Untangle Inc., a leader in network security for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) and distributed enterprises, announced the results for its annual Voice of the Channel and Predictions Report. The report surveyed Untangle’s global network of more than 1,500 Channel Partners to learn about challenges faced over the last year, customer threats, current service portfolios and the trends that will shape strategic business decisions for their organizations moving forward.
The report shows that supply chain attacks dominated the news headlines in 2021. This is likely why 70 percent of Channel Partner respondents stated they saw an increase in customer inquiries following major cyberattacks, with the most requested security features by clients being endpoint security (49 percent), followed by VPN connectivity (28.8 percent).
However, as the industry looks toward 2022, partners most considered growing their zero trust (33 percent) and web application firewall (31 percent) product offerings as priority. Notably, zero trust didn’t even make the list of features to consider in 2020.
Over the last four years, the trend of channel partners moving their IT stack to the cloud continues, with 25 percent saying they have 75 percent or more of their stack deployed in the cloud. However, the number of partners that believe moving data and network traffic to the cloud offers better security is down 11 percent (36.5 percent in 2021 compared to 47.6 percent in 2020).
This could be an indicator that trust in the cloud for SMBs has diminished, perhaps because of the extensive number of cyber-attacks on cloud-based infrastructures over the last year. Nonetheless, 83 percent expect the cybersecurity side of their business will increase.
Additional report highlights include:
- The top products partners offer their clients are – Firewall/network security (89 percent), endpoint security (86 percent), email security (75 percent). Notably, only 23 percent currently offer zero trust technologies.
- Channel partners have adapted to remote working and hybrid scenarios, with a reported 49 percent stating that 50 percent or more of their clients would continue to work completely remotely.
- Top cybersecurity concerns for channel partners in 2022 in order of importance
- (1) phishing
- (2) employees who do not follow rules
- (3) ransomware
To view a full copy of the report, please visit www.untangle.com
