The ransomware menace has escalated over the years and has peaked in recent months. This has brought the IT Channel partners in a crucial role, as they are now acting as a trusted advisor to the customers.
A recent report by WatchGuard Technologies brings to focus that more than 8 out of 10 resellers believe that ransomware will be their customers’ largest concern this year. In addition, 16 percent believe the majority of their customers would pay a cyber ransom to retrieve their data, and 65 percent believe at least some of their customers would pay.
This willingness (or necessity) to pay, coupled with the increasing threat of ransomware, could prove costly for businesses in the coming months.
“The proliferation of ransomware reached epidemic proportions in 2016, so it makes sense that resellers are forecasting it as the top threat this year,” said Corey Nachreiner, chief technology officer at WatchGuard.
A recent report from Datto Inc., a data protection vendor based in Norwalk, Conn., found that nearly 100% of MSPs said ransomware attacks at small businesses are occurring more frequently, a pattern they expect to continue over the next two years. Additionally, more than 91% of respondents reported their clients have been the victims of ransomeware infections, and 40% of those clients have been attacked six times or more in the last 12 months.
Security customers are trusting channel resellers and managed security service providers to make informed recommendations about security appliances and strategies. Over the course of the last two years, nearly 75 percent of reseller respondents’ organizations have seen the most growth in UTM appliance sales, while only around a quarter have seen the most sales growth in NGFW appliances, shows the Watchguard study.
Read more: Customers Trust MSSPs For Security Strategy: Survey
According to an IBM report, small businesses remain a ripe target for ransomware. Only 29 percent of small businesses surveyed have experience with ransomware attacks compared to 57 percent of medium size businesses. While cybercriminals may not view these businesses as offering a big payday, a lack of training on workplace IT security best practices can make them vulnerable. The study found that only 30 percent of small businesses surveyed offer security training to their employees, compared to 58 percent of larger companies. [Read the full report here]
These studies further validate the importance of the reseller and service provider community for SMBs dealing with cyber security. “Organizations rely heavily on the expertise of these channel partners to provide guidance that keeps employees and customers safe from the evolving threat landscape,” said Nachreiner. “For customers, it seems that the realistic impact or outcome is of more importance than the classification of threats or security solutions.”
Also Read: Selling Security? 3 Steps Partners Should Follow
Also, 45 percent of resellers in the Watchguard study think that under half of their SMB customers have the necessary resources to manage network security and, by implication, deal with the threat ransomware poses. They however, lack the time or the personnel to do so.
More than 60 percent do not think the majority of their customers understand the difference between Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances and Next Generation Firewalls (NGFW). Nearly 80 percent do not think their customers care about the difference between the two appliance categories at all – and only want to know that their business is protected by the latest threat prevention solutions.
Clearly then, Channel partners are in for a huge engagement with the customers and garner maximum ROI from investments done on security grounds.