Cisco’s UK head of security highlighted the success of partners who are able to embed services into the company’s technology. The company has seen growth in managed security service providers (MSSPs) and is looking for more to keep up with evolving threats.
Scott Munson, UK&I Director of Cybersecurity Ciscosays it has found that channel players that can add more depth to their services and cover end-to-end security needs are generating more business.
“It’s easier to work with a partner who is highly skilled and who really understands the entire end-to-end lifecycle of cybersecurity,” he said.
“As Cisco, we have great intellectual property, technology, and a tremendous amount of innovation underway…We have never done so much work integrating our own technology.” [as now]Because we’ve grown exponentially in the last two years in terms of acquisitions and really moving into this market. Because we are directly fulfilled through channel discussions, we are only as valuable as our channel partners.
“Our best efforts have always been to work with channel partners who have built a service wrapper around what we offer. can be produced,” he said.
Munson said vendors continue to look for resellers with these skills as the market continues to evolve and expand, presenting greater channel opportunities.
One of the challenges was finding a partner who could confidently sell and support security and who understood the challenges faced by customers.
“Cybersecurity is like salt. Of course you can have too little, but you can also have too much, so it’s a fine balance. Either way, it’s detrimental or detrimental to the organization,” Manson said. Ta.
“If it’s too obtrusive for users, it creates apathy, productivity issues, and makes it very difficult to advance and innovate in the market. But if you release the brakes on security completely, you can’t move too fast.” “You’re going to hit a wall,” he said.
In terms of areas where he expected the channel to become congested, he said most of the threats are well-known but still persist across the customer base.
“These are well-known threats, and they change and change from year to year, but they are absolutely unmistakable. When it comes to repeat offenders, the most commonly used attack vector remains email. “You won’t be surprised to learn that from a phishing and ransomware perspective, we see there are so many challenges in this space,” he said.
He added that the Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology are key criminal targets, and concerns around cloud computing also continue.
The need for channels to provide education also remains a priority, and attacks that exploit human weaknesses still find a way to penetrate enterprise defenses.
“Social engineering is huge and insider threats remain a huge problem,” he added. “Employees who don’t have proper training increase their attack surface because they’re not good at managing their domains and they’re sloppy, and that’s how things get into your network and into your environment,” he said. Ta.
The final area that channels can protect is centered around supply chain protection, and the need to ensure that the channels themselves are functioning properly.
“We work in an ecosystem, and many of our customers are connected to their supply chains. You are really only as strong as your weakest link. If you don’t, you shouldn’t invest millions of dollars in services and products,” he said.
Munson said the company is looking forward to the remainder of 2024 as it has a strong channel, a suitable portfolio and operates in a growing market.
“We make sure everything we deliver to our customers helps them onboard, adopt, and accelerate their cyber maturity. In many cases, we work with partners to develop projects, widgets, managed services, etc. and consider how it has increased the cyber effectiveness and maturity of the customer,” he said.
“If you can’t turn things around after three to six months and can say that the fidelity of your security deployment has improved by a quantum quantifiable amount, then you’re just selling a dream. ..We put a lot of emphasis on that. And again, that’s where channel partners come in,” he concluded.