and MSPs that learn how to adapt their businesses can benefit from this exciting growth opportunity.”
5 Big MSP Benefits of Working with Fewer IT Vendors
April 14, 2017- “As a managed service provider, you probably have partnerships with a number of hardware and software vendors. However, you may reach a point where you ask, “How many vendor partners are too many?” When you consider the impact juggling a wide range of vendors can have on your business, the answer is that less is more.”
3 Ways Data Improves Customer Satisfaction
April 13, 2017- “As most MSPs can attest to, building and maintaining a successful business means establishing your expertise and authority as a business partner. Doing that involves constantly showing the customer the value of the services you provide, communicating with them on a regular basis about the health of their IT assets, and not being afraid to have difficult conversations when they are warranted.”
CompTIA AMM Wrap-Up Part 3: Picking Up the Pace on Security
March 30, 2017- “As leaders of CompTIA’s IT security community made clear last week at the technology association’s Annual Member Meeting, the security threat landscape has never been graver—or more potentially profitable—for channel pros.”
3 Reasons MSPs Should Embrace the Broader Role of MSSP
March 27, 2017- “Today, many businesses are padding IT security budgets, motivated to protect themselves from network damage, data breaches, and the regulatory fines and penalties that can result from cyberattacks. Cybersecurity research and market intelligence firm Cybersecurity Ventures reports that the IT security market has exploded from $3.5 billion in 2004 to an anticipated $120 billion in 2017. Over the next four years, the firm predicts, IT spending will exceed $1 trillion, driven by increases in cybercrime.”
3 Ways MSPs Can Satisfy Short RTO Requirements
March 23, 2017- “How much IT system downtime can your customers afford before it hurts their business? If you have a customer with a short recovery time objective (RTO), you may be struggling to meet that service level. RTO, the maximum amount of time a business can withstand from the time an outage occurs until operations are restored, varies widely from business to business. For some industries, RTO may be measured in hours, but other industries, such as healthcare or finance, may have RTOs measured in minutes due to their steady streams of new, crucial data.”
How to avoid common backup pitfalls
March 22, 2017- “Every MSP should offer data backup and recovery for clients. No matter what business your clients are in, or how big or small their companies are, they all need backup and disaster recovery (BDR) in the event a natural disaster, security breach, or human error causes data loss.”
How to Deal with Non-Paying Customers: 6-Step Contingency Plan
March 21, 2017- “For companies where prepayment is required, business transactions are cut and dry: If the customer doesn’t pay, it doesn’t receive the product or service. Things aren’t always that easy when you’re an MSP, though.”
How MSPs Can Overcome Disaster Recovery Planning Objections
March 21, 2017- “Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are becoming increasingly vulnerable to security risks and data loss resulting from malware attacks, DDoS attacks, server failures, and natural disaster. Here’s why — many believe they are too small to be a target for cybercriminals; and/or will never experience a fire, flood, or other catastrophic incident.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: 20 March 2017
March 20, 2017- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, March 20, 2017. Actually, there are 21 timely updates for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Drink up…”
Barracuda Updates Backup Appliance LiveBoot Solution
March 16, 2017- “The new 2.0 release includes a simpler user interface, shorter boot times for temporary virtual servers, and the ability to launch VMs in Barracuda’s public cloud based on Microsoft Hyper-V.”
Barracuda Networks Expands Cloud Services Reach
March 16, 2017- “As cloud computing evolves, it turns out that locally deployed appliances are turning into gateways to a variety of cloud services that either extend or augment a local function. Barracuda Networks this week unveiled two examples involving its own services and that of a third-party partner.”
Barracuda Releases LiveBoot 2.0
March 16, 2017- “Today Barracuda Networks Inc. announced the latest edition of its Barracuda Backup LiveBoot, version 2.0. The new version of LiveBoot includes Cloud LiveBoot for Microsoft Hyper-V, as well as VMware, which aims to give customers of both to see faster restores and minimized downtime. Other benefits of LiveBoot 2.0 include a backup and recovery option for larger virtual machines and a reduction of boot times.”
Barracuda Updates LiveBoot With Microsoft Hyper-V Support
March 16, 2017- “Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA) today announced Barracuda Backup LiveBoot 2.0, which includes Cloud LiveBoot for Microsoft Hyper-V and gives customers faster restores to minimize downtime in VMware vSphere and Hyper-V environments. Barracuda LiveBoot 2.0 offers a backup and recovery option for larger virtual machines, and reduces boot times.”
Barracuda Liveboot 2.0 adds Hyper-V support, speeds up boot times, enhances UI
March 16, 2017- “The faster reboot time applies in both VMware and Microsoft environments, and allows new machines to be spun up in a couple of minutes.Barracuda Networks has announced Barracuda Backup LiveBoot 2.0, an enhancement of the capability which has rapidly spun up VMware vSphere virtual guest machines from a Barracuda backup appliance or the Barracuda Cloud in the event of a failure with the primary storage system. Now it covers Microsoft Hyper-V as well. In addition, boot times have been significantly reduced in both vSphere and Hyper-V environments, and the user interface has been improved.”
Product Comparison: Backup And Recovery Software
March 1, 2017- “After multiple iterations of our annual backup and recovery product comparisons, you might think that there’s not much to report for 2017. However, due to the importance of such solutions; the ever-increasing data protection, retention, and recovery needs of customers; and the breakneck speed of innovation, there seems to be a lot to report with each version of this comparison.”
Five ways to educate your customers about ransomware
February 28, 2017- “Ransomware cost victims an estimated $1 billion in 2016, a 4,000-percent increase from the previous year. And ransomware attackers are getting bolder, demanding higher amounts, sometimes striking more than once, and even trying to turn victims into accomplices by inciting them to infect others.”
5 Ways MSPs Can Become Trusted Cloud Advisors
February 28, 2017- “Cloud adoption among SMBs is on the rise. A recent survey by Techaisle projects that, by the end of this year, the penetration of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications among SMBs will reach 94 percent, up from 73 percent in 2016. Furthermore, the number of cloud applications leveraged by SMBs is growing, and according to a recent study by Business Centric Services Group (BCSG), the average number of cloud apps in use at an SMB is expected to jump from three in 2015 to seven by 2018.”
To Stay Competitive, MSPs Need to Charge More, Not Less
February 27, 2017- “A common MSP challenge is how to win business in such a competitive marketplace. With technologies converging and more service providers expanding their portfolios to offer additional solutions, the field of providers targeting your potential market is growing even more crowded. “
Why MSPs Need to Diversify Beyond BDR Services
February 24, 2017- “MSPs who sell only basic managed services offerings comprising RMM, help desk and backup and disaster recovery are becoming an endangered species. It’s apparent, based on the mergers and acquisitions and product launches that have occurred in the industry in recent years that these solutions now are more frequently part of larger managed service offerings.”
Security vs. Performance: Don’t Sell a Firewall That Makes You Choose
February 21, 2017- “A firewall can be an effective tool against unauthorized access to a computer or network. The problem, however, is that the security rules associated with a firewall can also prevent employees from accessing files they need to do their jobs. As such, MSPs often find themselves the referees in this computer version of an immovable object meets an unstoppable force.”
Don’t Call It MSP Backup Anymore
February 1, 2017- “Amid Carbonite’s buyout of Double-Take Software and Datto’s acquisition of Open Mesh, the days of traditional backup services are over. Just about every major channel-friendly backup provider has embraced MSPs while rounding out their portfolios with business continuity, disaster recovery, data protection and availability services.”
3 Ways MSPs Can Capitalize on the SMB Virtualization Trend
February 1, 2017- “It wasn’t that long ago it was unheard of for an SMB to use virtualization technologies. However, a lot has changed since then. According to Techaisle’s SMB Server Virtualization Adoption market trends study, U.S. SMB server virtualization penetration was 41 percent in 2013 and grew to 54 percent in 2015.”
Securing Cloud Environments: Why MSPs Need to Act Now
January 25, 2017- “According to IDG’s Enterprise Cloud Computing Survey, 2016, 70 percent of all organizations now have at least one application in the cloud. The survey predicts that by 2018, less than half of all applications and platforms will preside on premises. Additionally, an average of 28 percent of survey respondents’ IT budgets are dedicated to cloud computing this year.”
Barracuda provides new security options for MSPs
January 23, 2017- “Managed service providers (MSPs) have new security options to protect their virtual and public cloud environments.Barracuda Networks, Inc., an cloud-based vendor of security, networking and storage, has introduced two new versions of it NextGen Firewall – Intronis MSP Edition. Made specifically for public cloud and 100 per cent virtualized environments, the two firewall solutions are being sold as subscription services.”
Intronis Launches Virtual and Cloud Editions of Its Subscription-Priced Firewall
January 23, 2017- “Intronis MSP Solutions, a division of Barracuda Networks Inc. with headquarters in Chelmsford, Mass., has added versions of its subscription-based firewall solution for virtualized and public cloud environments.”
Barracuda Introduces Virtual And Public Cloud Firewalls For MSPs
January 23, 2017- “Offering greater flexibility and scale, the new deployment options help MSPs protect on-premise virtualized environments or provide secure and reliable connectivity for Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform public cloud deployments.”
Barracuda adds virtual and public cloud firewalls for MSPs
January 23, 2017- “Barracuda Networks has launched new versions of their firewall for both virtual environments and the public cloud. These new versions of Barracuda NextGen Firewall – Intronis MSP Edition leverage the same technology in the physical version of the firewall for MSPs that Barracuda introduced last June.”
Channel Partners
Barracuda Introduces 2 New Virtual Firewalls
January 23, 2017- “MSP-focused security provider Barracuda Networks announced on Monday virtual and public cloud versions of its Barracuda NextGen Firewall – Intronis MSP Edition. The offerings are sold in a subscription model and can be used to protect customer VMware, Citrix XenServer, KVM and Hyper-V private clouds and workloads hosted offsite in Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud Platform.”
January 20, 2017- “Networked medical devices have great potential to improve patient outcomes. After all, devices that can signal healthcare professionals instantly when a risk or crisis occurs can save valuable time on the way to diagnosis and treatment.”
Barracuda CEO Credits Microsoft, Amazon, MSP Partner Momentum
January 10, 2017- “Barracuda Networks continues to gain momentum in the IT security and business continuity markets. Among the reasons: Thriving relationships with Microsoft, Amazon, channel partners and MSPs that want to safeguard customer data. Next up: More momentum with Google Cloud Platform, Barracuda CEO BJ Jenkins predicted during the company’s earnings call yesterday.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: 10 January 2017
January 10, 2017- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, January 10, 2017. Actually, there are 11 timely entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: 9 January 2017
January 9, 2017- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, January 9, 2017. Actually, there are 22 timely entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on.”
Vendor Predictions 2017 Part 4: Channel evolution
January 6, 2017- “Vendors’ crystal balls have seen a lot over the past few weeks. From cloud, to technology transformations, to security, vendors have shared their thoughts on what the channel should prepare for in 2017. But what about the channel itself? How will 2017 change the way solution providers, vendors or distributors do business?”
3 Business-Building Tips For MSPs In 2017
January 4, 2017- “The ringing in of the New Year provides an opportunity for businesses to take stock, reflect on their successes over the past 12 months, and address any challenges they faced along the way. At the same time, those who want to grow in the coming year are setting goals and evaluating new paths and opportunities to explore.”
3 Growth Opportunities For MSPs In 2017
December 23, 2016-“With the end of the year quickly approaching, the time has come to reflect on the trends and opportunities that have emerged in the past 12 months and look ahead to what can be expected in the in the coming year.”
How to Become an MSP Marketing Master
December 22, 2016-“MSPs are masters of technology, but did you also know that they can be successful at marketing? The Intronis MSP Marketing Masters Award honorees for 2016 – A Leap Ahead IT, CloudTech 1, EnKompas Technology Solutions, Results Technology, OXEN Technology and Techvera – are proof that MSPs can plan and carry out effective marketing campaigns that result in lead generation, improved brand awareness, and sales growth.”
The 4 Cs of Creating a Healthy MSP Sales Pipeline for New Business
December 20, 2016-“The prospecting strategies that worked for managed services providers in the past may not be as effective now. Simply sending emails or making cold calls may not be filling your sales pipeline, especially when prospects’ email inboxes are flooded with hundreds of messages each day and many send their calls directly to voicemail to help screen them.”
Should You Become an MSSP?
December 19, 2016-“In a climate of growing and evolving cyber threats, many businesses are outsourcing IT security to experts outside their organizations. The industry has recognized the opportunity to provide security services to the SMB market for some time, but a study released this year by Forrester for Masergy Communications revealed that 57 percent of enterprise companies are also seeking outside help for IT systems monitoring and 45 percent are outsourcing threat detection and intelligence.”
Top 10 BDR and Cloud Backup Predictions for 2017
December 14, 2016-“As we continue our technology predictions for 2017, here’s a look at 10 cloud backup and BDR( backup and disaster recovery) trends and milestones that we expect to unfold. Plus, how the trends will potentially impact VARs, MSPs and emerging cloud solutions providers.”
How to Differentiate Your MSP with Exceptional Customer Service
November 28, 2016-“Your customers are worth keeping. Study after study shows the importance of customer retention. While the cost to acquire a new customer versus retaining an existing one varies, one thing is universal: It’s far less expensive to keep the customers you already have. Additionally, MSPs generally agree that when it comes to revenue, the Pareto Principle usually applies: 20 percent of your customers represent 80 percent of your revenue. Most businesses don’t want to — nor can afford to — lose customers from that 20 percent. ”
DDoS Attacks: Customers and Their MSPs are Threatened
November 18, 2016-“On October 21, 2016, a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack caused disruptions to Internet activity throughout the U.S. Exploiting millions of devices connected to the Internet, the Mirai botnet attacked Dyn, a domain name service (DNS) provider in New Hampshire. The attack flooded Dyn with massive amounts of traffic and overwhelmed the DNS provider’s systems. Dyn reported that some of its data centers experienced packet flow bursts 40 to 50 times higher than normal, even with mitigation solutions in place. It’s possible the actual magnitude of the attack was as high as 1.2 Tbps.”
3 Reasons MSPs Need to Combine Security and Data Protection
November 15, 2016-“With so many threats to data security, MSPs need to be strategic about how they guard against them. There is no single cure-all solution that can protect clients’ networks and data against malware, brute force, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), and social engineering attacks—not to mention data loss from user error and natural disasters.”
3 Best Practices For Securing Customer Data At Multiple Locations
November 3, 2016-“For customers operating from a single location, protecting data, applications, and IT infrastructure can be fairly simple and straightforward. Yet, when a customer has multiple locations, branch offices, or remote workers, data protection and cybersecurity can begin to pose a significant challenge — one savvy MSPs can expertly address when they put the right tools in place and adopt the following best practices for ensuring data security at multiple locations..”
Ask the Right Questions: How to Discuss Data Protection and Security with SMBs
October 31, 2016-“Asking open-ended questions can be an effective technique for learning about prospects’ technology needs, their pain points, and the goals they are trying to achieve. When it comes to selling data protection and security solutions to small to midsize businesses (SMBs), however, it’s important to ask the right questions.”
The 5 Stages of SMB Cybersecurity Grief
October 25, 2016-“It may come as a shock to hear that your SMB clients and prospects aren’t interested in cybersecurity. However, with all the challenges SMBs are currently facing — from new overtime and minimum wage laws to rising wholesale costs and increasing competition — an invitation to talk about why they need to purchase cybersecurity solutions could be met with indifference.”
Mythbusters: 4 Cybersecurity Myths SMBs Believe, But Shouldn’t
October 20, 2016-“It can be a challenge to convince small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) that they need cybersecurity solutions. To overcome SMBs’ objections, MSPs need to understand that businesses of this size often have a belief system based on a lack of understanding about the risks, security best practices, and what a data breach could mean in terms of dollars and cents. Unfortunately, these false beliefs stand in the way of taking measures to protect sensitive customer, employee, and proprietary information.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: 13 October 2016
October 13, 2016-“Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, October 13, 2016. Actually, there are 16 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…”
Barracuda Extends Cloud-to-Cloud Data Protection to SharePoint Online
September 28, 2016-“Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, September 28, 2016. Actually, there are 23 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…”
Barracuda CEO Praises Office 365 Security Wins, MSP Momentum
October 11, 2016-“Barracuda Networks CEO BJ Jenkins says the security and business continuity company is gaining momentum. The reason?: Cloud and MSP offerings.“In the MSP channel, we continue to expand the products available via our Intronis MSP solutions and added new partners,” Jenkins said during Barracuda’s Q2 2017 earnings call this evening. “Over the past year, we have added Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, backup and next generation firewall solutions. These offerings are attracting new MSP partners and we believe are catalysts to grow sales. In the second quarter, we added 160 new partners onto the Intronis platform.””
How To Use Ransomware To Drive BDR Sales
September 29, 2016- “The concept of ransomware is not new — it has been a part of the cyber threat landscape for more than 20 years. But, what makes it important to today’s cyber-security conversation is the emergence of “crypto” ransomware, i.e. CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, TeslaCrypt, and more recently Cerber.”
Managed Services And Networking News
September 28, 2016-“Barracuda Networks recently announced the launch of a virtual version of Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition. Available now in North America and Europe, the virtual appliance is sold as a subscription and leverages Barracuda’s technology to protect both physical and virtual environments. It provides a backup solution for MSPs that prefer to use their own storage or are looking to reduce their investments in dedicated hardware.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: 28 September 2016
September 28, 2016-“Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, September 28, 2016. Actually, there are 23 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…”
4 Tips for Supporting SharePoint Online Customer Migrations
September 27, 2016- “SharePoint has become an indispensable collaboration tool for many organizations — about 200,000 of them, according to Microsoft. SharePoint gives teams the ability to create secure sites where they can store and organize mission-critical information, and SharePoint Online adds a new dimension. Because it is cloud-based, an organization’s staff can access information from their SharePoint site from Internet-connected devices — a significant benefit for teams with employees who work remotely or for companies that regularly share information, documents, or files with partners or customers.”
Barracuda Introduces Office 365 Email Threat Scanning Tool
September 27, 2016-“Available free for a limited time, the system is designed to boost sales of the company’s Office 365 security and data protection suite by exposing ransomware and advanced persistent threats hidden in corporate mailboxes. Barracuda Networks Inc., of Campbell, Calif., has introduced a new tool for hunting down ransomware and advanced persistent threats lurking in Microsoft Office 365 email messages.”
MSPs: Make Retailers’ “Customer Experience Is King” Mantra Your Own
May 5, 2016- “Like many MSPs, retailers are challenged with having to distinguish themselves from competitors primarily by fostering a positive customer experience. In fact, as recent Gartner research confirms, the customer experience is the new battlefield.”
Barracuda Preps Intronis Security Surprise for MSPs
May 4, 2016- “Intronis — the cloud backup and data protection service for MSPs — is performing well under Barracuda Networks‘ ownership, and is preparing to push into subscription security services, according to CEO BJ Jenkins.Barracuda acquired Intronis in September 2015, and now refers to the business as Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda Networks. So far, the Intronis business is performing well under Barracuda’s ownership — meeting the parent company’s financial expectations, according to Jenkins’ statements to Wall Street analysts on April 26.”
Compliance as a Service: Good for Your Portfolio?
April 28, 2016- “In March, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced that it was launching the second phase of its HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Program. In short, healthcare organizations of any size and “a range of business associates of these entities” (read: those who “touch” patient data) are eligible for an audit. This is just one example of the challenges SMBs face in keeping up with the continued onslaught of regulations such as HIPAA and PCI, giving rise to a new offering: compliance as a service, or CaaS.”
Barracuda Expands Reach, Resources Across the Pond
April 19, 2016- “Barracuda Networks this week announced it has expanded into the United Kingdom partner channel with the launch of its Intronis MSP Solutions in that country.The launch builds on the success of the Intronis ECHOplatform in North America, where more than 2,000 MSP partners use the platform to service thousands of SMBs. The platform is operational from a U.K. data center.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: 19 April 2016
April 19, 2016- “Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Tuesday, April 19, 2016. Actually, there are nine entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. 9. Autotask Merges PSA, RMM: Autotask, as expected, has blended its PSA and RMM offering into a “unified” IT business management platform. Autotask unified platform now delivers real-time, bi-directional synchronization and reporting for improved efficiency, service delivery and business insights, the company claims. Here are deeper details.”
Barracuda Expands Reach into UK Partner Channel
April 19, 2016- “Barracuda Networks, Inc. have announced that it has expanded its reach and resources into the UK partner channel, with the launch of its Intronis MSP Solutions in the UK. Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda (Intronis MSP Solutions) includes innovative backup and data protection solutions for managed service providers (MSPs), as well as the recently announced Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition. The launch builds upon the success of the Intronis ECHOplatform in North America, where more than 2,000 MSP partners use the award-winning platform to service thousands of small and medium-sized businesses.”
Barracuda offers hosted data backup to UK MSPs
April 19, 2016- “Barracuda is expanding its reach into the UK channel with the launch of its Intronis MSP Solutions in the UK, marking the first launch outside of North America since Barracuda acquired Intronis in October 2015. Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda offer easy-to-manage, secure data protection and backup solutions for managed service providers. Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition is included in the offering.”
Barracuda expands options for MSPs
April 18, 2016- “It has been six months since Barracuda acquired Intronis MSP Solutions as it looked to add managed service backup and data protection offerings to its portfolio. Now UK MSPs will be offered the chance to sell Intronis technology, which is the first launch of the technology outside the US, and there could be the prospect of more features to come beyond just backup and data protection from Barracuda. “
5 Marketing Tactics That Drive MSP Success
April 4, 2016- “Marketing is a critical part of effectively growing any business. How and what you communicate about your business to customers and prospects can make the difference between success and failure. Yet, for many MSPs and IT service providers, marketing often falls to the bottom of the to-do list. For some, this is due to lack of experience or skill in marketing. Others simply don’t have the time or resources to focus on marketing their business.”
World Backup Day 2016: A Little Planning Goes a Long Way
March 31, 2016- “Thinking ahead and taking the time and attention needed to ensure the protection of data valuables is well worth it and doesn’t cost that much. Today, March 31, is World Backup Day, which reminds all of us that we need to back up all our personal and business-related documents, photos, videos—anything else digital that we value.”
Data Protection: Why There Is Strength (and Safety) in Numbers
March 26, 2016- “In today’s data-driven world, businesses of all sizes are finding themselves increasingly vulnerable to data breach and loss. Recent studies have shown, in fact, that cybersecurity attacks are on the rise, increasing in both frequency and intensity. For example, Arbor Networks’ 11th annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report (WISR), which was released in January 2016, surveyed 354 service providers and network operators and found that 56 percent of respondents reported multivector attacks targeting infrastructure, applications and services simultaneously, up from 42 percent in the previous year.” “
New backup appliance from 500GB to 112TB and corporate branding
March 25, 2016- “Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda Networks, Inc., provider of backup and data protection solutions for MSPs, announced it has expanded its offerings to include a subscription-based hardware solution, Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition. available in North America, Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition leverages Barracuda’s technology to provide MSPs with an appliance-based solution for their customers.”
Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition Helps MSPs Prevent Customer Data Loss
March 21, 2016- “Barracuda has a lot of experience simplifying IT with cloud-enabled solutions that help customers to protect their networks, applications and data, whether on premises or in the cloud. In fact, the company recently brought added protection to Microsoft Office 365 with Barracuda Essentials for Office 365. However, it’s Intronis (News – Alert) MSP Solutions by Barracuda that is perhaps the company’s best known offering. As such, the news that the company has expanded the suite’s offerings is significant.”
Intronis by Barracuda Releases New Appliance and Branding
March 17, 2016- “Backup technology vendor Intronis, as part of its acquisition by Barracuda, has launched a new appliance for MSPs, along with a fresh brand, now that it is part of the Barracuda corporate structure. Intronis, now known as Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda, has developed a subscription-based hardware solution, Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition. Available now in North America, Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition uses Barracuda’s backup technology to provide MSPs with an appliance-based solution for their customers.”
Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda Unveils New Backup Appliance
March 16, 2016- “Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda (formerly Intronis) has introduced Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition, a backup appliance that managed service providers (MSPs) can offer to protect their customers against data loss. Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition serves as “an all-in-one, subscription-based data protection solution that simplifies business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) service delivery for MSPs and IT service providers.” “
Intronis Introduces New Name and New BDR Appliance
March 16, 2016- “In some of the most concrete changes since its acquisition by Campbell, Calif.-based Barracuda Networks Inc. last September, Intronis has adopted a new name and introduced a new hardware-based backup solution built with Barracuda technology.The new moniker, Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda, underscores the company’s status as part of the Barracuda family, according to senior director of business development Neal Bradbury.“Barracuda has a very well-known brand worldwide and Intronis is going to start to take advantage of that,” he says, adding that the new name also calls attention to Intronis’s focus on the managed service provider market.”
Intronis: New Brand, New Appliance, Global MSP Push
March 16, 2016-“Intronis, the cloud-centric backup company owned by Barracuda Networks, is adjusting its brand and expanding its portfolio of solutions for MSPs. The efforts include subscription-based hardware, expanded platform software support, and a growing international footprint. The newly branded business is dubbed Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda. The goal is to (A) leverage the well-known Intronis moniker in the MSP sector, (B) emphasize Barracuda’s growing commitment to MSP-oriented sales channels and (C) give Intronis global upside from the Barracuda brand, according to Rick Faulk, VP & general manager of the MSP Business.”
Intronis dons Barracuda colours with new appliance, branding
March 16, 2016-“Backup and data protection solution provider Intronis, which was acquired last September by Barracuda, and is now a business unit of Barracuda, has made two major announcements which demonstrate its new corporate affiliation. First, Intronis announced a new name, Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda. Secondly, and likely more significantly to its many partners, Intronis also unveiled its first appliance, leveraging Barracuda’s hardware to provide a different deployment option.”
5 Channel Partner Updates: 16 March 2016
March 16, 2016-Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Actually, there are 14 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. 14. Intronis: Updated brand, new appliances. This isn’t your father’s cloud storage company. Stay tuned for more updates involving Intronis later today. Er, make that “Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda.”
Holistic Data Protection for the SMB: Five Steps for MSPs
February 29, 2016- “In today’s competitive business climate, data is king. Organizations, both large and small and across all vertical industries, rely heavily on data to stay in business. The fact is that any outage, whether caused by nature or man-made, has the potential to put a company out of business indefinitely–or, in some cases, permanently.”
Best Practices For Hiring Technical Talent
February 2, 2015- “Advancing technologies, increasing service requirements, and a high demand for engineering talent are making it harder for managed services providers (MSPs) and IT solutions providers to fill open positions within their organizations. With pressure building, many are leveraging their distribution, peer, and vendor relationships to meet the need for skilled workers, while others are promoting from within and training; hiring for other qualities and then training; or, avoiding hiring at all until the right combination of skills emerges — anything to avoid putting an “almost capable” body in the chair. Why? Because hiring the wrong talent is a waste of time, money, and resources.”
Don’t Let the Winter Weather Get Your Customers Down
January 28, 2016- “From snow and rain on the East Coast and across the Central Plains to the wild El Niño weather patterns out West, people all over the United States are bracing for what could be a tough winter. For businesses, especially, the winter months can be difficult. Hazardous road conditions make it hard to get to and from work, snow and ice can damage power lines and bring down technology infrastructure, and cold weather can lead to burst pipes and flooding, causing businesses to close for indefinite periods of time.”
Blizzard 2016: Snow Storm Meets BDR, Cloud Backup, Business Continuity
January 22, 2016-“As predicted, Jonas — the Blizzard of 2016 — is knocking out electric power and packing feet (not inches) of snow across the Eastern Seaboard. But many channel partners have already taken precautionary steps to protect customers, businesses and the associated data from the massive snow storm.”
Your Technology Predictions for 2016: The Final List
December 31, 2015-“Last call… Last call… ChannelE2E made plenty of IT channel and technology industry predictions for 2016. Now it’s time to put our readers and industry leaders in the spotlight before we all sign off to ring in the New Year.Here’s a sampling of 2016 predictions that caught our attention, along with credit to the IT gurus who made them.”
Vendor Predictions 2016 Part 3: Cloud
December 30, 2015- “Cloud has been and will continue to be on the rise in 2016. Love it or hate it, with cloud seemingly here to stay, solution providers can expect disruption to continue fall from the cloud next year, so for the final part of our three-part series, vendors share predictions on how cloud will remain a game changer and force partners to reconsider various aspects of their business.”
Executive Viewpoint 2016 Prediction: Intronis – Top 3 IT Industry Predictions
December 28, 2015- “Over the past year, the damage caused by cybersecurity threats continued to grow, as new malware variants and data breaches multiplied unabated, affecting in turn companies both large and small. While I expect cybersecurity to continue to be a topic of interest in the coming year, there are a few other notable trends I see emerging in the IT industry. Here are my top three predictions for 2016.”
Trends in Managed Services: Three Predictions for 2016
December 28, 2015- “In the spirit of the season, here are three areas that I see continuing to positively impact the IT channel in 2016.”
The Best Work Cultures Have More Than Happy Hour and Free Snacks
December 22, 2015- “The success of your business can depend on a few different factors. The types of products or services you’re offering, or the audience you’re catering to, all of that can have a major impact on your bottom line. You might have the best product on the market, but without a dedicated, and more importantly, happy staff, it’s not enough. More than anything else, your people are the bread and butter of your business.”
The IT Service Pro’s Ever-Changing Business Model
December 23, 2015- “It’s often said that the only thing that is constant is change. Anyone who’s been working in the IT channel for more than six months —IT service providers, in particular — can certainly attest to this simple truth. Now more than ever, business models are changing rapidly— whether it’s by choice or chance—and the channel needs to be ready to capitalize on it.”
Pie in the Sky — How Cloud Solves the Storage Conundrum
December 17, 2015- “Register for this Dec. 17 episode of DM Radio to hear Host Eric Kavanagh interview several guests including Intronis’ Chris Crellin about the sea changes underway in the storage market.”
Leveraging Compliance as a Service to Fuel Business Growth
November 30, 2015- “As countless experts in the IT channel will attest, specialization is key to building a thriving business. With an increasing number of MSPs and solution providers heeding this advice, it is not uncommon to come across channel partners that are focused solely on serving clients in the healthcare, legal, banking or financial services industries. Now, those who already possess this vertical market expertise have an opportunity to differentiate themselves even further and grow their businesses by focusing on meeting a critical business need–compliance.”
3 Steps To Creating A Disaster Recovery Plan
November 18, 2015-Disasters don’t discriminate when choosing when and where to strike, making data centers of all shapes and sizes equally vulnerable.
Intronis at ChannelNext West BC 2015
November 18, 2015-Intronis’ Kyle Marsan was interviewed by e-channel news at the ChannelNext conference.
Moving documents & information to a new level
November 12, 2015- “Are you embracing the reality that document workflow solutions and business process tools are moving to the cloud? If not, perhaps it is time for you to take a closer look at cloud services opportunities that could take your dealership to new heights. Certainly, your clients would welcome your continued advancements as a services-led provider.”
Managed Services, Backup And Recovery, And Networking News From October 2015
November 12, 2015- “Each month, Business Solutions reports news on business in the channel. This month in managed services, backup and recovery, and networking news, Barracuda has entered in an agreement to acquire Intronis, Solarwinds N-able introduces a new remote control access platform, Carbonite announced its portfolio of disaster recovery solutions, SYNNEX boosts its K-12 solution set, Carbonite upgrades its backup and disaster recovery (BDR) platform, and CompTIA introduces cybersecurity training.”
Nine Questions to Answer Before Migrating to the Cloud
November 5, 2015- “Cloud computing is driving a fundamental transition in the evolution of IT. According to IDC’s 2015 global CloudView Survey, nearly two-thirds of enterprises are using or planning to use some form of cloud—whether for a single project or their portfolio, for test/development environments, or to run mission-critical applications.”
7 Ways To Increase Your Customers’ Awareness Of Cybersecurity
November 5, 2015- “Moving at the speed of business today means providing immediate access to critical business data and applications, regardless of whether workers are on-site or working remotely. It also means enabling workers to respond quickly to customer and partner requests via e-mail and instant messaging, and leveraging cloud computing to support instant collaboration between workers, customers, and partners in different geographic locations. But what many businesses and consumers discount are the relentless threats waiting for them once they “power on” and use the Internet and cloud computing to get it all done.”
Disaster 411: Is your business prepared to fight back?
October 30, 2015-“On the heels of September’s National Preparedness Month, an effort sponsored by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Americans are being encouraged to take extra precautions to safeguard their homes, businesses, schools, and communities against disaster — long before disaster strikes!”
Three baseline IT security tips for small businesses
October 29, 2014 – “When massive organizations like Sony, Home Depot, and the Office of Personnel Management are hacked they grab equally massive headlines. Yet, while they rarely grab headlines, small and middle-market companies are particularly susceptible to hacks, said Chris Crellin, Senior Director of Product Management at Intronis, a data protection firm, because many SMBs can’t afford to employ a security team, or are uninformed of the risks posed by attackers.”
Four Ways to Better Secure Your Remote Workforce
October 29, 2015- “October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month and an excellent opportunity for MSPs and solution providers to educate their customers on how to protect their data, applications and IT infrastructure from cyber attacks.”
Have You Explored These Data Protection Options For Your Small Business?
October 22, 2015- “For millions of small businesses in the United States, their data is their lifeblood – small businesses wouldn’t be able to operate without it … Unfortunately, not all small business owners understand the importance of having business-grade data protection.”
4 Ways To Protect Small Businesses From Data Loss
September 30, 2015- “Since 2004, Ready.gov, a national public service campaign by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has recognized September as National Preparedness Month. As the month comes to a close, we remind you to stress with your clients that businesses should be prepared year-round for disaster. This is an opportunity for IT solution providers and SMBs alike to re-focus their efforts on ensuring that their data and critical business infrastructure are protected, should catastrophe strike.”
How to Convert Remaining Break-Fix Clients
September 22, 2015- As a managed services provider (MSP), you understand the benefits of the recurring revenue stream model. It provides predictable income, saves time and money, improves service levels, and boosts profitability, just to name a few benefits. But making the business case to your customers–especially those who’ve historically been on the “break/fix” invoicing model–may take a little more explaining.
The Business Side Of Managed Services
September 15, 2015- “By now, readers of this magazine should know that offering managed services is a great way to make your business more stable through predictable revenue and more profitable from lowered and controlled expenses. Readers should also know that transitioning to managed services isn’t always easy, depending on the current state of your existing practice. In an attempt to address some of the biggest challenges of new (and existing) MSPs (managed services providers), we put together a panel of some of the most sought-after industry experts to share their knowledge and experiences. We discussed common mistakes and best practices on the topics of sales, compensation, pricing, and bundling.”
Intronis; News!
September 14, 2015- In honor of National Preparedness Month our VP of Product Management, Chris Crellin, sat down with The Computer America radio show to discuss disaster preparedness. In the live broadcast of the show, Craig Crossman and Chris Crellin talk about the major and everyday disasters that pose a threat to small businesses.
Vendor Q&A Series: Neal Bradbury, Intronis
September 7, 2015- The latest channel exec to sit in the Channelnomics hotseat is Intronis’ VP of channel development.
Beyond The Headlines: Taking A Holistic Approach To Data Security
August 31, 2015- “It seems as if a week doesn’t go by without a data breach making headlines. From recent news of backup tapes gone missing from a Massachusetts-based hospital to a phishing attack at an Indiana-based healthcare system to a malware incident involving payment cards at several upscale hotels in California, the reasons for these data breaches vary widely. While each of these incidents offers a cautionary tale for businesses of all sizes, they don’t fully illustrate what’s needed to successfully fill the security gaps that exist today.”
Three Steps to Protecting Your Clients’ Business
September 1, 2015- “As a whole, small businesses are tremendous economic engines–creating jobs, stimulating growth and fostering innovation. Unfortunately, their size makes them especially vulnerable to catastrophic incidents such as fire, flood and extreme weather events, as well as to more localized problems including equipment failures, theft, and cybercrime.”
Intronis boosts marketing assistance to partners with MSP Marketing Booster Pack
August 28, 2015-“Backup and data protection solution provider Intronis has added to its training and enablement resources with a new Intronis MSP Marketing Booster Kit for its MSP partners. Accessible within the Business Track in Intronis University, it is a key element in a path that will see a formal sales and marketing certification program be available to partners.”
Best Practices For Defining Business Continuity Plans
August 7, 2015- “Every business has a different tolerance level when it comes to application downtime. Some can endure a few hours, while others will start losing revenue, and even customers, within minutes of a failure. At the end of the day, though, the total impact of a failure really comes down to the types of applications the business is running.”
Today’s top malware threats — are you prepared?
August 5, 2015-“Today, data breaches are nothing short of the norm. Organizations like Target, Home Depot, and even the United States Government have fallen victim to cyber criminals illegally accessing and tampering with the sensitive data in their private systems. While cloud computing has simplified the way organizations manage data, it has also made it easier than ever for hackers to gain access to systems and get their hands on critical corporate information.”
Making the Case for Business-Grade File Sync and Share
August 3, 2015- “What many businesses don’t realize is consumer-grade solutions simply don’t offer the security, manageability, scale or even the usability of their business-grade counterparts. With an increasing number of workers using smartphones and tablets to do their jobs, businesses are more compelled than ever to provide their employees with access to solutions and services that support mobility, increase productivity, and enhance communication and collaboration with co-workers, business partners and clients.”
10 Biggest BDR News Stories of 2015 (So Far)
August 3, 2015- “Intronis in June unveiled the Summer Release ’15 of Intronis ECHOplatform. This release includes a revamped dashboard and an Executive Summary report generator.”
6 Tips to Outline a Top-Notch Business Plan
July 30, 2015- “No matter what kind of business you’re running, or in what industry, a well-thought-out business plan is absolutely critical to achieving success. But, a lot of times, entrepreneurs set out on a business endeavor without taking the time to document their goals and the tactics they plan to use to attain them. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle that is all too often disregarded.”
Product Comparison: Backup & Recovery (BDR) Software
July 20, 2015- “The three BDR (backup and disaster recovery) product reviews we’ve done since 2013 have been among the most-read pieces of content on our website, and for good reason. Not only is BDR the central service of most MSPs (managed services providers), but also the reviews have been loaded with great insights from our tester, Eric Brown, CEO of managed services provider Remote Technology Management (RTM). Many established and would-be MSPs have told us that they find the product reviews to be valuable resources in evaluating new products or confirming their decision to use the products they do.”
5 Best Practices For Establishing A Security Policy
July 6, 2015- At the recent RSA Conference in San Francisco, an abundance of products and solutions — from firewalls and antimalware protection, to endpoint, mobile, and network security — were being marketed to protect organizations’ critical infrastructure, applications, and data. But without a robust security policy in place, even the industry’s best products can only go so far to protect an organization from data loss. That’s where MSPs (managed services providers) can step in and make a difference.”
Intronis backup software update features new dashboard, reporting tool
June 26, 2015 – “Intronis has released the latest version of Echoplatform, its backup software for IT service providers. The Summer Release ’15 of the Intronis backup software introduces a new dashboard and other enhancements.”
Intronis stresses better user experience with Summer Release ‘15
June 26, 2015-“Backup and data protection vendor Intronis has announced the Summer Release ‘15 of its Intronis ECHOplatform. While recent releases have focused on facilitating a new pricing model and on improving imaging, the theme this time is about improving the user experience, for both Intronis’ MSP partners and their end customers.”
3 Reasons Your Managed Services Sales Are Stagnant
June 25, 2015- “There’s no shortage of advice telling IT solution providers they should be selling managed services and earning monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Yet, when it comes down to it, making the transition from project-based or break-fix IT services to managed services is hard.”
Latest Intronis Dashboard Release Adds Filtering, Summary Report Options
June 24, 2015- “This week, backup and data protection solutions provider Intronis unveiled the Summer Release ’15 of Intronis ECHOplatform, which includes a newly designed dashboard and an Executive Summary report generator.”
Intronis launches simplified backup platform
June 23, 2015-“For smaller businesses organizing backups can be a chore which is why they often choose to buy a service solution from their systems provider rather than do it in house. Backup and data protection specialist Intronis is one of the leaders in backup platforms for IT providers and is launching a new release of its ECHOplatform designed to deliver simplified operations and improved value.”
Intronis Launches Summer Release ’15 of ECHOplatform
June 23, 2015- “The latest release of the data protection platform features greater optimization and customization with an all-In-one dashboard and new automated executive summary reports.”
Intronis Answers Partners’ Calls for Data Protection Platform Upgrade
June 23, 2015- “Massachusetts-based Intronis, the backup and data-protection provider, has unveiled the summer release of its ECHOplatform, with improvements the company says were inspired by partner feedback.The enhancements include a new and intuitive dashboard that’s designed to be easy to read and manage. It aims to help partners further streamline administrative tasks and speed up issue resolution by showing them the entire Intronis ECHOplatform portfolio in a single interface. New filtering options deliver the most critical data at a glance, and save those options for future use every time you log in to the portal.”
Professionals on the Move – June 17, 2015
June 17, 2015 – “Intronis, Inc. recently announced the appointment of Chris Crellin as Vice President of Product Management and Scott Graham as Vice President of IT & Operations. In his new role, Crellin will lead the company’s product strategy and management initiatives. His past experience includes product strategy, software engineering, product management and cloud-to-cloud backup.”
Hiring in the Hub: These Boston Tech Companies Made Moves This Week
June 12, 2015 – “Hiring news among Boston tech companies hasn’t slowed down for summer (yet). Here are the latest Boston tech jobs moves to know about: Chelmsford, Mass.-based data backup firm Intronis has made two new executive hires. Chris Crellin (formerly of Datto/Backupify) has joined as VP of product management, while Scott Graham (formerly of First Marblehead Bank and Avid Technology) has been named VP of IT and operations.”
Channel Partner Program Roundup: Intronis, QA, RCN
June 11, 2015 – “Gather round, readers, and settle in for another edition of Channel Partner Program Roundup, your weekly who’s who on all the latest channel partner news. This week we’ve got updates from Intronis, QA and RCN Business.”
Chris Crellin VP of Product Management, Intronis
June 10, 2015-“A former software engineer and product management expert, Chris Crellin joins Intronis from Datto, Inc. where he was responsible for product strategy and execution of the company’s cloud-to-cloud backup portfolio, following the company’s acquisition of Backupify. Prior to that he spent 14 years with RSA, the security division of EMC, where he served as the product manager for the SecurID portfolio. In his role for Intronis, he is responsible for leading product strategy and management.”
People on the Move in Boston: Scott Graham
June 9, 2015- “In his role as VP of IT & operations, Scott Graham is tasked with overseeing the strategic development and execution of Intronis’ internal IT initiatives, R&D, and operations.”
Intronis Announces Two Executive Hires
June 9, 2015-“Intronis, Inc. has announced the appointment of Chris Crellin as VP of Product Management and Scott Graham as VP of IT & Operations. A former software engineer and product management expert, Chris Crellin joins Intronis from Datto, Inc. where he was responsible for product strategy and execution of the company¹s cloud-to-cloud backup portfolio, following the company’s acquisition of Backupify. Prior to working for Backupify, and then Datto, Chris spent 14 years with RSA, the Security Division of EMC, where he served as the product manager for the RSA SecurID portfolio. In his role as VP of Product Management for Intronis, Chris is responsible for leading product strategy and management.”
People on the Move in Boston: Chris Crellin
June 9, 2015- “In his role as VP of product management for Intronis, Chris Crellin is responsible for leading product strategy and management.”
Intronis Expands Channel Leadership Team; Announces Two Executive Hires
June 8, 2015- “A former software engineer and product management expert, Chris Crellin joins Intronis from Datto, Inc. where he was responsible for product strategy and execution of the company’s cloud-to-cloud backup portfolio, following the company’s acquisition of Backupify. Prior to working for Backupify, and then Datto, Chris spent 14 years with RSA, the Security Division of EMC, where he served as the product manager for the RSA SecurID portfolio. In his role as VP of Product Management for Intronis, Chris is responsible for leading product strategy and management.”
Intronis Gets New Product VP From Datto
June 8, 2015- “Backup and data-protection provider Intronis has expanded its channel leadership team with two new hires.The first is Chris Crellin, the company’s new vice president of product management. Crellin comes to Intronis from fellow backup provider Datto, where he was responsible for product strategy and execution of the company’s cloud-to-cloud backup portfolio after it acquired Backupify. Before his work with Backupify and Datto, Crellin spent 14 years with RSA, EMC’s security division, where he was product manager for the RSA SecurID portfolio.”
Intronis appoints two new vice presidents
June 8, 2015- “Backup and disaster recovery solutions provider Intronis has two new vice presidents to call its own. The Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based company has appointed Chris Crellin as VP of product management and Scott Graham as VP of IT and operations.”
3 Ways Channel Partners Can Become Experts In Healthcare IT Security
June 4, 2015- “With data breaches on the rise in the U.S., the security of personal data is becoming a growing concern for both consumers and businesses, and rightly so. The major cyberattack experienced earlier this year by Anthem exposed the sensitive healthcare information of 80 million Americans — nearly a quarter of the U.S. population. And that’s just one example.”
Four Reasons Why Service Tiers Make Life Easier for MSPs
May 28, 2015- “Ensuring there is more than enough revenue coming in each month to cover expenses is a top priority for every smart business owner, including MSPs. If you are struggling to find the best way to price your services in order to hit your revenue targets, here’s a quick piece of advice: Take the time to evaluate (and potentially change) how you currently package and price your services. Is there a methodology? Do you offer bundles? Or, do you just pick a round number and roll with it? “
20 Expert Tips on Integrating Mobile and Cloud Strategies
May 27, 2015- “‘Bring your own device (BYOD) policies give your employees the freedom to create, collaborate, and execute regardless of time or space, so the key is to tap into the potential of these ubiquitous endpoints without putting corporate assets at risk,’ said Neal Bradbury, co-founder and VP of channel development, Intronis.”
Writing a Business Plan? 13 Challenges to Overcome
May 18, 2015- “[One of the top challenges is] keeping it short and sweet. The more concise and focused a plan is, the more likely business owners are to achieve the goals they have set out for themselves and their business.” – Rick Faulk, chairman and CEO, Intronis.
Why Do Large Enterprises Have Security Breaches?
May 11, 2015- “Large enterprises. Mid-sized businesses. Mom and pops.
Seems like they’re all vulnerable to data security breaches today, right? It’s no longer as easy as locking up the front door of the business. Just ask Slack, Target and even Salesforce, each of which dealt with cyber attacks on some level in the past few years.”
How To Choose A Business-Grade File-Sharing Solution
May 7, 2015- “Let’s face it, when it comes to file-sharing, there is a seemingly endless array of options, which can make it difficult for businesses to choose a solution that will meet all of their needs — especially when it comes to security and scale.”
5 Common Business Plan Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
May 5, 2015- “Writing a business plan is an important part of the business startup process. There has been debate in recent years concerning whether or not creating a formal business plan is really helpful. In our opinion, it is never a bad idea to go through the process of presenting your business on paper. If nothing else, it will really help you focus and dial-in the strategy and trajectory of your business.”
Intronis; The GizWiz!
April 29, 2015- “Intronis is changing the game when it comes to data protection. They build data protection solutions exclusively for the IT channel, selling only to IT services providers and never direct to small business end users. They developed the Intronis ECHOplatform, the first software platform designed to deliver complete protection for physical and virtual data in one location for a fixed price with unlimited storage.”
Three Reasons for Selecting Cloud Data Protection Solutions
April 29, 2015- “The move to cloud is opening up greater opportunities for channel partners to grow their businesses more profitably and expand their offerings to include much-needed support, such as cloud data protection services.”
The Download: Rick Faulk uses his smartphone to keep tabs on his Tesla…and his golf game
April 23, 2015- “Rick Faulk is the chief executive of Intronis in Chelmsford, a cloud-based backup and recovery service. His reliance on the cloud translates to nearly every aspect of his life: He controls his car, his home, and his business dealings through a series of smartphone apps.”
4 Things To Consider When Protecting Apps And Data In The Cloud
April 13, 2015- “The debate about which cloud is the right for business — public, private or hybrid — has been ongoing and may never be completely resolved, but most will agree the choice depends on the business and its unique requirements.”
Top 6 Channel Influencers From Talkin’ Cloud 100 Honorees
April 8, 2015- “Neal Bradbury co-founded Intronis, a Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solutions provider that ranked 39 on the Talkin’ Cloud 100. He now supports Intronis’ channel program, serving as the company’s vice president of channel development.”
The VAR Guy’s Top 50 Channel Influencers List, 2015: 1-10
April 6, 2014 – “Bradbury co-founded Intronis in 2003. Early on and under his guidance, Intronis changed its DNA to become a channel-exclusive player with a white-label, SaaS-based BDR service offering built specifically for VARs, MSPs and CSPs. Since then, Bradbury has played a pivotal role in the development and success of Intronis’ channel program. Over the last year the volume of storage being managed by Intronis’ channel partners has grown significantly. In 2014, Intronis released a new pricing program that put the margin control back into the hands of its partners, and many have reported becoming more profitable and gaining an additional competitive angle in the marketplace.”
Today is World Backup Day – Is Your Biz Data Safe?
March 31, 2015- “It’s 2015, and although cyber attacks and data breaches are crowding the covers of newspapers and carving out an ever-present name for themselves on news networks across the globe, small business are still leaving themselves vulnerable to attack. What are they waiting for? Today marks the fifth annual World Backup Day, a day set aside to inspire small business owners to take the necessary precautions to protect and backup their critical business data, so it’s important for SMBs to educate themselves on the repercussions of data loss and take steps to stop cyber threats in their tracks.”
6 Tips to Fight the Data Gremlins on World Backup Day
March 31, 2015- “Whose fault is data loss? Intronis is blaming the gremlins, unveiling several new components of its “Data Loss Gremlins” Campaign, just in time for World Backup Day on March 31, 2015. Featuring six “gremlins” that personify common causes of data loss—including fire, natural disaster, theft, virus, user error and equipment failure—the company’s nationwide awareness and prevention campaign returns for a second year to help educate small businesses about the importance of data backup and protection.”
World Backup Day March 31, 2015
March 31, 2015- “According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of data breaches in the United States increased 27.5 percent in 2014 alone. The 2013 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report also revealed that 81 percent of all breaches happen to small businesses. On the heels of escalating cyber security concerns, President Obama called for better cyber security in his State of the Union Address in January, leading to increased educational and prevention efforts. Intronis, Inc., a provider of world-class backup and data protection solutions for the IT channel, today unveiled several new components of its “Data Loss Gremlins” Campaign, just in time for World Backup Day on March 31, 2015. “
The Value of Time in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
March 31, 2015- “As the old adage goes, “Time is money,” and in the interest of saving money, we must not waste time. This is especially true when it comes to disaster preparedness and recovery—an area where many companies continue to fall short, as evidenced by the Disaster Recovery Preparedness Council’s 2014 Disaster Preparedness Benchmark Survey.”
World Backup Day 2015: A Reminder of the Pain of Lost Data
March 30, 2015-“Thinking ahead and taking the time and attention needed to ensure the protection of data valuables is well worth it and doesn’t cost that much. March 31 is World Backup Day, which reminds all of us that we need to back up all our personal and business-related documents, photos, videos—anything else digital that we value.”
Why Small Businesses Need to Celebrate World Backup Day
March 30, 2015- “As we bid one final farewell to winter and officially step into spring, small businesses should take a moment to commemorate one of our favorite holidays. While it may not be as much fun as St. Patrick’s Day or as widely celebrated as Easter Sunday, it’s one that could mean the difference between shutting your doors for good, or remaining a functioning business long after a cyber attack or natural disaster strikes. We’re talking about World Backup Day.”
IT Security Experts: Look for Risk and Opportunity in the Security Shadow
March 27, 2015- “Data is a company’s most important asset, but many small and midsized businesses don’t know, care or have enough in the budget to protect it, according to a panel of experts during the CompTIA IT Security Community meeting, held during this week’s Annual Member Meeting. ‘Some small businesses probably don’t know what confidential information is,’ said Neal Bradbury, vice president of channel development for Intronis. ‘It’s not a matter of if you need security; it’s a matter of the level of security they need.'”
World Backup Day on the Way, Highlighting Disaster Recovery
March 26, 2015-“Disaster recovery remains a vital piece of almost all storage strategies in the business world. Without proper measures taken to protect information, there’s the ever-increasing chance that a destructive loss of data can occur, and there’s not necessarily an easy fix in this event. An upcoming event day shines new light on this need, while new approaches to storage may help further. World Backup Day is soon to come, planned for March 31, and as a result companies are increasingly drawing attention to proper means of protection, Intronis reported. “
A Need For Recovery Speed
March 13, 2015- “The latest release of the Intronis software adds the ability to now recover images from local-based storage in a hybrid IT environment in as little as 30 seconds. In addition, Intronis has added the ability to recover images from local physical server environments using a combination of advanced algorithms, native data formats and reverse incremental backup techniques. Finally, there is also support for the latest version of VMware and the ability to retrieve specific files, folders, and databases from physical and virtual local image-based backups.”
Winter Release ’15 of Intronis ECHOplatform
March 13, 2015-“The release ’15 introduces several business-building features and core functionalities. The enhancements are designed to help channel partners support more complex cloud, virtualized and physical IT environments, grow their share of wallet with existing customers, and attract business by offering a real-time, cloud-based data recovery solution that’s built to protect the business.”
The next generation of CryptoWall malware emerges
March 11, 2015-“After a short-lived hiatus, the creators of CryptoWall have re-emerged with the next generation of the devious malware, coined “CryptoWall 3.0″. Just as security experts thought they had a handle on the original threat, the emergence of version 3.0 sparks debate as to what signals to look out for and how to protect against the rise of ransomware variants.”
Intronis Fights ‘Data Gremlins’ With New Platform Release
March 6, 2015-“Intronis released a new version of its ECHOplatform for backup and data protection, this one bolstered with Hyper-V rapid recovery. Intronis Vice President Neal Bradbury told CRNtv that the new version of ECHOplatform “really builds out the hybrid, local and remote data backup strategy in the platform. It basically reduces operational costs for a lot of our partners.”
Intronis adds rapid recovery for Hyper-V to ECHOplatform
March 6, 2015-“Intronis ECHOplatform, sold exclusively through service providers, can now instantly recover Microsoft Hyper-V and physical server images.”
Intronis slashes image-based recovery times with Winter 2015 release
March 6, 2015-“The improved functionality will help Intronis partners have discussions with customers about providing higher-value recovery strategies rather than simply selling storage.”
Briefing Note: Intronis Reverses Backups and Simplifies Delivery
March 6, 2015-“Intronis’ ECHOplatform is designed to protect all of a MSP/VAR’s customer data assets, while making it simple for them to maintain a cloud data protection service. This platform is an all-in-one data protection solution that provides server, laptop, VMware, and Hyper-V support, plus applications like MS-SQL and Exchange.”
Intronis Unveils ECHOPlatform Winter Release ’15
March 5, 2015-Intronis has announced the Winter Release ’15 of its Intronis ECHOplatform data protection platform. The BDR solutions provider said its new release is designed to help channel partners better support more complex cloud, virtualized and physical IT environments. Here are the details.
Intronis Introduces Winter Release ’15 Of Its ECHOplatform
March 5, 2015-New features include Hyper-V and imaging rapid recovery, plus object level restore from physical and virtual local image-based backups.
CompTIA Launches New Cloud Trustmark+ For IT Channel
March 5, 2015- CompTIA announced the launch of its new Cloud Trustmark+ for IT channel vendors. Neal Bradbury, Vice President of Channel Development at Intronis is quoted as saying, “It’s great to see the spotlight turned on the vendor and distributor community – especially as it relates to cloud – and allow those of us who continue to invest in R&D, partner enablement and support services to more clearly differentiate our value proposition and business credentials by earning the vendor Cloud Trustmark from CompTIA.”
Intronis brings Hyper-V and VMware 6 support to data protection solution
March 5, 2015-“Channel-only backup solutions provider Intronis has announced the winter 2015 release of its data protection solution ECHOplatform, which will see new functions including Hyper-V and imaging rapid recovery, object level restore from physical and virtual local image backups and VMware 6.0 support.”
Intronis simplifies cloud backup and recovery for service providers
March 5, 2015-“Backup specialist Intronis is simplifying and accelerating real-time data backup and recovery for its channel partners with the launch of a new release of its Intronis ECHOplatform.”
Intronis Updates Backup, Recovery Platform
March 5, 2015-“Backup and data protection solutions for the IT channel specialist Intronis announced the Winter Release ’15 of its ECHOplatform, which offers channel partners a variety of recovery options, including being able to recover an entire virtual machine or server, or restoring the data by copying the files through the portal of any hyper-V or image backup without mounting the image.”
Cloud BDR and Virtual Machines: What You Need to Know
February 27, 2015- During the past several years, virtualization has made significant in-roads in the SMB market due to a reduction in upfront investment costs, improved reliability and the proliferation of virtualization-dependent cloud services.
3 Reasons Why Specialization Is Critical To Success
February 27, 2015- You’ve more than likely heard the saying, “jack of all trades, master of none,” and while in most cases this applies to individuals, it can also pertain to businesses, including solutions providers and MSPs (managed services providers).
Don’t Leave Data Security To Chance — When Cloud-Based BDR Can Save The Day
February 10, 2015- The MSPAlliance predicts, this year, security will be one of the top concerns for both technical and non-technical users. This is no surprise considering that high-profile data breaches at Target, Home Depot, Lowes, and other retailers are making consumers increasingly aware of how vulnerable they can be to cyberattacks.
Why SMBs should consider DR as a service
January 30, 2015- In a study conducted by cloud backup provider Intronis Inc. and analyst firm The 2112 Group, more than 50% of SMBs that rely on an IT service provider for backup and recovery are using cloud-based technologies.
How to Capitalize on Private Cloud and Make Money Selling BDR
January 30, 2015- Businesses need the capabilities, performance and IT security only private cloud can provide. One example of how you, as an MSP or solution provider, can take advantage of this growth in private cloud is through cloud-based backup and disaster recovery (BDR).
Winter Storm Juno: How Are Northeast-Based Cloud Services Providers Holding Up?
January 26, 2015- Intronis — A spokesperson told Talkin’ Cloud that this Boston-based online backup solutions provider is in “regular contact with its data center’s operations staff in the Northeast and expects no ill effects from the winter storm bearing down on them.”
How Flexible is the Cloud?
January 13, 2015- MSPs will need to change and adapt to cloud — unless they’re willing to run the risk of becoming obsolete. Don’t be afraid of this change, attack it. Figure out what your firm has in its talent base and how you can best leverage the cloud to take your business to the next level. Here are the details.
Executive Viewpoint 2015 Prediction: Intronis – Top 3 IT Industry Predictions
December 31, 2014- As 2014 comes to a close, there is much speculation about what the New Year might bring for the IT industry. Here’s our list of what we expect to see in 2015.
Why Finance Leaders Must Walk the Floor, Jackie Barry Hamilton, CFO, Intronis
December 24, 2014- “What’s it like to serve as a CFO of a large-enterprise firm versus an emerging-growth firm? Join us as Jackie shares her CFO mind-set and reveals how her finance leadership has evolved from one career milestone to the next.”
2015 Cloud Predictions from Intronis
December 24, 2014- As we bid farewell to one year and welcome another, there is a great deal of speculation surrounding the cloud and what 2015 will bring to the industry. It’s no surprise that experts and enthusiasts alike are anticipating another year of innovation: after all, 2014 saw major advancements in cloud computing, as well as increased adoption across the board.
MSPmentor 250 List 2014: Honorees A to B
December 22, 2014- Welcome to the seventh-annual MSPmentor 250 list, honoring the world’s top managed services provider (MSP) executives, entrepreneurs and experts. This list is in alphabetical order, split into separate pages.
MSPmentor 250 List 2014: Honorees K to M
December 22, 2014- Welcome to the seventh-annual MSPmentor 250 list, honoring the world’s top managed services provider (MSP) executives, entrepreneurs and experts. This list is in alphabetical order, split into separate pages.
Back to School: Intronis Launches University for Channel Partners
December 22, 2014- Intronis has launched Intronis University, a business training and certification program for its channel partners.The Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based cloud backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solutions provider said the new program can help Intronis channel partners better support their customers.
Free schooling: Intronis offers partners ‘university’
December 19, 2014- Backup and data protection firm Intronis has announced the launch of Intronis University – a technical and business training and certification resource. Channel partners can access the resource from within Intronis’ web-based partner resource hub, Intronis Essentials.
Backup 2014: Acquisitions, spinoffs and cloud-to-cloud emerge
December 19, 2014- Backup 2014 included breakups as Symantec divorced itself, acquisition as EMC picked up cloud-to-cloud backup and additions as Hitachi Data Systems got into disk backup.
CryptoWall 2.0, Cloud Backup and the Do-It-Yourself Customer
December 19, 2014- The consumerization of IT is making some end customers feel more empowered than ever to take IT matters into their own hands rather than seek the help of IT solution providers. This is especially true when it comes to cloud services.
Cyber Monday Is Over!— Or Is It? Gadgets, Marketing Tips from Intronis
December 17, 2014- MSPmentor sat down with Intronis Digital Marketing Director Richard Delahaye to learn more about how channel partners can win some new gadgets this holiday season from the Boston-based backup and data protection solutions provider. Here’s what we found out.
Finding KPIs that matter to the business
December 11, 2014- Most companies rely on a set of quantifiable measures — key performance indicators — to gauge how well they’re doing. But the effective use of KPIs requires asking hard questions, starting with how do you determine what to measure? At the recent MIT Sloan CFO Summit, a panel of experienced finance leaders from emerging, midmarket and large companies discussed best practices for identifying, interpreting and deploying KPIs.
Help SMBs Overcome Their Data Backup Ignorance
November 26, 2014- The fact that you have so many customers who are not currently using your business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions and services must mean that they all have their data backup figured out, right? If your target market includes SMBs, that assumption is far from reality.
Don’t Let Your Customers Get Burned by DIY BDR Pitfalls
November 20, 2014- There are several types of threats beyond natural disasters that can result in data loss. And, even those customers who are a bit more tech-savvy and invest in automated backup systems that allow them to “set it and forget it” are no match for one of the biggest threats to their data: human error.
How File Sync and IT Consumerization Make Money for MSPs
October 31, 2014 – One way or another end users are going to transfer files to and from mobile computing devices. Organizations have finally come to terms with this and want to provide their employees with file sync capability. The problem is that they don’t necessarily want to deploy and manage it. This has spawned two data protection companies to step in to help, creating a significant opportunity for MSPs.
3 Ways Successful MSPs Avoid Selling ‘Just’ Storage
October 31, 2014 – Listed in this article are the key tactics that some of the more savvy IT service providers are using to find success when selling storage. By removing storage as a standalone item on your line cards and following these three guidelines you can not only help your own business but better fulfill the needs of your customers. Article by Intronis VP of Sales, Rob Merklinger.
5 Tips To Maximize Your Managed Services Marketing Potential
October 29, 2014 – When it comes to leads, referrals can be some of the best you will ever get. Having the benefit of someone talking up how good your company is and the expertise you have is priceless. IT service providers relying solely on referrals will typically have a tough time finding a great deal of growth. In this article by Intronis CMO Aaron Dun, you will learn the 5 tips our partners from our best performing partners to help you maximize marketing potential.
File sharing frequently paired with endpoint backup products
October 24, 2014 – Backup venders are increasingly seeing file sync-and-share as a good fit for their backup solution. Intronis joins this already crowded market with the introduction of Intronis ECHOshare. Aaron Dun, Intronis CMO on the vision behind the product, “We saw an opportunity to come to market with a tool optimized for channel partners because of the user interface, security and the ability to manage accounts from any location.”
Intronis unveils file sync-and-share cloud offering for SMB customers
October 15, 2014 – In a recently published study, IDC estimated that almost half of U.S. enterprises with more than 1,000 employees either formally or informally adopted file sync-and-share solutions by the end of 2013. The sync-and-share market is forecast to grow to $2.3 billion worldwide by 2018, according to IDC.
Intronis Jumps Into Cloud-based File Sync, Share With ECHOshare
October 15, 2014 – Intronis has released a file sync and share offering called ECHOshare for channel partners to resell to their small and medium business customers. Intronis ECHOshare isn’t made to compete with companies like Dropbox and Huddle. It instead, was created in the hope that channel partners will switch to it from existing solutions to ECHOshare, which complies with HIPAA, SSAE-16 and PCI DSS.
Intronis’ ECHOshare Secures File Sharing, Collaboration for SMBs
October 15, 2014 –“Though news headlines as of late are filled with cyber-attacks and data leaks, many small business owners are under the false impression that these have nothing to do with them. But in the increasingly mobile workforce of today, this is a common misconception,” Chuck DeLouis, vice president of product management at Intronis on the importance of employing a secure file sharing solution like Intronis ECHOshare.
Intronis launches cloud-based file sharing for SMBs
October 15, 2014 – Intronis has launched a product designed to provide small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with a secure file-sharing tool that is integrated with disaster recovery. Intronis ECHOshare includes features like centralized management and permission based access, and remote wipe capabilities that enable IT to clear data off of lost or hacked devices.
Intronis ECHOshare brings simple, secure file sharing to SMBs
October 15, 2014 – Sharing files among employees can be difficult for any business,These approaches can put data at risk and also cause problems for support staff. Backup and disaster recovery specialist Intronis has a new solution to help businesses share files safely in the form of ECHOshare.
Intronis Unveils ECHOshare Cloud-Based File Sync and Collaboration Solution to Secure and Simplify Data Sharing for SMBs
October 15, 2014 – “The need for reliable, secure and scalable enterprise-grade collaboration technology is growing among SMBs and bringing forward a golden opportunity for VARs and MSPs to add even greater value to their managed cloud services portfolio,” says Neal Bradbury, Intronis Co-Founder and VP of Channel Development, in this article.
What’s the Best Way to Rank Software?
September 30, 2014 – There is some debate around the way software is ranked by companies like Gartner Magic Quadrant and Forrester Wave. This article features industry experts, including Intronis CMO, Aaron Dun, who provide different views on the subject.
5 Productivity Strategies the Best Service Providers Follow
September 25, 2014 – The U.S. economy suffers a nearly $1.3 trillion productivity loss each year, according to a recent study. To combat this issue, we have reached out to IT channel leaders for advice. Here are their five tips to streamline your business and become more productive.
Will you be prepared if disaster strikes?
September 20, 2014 – According to the National Federation of Independent Business, about 30 percent of small businesses will experience some sort of natural disaster. Oftentimes businesses fail to prepare themselves properly, leading to the catastrophe of having to rebuild from the ground up. Listed here are the most important things to keep in mind to ensure the safety of your company’s data.
Data protection software for file sync-and-share unlocks opportunities
September 2014 – Neal Bradbury spoke with TechTarget about the growing importance of secure file sync-and-share capabilities for all businesses and announced our planned launch of ECHOshare, Intronis’ fully compliant file sharing product, in Q4.
Is Your Enterprise Ready for Disaster?
September 16, 2014 – September is “National Disaster Preparedness Month,” and Mobile Enterprise’s Editor in Chief Lori Castle contacted Chuck DeLouis, Intronis VP of product management, for his advice on DR concerns specific to mobile devices.
4 Must-Haves of Cloud-Based Collaboration
September 10, 2014 – As telecommuting grows, organizations have fallen back on email to share documents and collaborate, but not without problems. As a fix, many are turning to the cloud and file sync and share apps. Neal Bradbury offers four must-have features for selecting a cloud collaboration solution that meets the needs of your customers.
How To Sell Against Consumer-Grade Technologies
September 10, 2014 – It’s a fact — consumer-grade collaboration technology is built for the consumer. It’s not made for business, so why do so many small and mid-size businesses use it?
Be Prepared: How One Provider Saved a Business’s Data Following a Disastrous Fire
September 3, 2014 – Jeff Wargo, general manager at the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA, didn’t count on the unthinkable to happen when he considered some IT changes for his business. Wargo contracted with Pete Peterson, co-founder and vice president of sales for the managed services provider Internet and Telephone. As part of his recommended upgrades, Peterson encouraged Wargo to back up all of his company’s data to a private cloud through Intronis. 10 months later, disaster struck.
Video: Intronis: Unlimited Pricing Signals ‘Massive Transformation’ for Partners
August 22, 2014 – In this interview with Channel Partners’ Craig Galbraith at CompTIA ChannelCon 2014, the team from Intronis talks about their new bare metal recovery solution and how their new unlimited pricing plan is shaking up the backup/recovery sector.
Video: Intronis Ramps Up Partner Offerings
August 18, 2014 – Neal Bradbury of Intronis discusses the cloud back-up and recovery company’s ECHOplatform. Bradbury outlines margins for MSPs and other new partner plays.
Intronis ECHOplatform Automates Bare Metal Restore
August 15, 2014 – Intronis, Inc. announced Bare Metal Restore (BMR) is available as part of its ECHOplatform and flat-fee unlimited cloud and unlimited local storage pricing plan.
BMR Becoming More Relevant in the Software Defined Age
August 14, 2014 – BMR is a technology that never had the enormous buzz of other technologies such as deduplication. However the adoption and growth of BMR has been impressive and fast.
Intronis Offers Bare Metal Restore on ECHOplatform
August 12, 2014 – The update allows recovery to a replacement machine to address total system failure or a select point-in-time to resolve for data corruption.
Backup and Recovery Pricing Debate Heats Up
August 12, 2014 – Now that the cost of storage in the cloud has lowered the cost of backup and recovery, a fierce debate has emerged between vendors about how best to pass on those benefits to customers.
Automate bare metal restore for faster recovery with Intronis ECHOplatform
August 12, 2014 – Intronis launched a complete Bare Metal Restore (BMR) as part of its new Intronis ECHOplatform and flat-fee unlimited cloud and unlimited local storage pricing plan.
New Intronis ECHOplatform To Automate Bare Metal Restore
August 12, 2014 – Intronis, a provider of backup and data protection solutions for the IT channel, has launched a complete Bare Metal Restore (BMR) solution that is available as part of its new Intronis ECHOplatform.
Intronis Adds Restore Options to Cloud Storage Portfolio
August 11, 2014 – Backup and data protection specialist Intronis has added Bare Metal Restore (BMR) as part of its new Intronis ECHOplatform and flat-fee unlimited cloud and unlimited local storage pricing plan, available via channel partners.
Intronis Sweetens ECHO-U2 Deal With BMR
August 5, 2014 – Intronis channel partners will be getting more bang for their buck now that the vendor has built Bare Metal Restore (BMR) into its recently unveiled ECHOplatform.
Intronis ECHOplatform Automates Bare Metal Restore for Faster Recovery
August 5, 2014 – Intronis, Inc., a provider of world-class backup and data protection solutions for the IT channel, today announced complete Bare Metal Restore (BMR) is now available as part of its new Intronis ECHOplatform and flat-fee unlimited cloud and unlimited local storage pricing plan.
Intronis ECHOplatform Automates Bare Metal Restore
August 4, 2014 – Bare Metal Restore is now available as part of Intronis’ new ECHOplatform, offering complete physical-to-physical bare metal recovery and physical-to-virtual Bare Metal Restore recovery options for greater flexibility and performance.
Intronis automated Bare Metal Restore
August 4, 2014 – Backup and data-protection provider Intronis said on Monday that Bare Metal Restore (BMR) is now part of its new ECHOplatform and flat-fee, unlimited cloud and unlimited local storage pricing plan.
Intronis Integrates Bare-metal Restore Into ECHOplatform, U2 Pricing Plan
August 4, 2014 – Intronis’ new cloud-based backup platform now automates bare-metal restore for channel partners.
Intronis enhances ECHOplatform, adds bare metal restore
August 4, 2014 – Intronis on Monday introduced a new version of its ECHOplatform data protection software that now includes bare metal restore capability.
Intronis automates Bare Metal Restore for faster recovery
August 4, 2014 – Backup specialist Intronis has announced that it’s integrating Bare Metal Restore into its ECHOplatform for small and medium businesses, which offers a flat-fee unlimited cloud and local storage pricing model.
3 Keys to a Successful AYCE Managed Services Offering
July 31, 2014 – There are two primary reasons end users sign up for managed services contracts: They want less downtime, and they want predictable monthly IT expenses. If an MSP can’t address both needs, it’s going to remain stuck in the break-fix world.
Build A Foolproof Managed Services Sales Strategy
July 30, 2014 – When it comes to selling managed services, most managed services providers (MSPs) understand the benefits to the customers — less downtime, more scalability, and predictable monthly IT costs, all for a fair price. Where many MSPs struggle is predicting how much time they’re going to invest in monitoring and troubleshooting customers’ IT assets and then establishing a monthly price based on that estimate.
Anything Goes – How Online Service Providers Reshape Business
July 27, 2014 – Practically every kind of business service imaginable can now be outsourced quickly and fairly easily to an Web-based provider. Of course, there are best practices for porting your data and processes to the Cloud, and failure to abide by them can incur serious long-term ramifications. So listen to this episode of DM Radio to hear Host Eric Kavanagh interview several industry leaders, including Stan Swete of Workday, Chuck DeLouis of Intronis, and Hannah Smalltree of Treasure Data.
Intronis CEO Eyes Transformation from Storage Provider to Software Company
July 14, 2014 – Intronis CEO Rick Faulk told Talkin’ Cloud that the company is moving away from the storage business and toward the software market. Among the offerings on the company’s roadmap are a file sync and share service and bare metal restore. Here are the details.
Is Cloud Profitability An Oxymoron?
July 14, 2014 – The IT channel exists because businesses — especially SMBs — have a difficult time keeping up with the demands of IT. Yet with the growing adoption of cloud computing, some industry pundits are questioning where the channel fits.
Stay Armed Against Attack within the Cyber Battlefield
July 8, 2014 – Last December, the cybersecurity world was introduced to Cryptolocker, a malware responsible for encrypting files stored on network drives. The platform has since resurfaced as headlines warn of phishing attacks disguised as “decryption tools,” claiming to restore access to files infected by Cryptolocker. Many have fallen victim to these copycat attacks and paid for the bogus software in recent weeks.
Pricing MSP Services for Maximum Business Value
July 7, 2014 – MSPs often struggle with recognizing the value of the services they offer and with pricing those services accordingly. And if your services are not priced optimally, you could be missing revenue.
Intronis Launches Data Protection ECHOplatform Service
June 13, 2014 – The platform allows channel partners to standardize, customize and scale their storage solution to fit the needs of the customer.
Intronis Introduces Backup and Restore ECHOplatform
June 13, 2014 – Intronis, Inc. announced the ECHOplatform. Purpose-built for IT service providers, the platform serves as the foundation of the company’s data protection and business recovery solution.
Intronis ditches per-gigabyte cloud storage pricing, moves to flat rate
June 13, 2014 – Intronis, a cloud backup and recovery provider, has ended its per-gigabyte storage pricing model for its IT Channel partners who are starting to feel the brunt of the pricing war between heavyweight cloud providers like Amazon and Google.
Intronis Introduces New Backup And Disaster Recovery Platform With Fixed-Fee Pricing, Partner Resources
June 13, 2014 – Cloud backup and data recovery company Intronis has had a busy week, announcing a new platform, fixed-fee pricing model and partner enablement resources.
Intronis Moves the Cloud Backup Conversation Beyond Price
June 13, 2014 – The pricing of storage has always been somewhat problematic. Storage vendors would charge a significant markup over the basic price of hard drive. Customers would then visit their local store only to discover that the cost per Gigabyte for a hard drive was substantially less. Even allowing for the investment storage vendors make in software and controllers, many customers felt they were being take advantage of by storage vendors and their channel partners.
Intronis launches ECHOplatform with fixed pricing model
June 10, 2014 – Channel-exclusive cloud backup and recovery vendor Intronis Inc. today announced a new fixed pricing model for the new Intronis ECHOplatform.
Intronis Intros Unlimited Storage for Set Monthly Price
June 9, 2014 – Data backup platform provider Intronis is unifying its product elements under a single brand, the Intronis Echo Platform, and offering a new disruptive pricing model that provides unlimited cloud storage per SMB for on fixed monthly price.
Intronis introduces flat fee unlimited storage and protection
June 9, 2014 – Intronis, a provider of backup and data protection technology, has introduced a flat-fee, unlimited cloud and unlimited local storage price plan geared toward small-to-mid-size businesses, CMO Aaron Dun told TechRadar Pro. Dun said he believes the plan will change the way businesses approach data management and protection.
Intronis ECHOplatform Shakes Up BCDR Pricing
June 9, 2014 – What’s in a name? For Intronis Inc., it’s a better message about channel-focused backup and recovery solutions — and a significant shift in the way those solutions are priced.
Cloud provider Intronis discards per gigabyte pricing
June 9, 2014 – Cloud solutions company Intronis Inc. is rolling out a new cloud backup and data protection platform for IT service providers and is replacing its per gigabyte storage pricing model with a flat fee unlimited cloud and unlimited storage pricing plan.