ChannelVision Magazine

As the report explained, partners are often called upon to respond after an attack has already occurred. “As we have seen, many small businesses and organizations believe that the information that they may have is not attractive to cybercrimi - nals,” explained Untangle vice presi - dent of product management Heather Paunet. “From online blogs with an email database of subscribers who share an affinity for houseplants or the small auto body shop on main street who submits smog check results to the DMV, each of these business own - ers continues to believe that they are too small to be targets.” According to Paunet, channel partners are strongly advised to include education as part of their service offerings. Business owners, Paunet said, should understand that any point where they collect informa - tion about who visits or interacts with their content is a chance for a crimi - nal to take over. In the study, 23 percent of channel partners blamed a lack of customer knowledge as a top barrier in cyber - security. This was followed by budget constraints, limited time to research and understanding new threats. “Many times throughout our survey results, we found, beyond the budget limitations, was also the limited knowl - edge and familiarity that business own - ers have with new technology, and this creates hesitation about committing to ‘another’ networking solution,” Paunet added. “To break down this barrier, channel partners need to take the time to ensure that not only the security ser - vices they are offering are top notch, but also the customer service they are offering includes customer education, patience with those transitioning to new technologies, and an understand - ing that some may not want to transi - tion, and solutions for legacy hardware also need to be thoroughly vetted as an alternative offering.” Cloud Skepticism Remains Another key finding from the report is that there’s still widespread skepti - cism about cloud security due to price, limited experience and lack of trust. “Many respondents explained the reluctance from their customers came down to the cost comparison between cloud deployments and on premises solutions and an understanding of data security in the cloud,” Paunet said. “In the first instance, budget constraints, channel partners explained that it was beyond the cost to transition to cloud-based applications, but also the disposal of legacy hardware and the additional training investment needed to ensure that employees could use the new cloud-based software as it was intended. Channel partners also expressed that when customers try to understand the long term TCO at scale, cloud solutions can cost more than on premises solutions.” Top Barriers the Channel Experiences in the Cybersecurity Market Source: Untangle B Budget Constraints #1 Limited solutions knowledge #2 Limited time to research new threats #3 Lack of manpower to monitor and manage security #4 Rogue employees #5 Pricing/margin issues #6 Discoverability of solutions #7 Channel ineffciencies/ logistical issues #8 Top 5 Product Offerings from Channel Partners Source: Untangle 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Firewall/ UTM 87% Web Fil ering 77% Endpoint Security 76% Instrusion Detection 73% Remote Management 71% * Figures (n) refer to 2018, 2023 device share Source: Netrounds Top Barriers the Channel Experiences in the Cybersecurity Market Source: Untangle ly Other (2.1%,3.9%) Tablets (4%,3%) PCs (7%,4%) TVs (13%,11%) Non-Smartphones (13%,5%) Smartphones (27%,23%) M2M (33%, 50%) 45% 2% 39% IT/NetOps Budget Constraints #1 Limited solutions knowledge #2 Limited time to research new threats #3 Lack of manpower to monitor and manage security #4 Rogue employees #5 Pricing/margin issues #6 Discoverability of solutions #7 Channel ineffciencies/ logistical issues #8 Top 5 Product Offerings from Channel Partners Source: Untangle 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Firewall/ UTM 87% Web Filtering 77% Endpoint Security 76% Instrusion Detection 73% Remote Management 71% 58 CHANNEL VISION | March - April, 2020 CYBER PATROL