'Increased demand for cybersecurity is changing the conversation between customers and MSPs': Barracuda MSP

Adam Khan and JP Kehoe talk growth and challenges in the cybersecurity space for partners

Barracuda MSP claims that a wider range of end users are recognising the need to work with the channel to procure cybersecurity due to the rise in number of cyber attacks.

"The acceleration for the cybersecurity market over the last few years has been phenomenal. If you look back the last 20 years, it was okay just to have a firewall protecting your information, and backup might have been an option," emphasised JP Kehoe, VP of XDR sales at Barracuda MSP.

"Antivirus was an ‘option', but you didn't have to particularly focus on it, and it wasn't the default."

"Now we've had an acceleration into the cloud. And COVID was one of the drivers for that. The perimeter has now been fundamentally disintegrated and so regardless of the size of business, all organisations are impacted.

Kehoe explained that when his previous business Scout Cybersecurity started, (which was acquired by Barracuda two years ago), it was primarily focused on enterprise customers as that was he saw the greatest demand.

"Now it's right across the board: it's in accounting firms, dental practices etc. All are equally impacted."

And spending on cybersecurity remains one of the fastest growing sectors for the channel. A report by IDC earlier this year revealed that in 2023 the sector will grow by 12.1 per cent to reach $219bn in sales worldwide.

He explained how on top of a lack of talent to tackle these security issues there are three key drivers most business need to be aware of.

"Number one, business email compromise is a tremendous problem, and that's accelerating. Number two, ransomware, which has been around a while, but is promulgated across all organisations now and everyone is being impacted.

"And then number three, compliance and regulations. So those three problems on top of this lack of talent are exacerbating the cyber problem for every business today."

Changing conversations

Adam Khan, VP of global security operations at Barracuda XDR, also weighed it to explain how MSPs traditionally have taken a break-fix approach, but now conversations with customers are changing.

Now, customers are asking for cybersecurity to be provided within the MSP's management service.

"And the MSPs are now challenged because that's not the service they're providing. And that's not the skillset that they have," he explained.

"So, the conversations between the customers and the MSPs have changed because of the increase in ransomware attacks, the impact and the reputational damage of the cyber-attacks.

"More and more those MSPs are reaching out to Barracuda and vice versa. We are reaching out to a lot of partners to educate them about security and leading from the front on security."

Talent shortage and resignations

Talent shortages also area a cause of concern for vendors.

Khan said: "I think every security vendor out there struggles with that. Because just look at the sheer number of attacks: they have quadrupled year over year.

"And I think from Barracuda's perspective, recruiting wise, our standards are pretty high in terms of the individuals that we hire."

He said that Barracuda tries to tackle talent shortages by training in-house.

"When they come in, they go through a full month and a half of training on all our different systems before they even allowed to touch one or begin looking at threats."

And it's not just recruitment but retention.

Gartner research published earlier this year reports that a quarter of all cybersecurity leaders will leave the sector by 2025.

Khan drew from upon the experience of the ‘great resignation' which the US industry faced last year and how Barracuda tackled that.

"That was a challenge that made companies re-evaluate and look at what could be improved. Where did the challenges lie?

"And Barracuda identified what employees really want, such as having ownership and decision-making power."

The vendor says it's committed to helping partners tackle these challenges around skills with partner programme support to help leverage the opportunities that a wider total addressable market (TAM) of end users brings.