Technology Reseller - v28

01732 759725 08 TECH TRENDS Cybersecurity – the gift that just keeps giving Cybersecurity specialisation and services linked to the Internet of Things (IoT) will lead the next wave of offerings from US managed service providers (MSPs), claims tech trade association CompTIA in a new report, Trends in Managed Services . Against a background of ‘solid to excellent’ market performance (reported by 85% of MSPs) and confidence in continued growth (84%), two thirds of MSPs surveyed expect to expand their service portfolio over the next year. While help desk support and network services remain the foundation on which most MSPs have built their success, 52% identified cybersecurity expertise as a means to tap new recurring revenue streams, attract new business and expand engagements with current customers. Carolyn April, Senior Director, Industry Analysis for CompTIA, said: “Keeping pace with the sophistication of bad actors attempting to steal data, hack systems and extort ransoms requires advanced skills that many organisations, especially small businesses, do not have. They need help, and an MSP or MSSP that has those skills is sure to be in high demand and at a premium price point.” Other growth areas include managed IoT, developing tech roadmaps for core areas of IT (cited by 55% of firms), digital transformation consulting (46%), roadmaps for emerging tech (46%) and needs assessments (40%). https://www.comptia.org/content/ trends-in-managed-services Democratisation of IT brings significant challenges More than half of IT leaders hope to gain better visibility of IT assets (59%) and spending (52%) across their organisation within the next two years, as the rise of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and democratised IT spending raises the spectre of complex audits, unchecked costs and security vulnerabilities from decentralised IT. In a recent survey for the Snow Software-commissioned report What Decentralised IT Spending Means for the CIO’s Role , 67% of IT leaders said at least half of their spend is now controlled by individual business units thanks to cloud and as-a-service models that enable employees to buy and use technology without IT’s involvement. They warn that the combination of democratised IT and increased cloud usage brings significant challenges: 56% are concerned about hidden cloud costs; and 78% complain that preparation for vendor audits within cloud environments is becoming increasingly complex and time- consuming. Nearly 90% worry about the prospect of being audited by a software vendor – with good reason, as 73% of those surveyed have been audited by at least one software vendor in the past 12 months (60% by Microsoft, 50% by IBM and 49% by SAP). www.snowsoftware.com High growth industry The UK cyber security industry is worth an estimated £8.3 billion, with total revenues in the sector up 46% from £5.7 billion in 2017, according to a new report from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The UK Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis 2020 report shows that since 2017 the number of active cyber security firms in the UK has increased by 44% from 846 to over 1,200; and the number of full time employees working in the cyber security sector has gone up by 37% to 43,000, with average revenue per employee up 7% to £193,500. https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/cyber-security-sectoral- analysis-2020 Cyber attacks are greatest fear for SMEs SMEs in the UK are more concerned about cyber attacks or malware infection than cash flow, claims Sophos in its new report Securing Growth . Almost half (45%) of SME decision-makers surveyed for the report cite cyber security as a concern, putting it ahead of staffing issues (40%), regulations (27%) and cashflow (32%) in the list of problems that need addressing. The report highlights the security challenges faced by SMEs at different stages of their growth and development, Tech trends: ICT in the UK today Time to consciously decouple? Cloud backup, recovery and restore software provider Asigra is warning that RMM platforms with integrated back-up will be an ongoing target for ransomware attacks this year, as they provide a single access point to dozens, hundreds or thousands of organisations. Asigra Executive Vice President Eran Farajun said: “The density of high value data in many RMM environments is too alluring for criminal hackers to avoid, making it incumbent upon the MSP to architect a bulletproof data recovery model.” Asigra advises MSPs to train employees to be aware of targeted phishing attacks; to separate data protection infrastructure/solutions from the RMM platform; and to utilise a backup solution that prevents ransomware or malware from deleting the backup. www.asigra.com 1 Innovation,transformationandcontrol WHATDECENTRALIZED ITSPENDINGMEANS FORTHECIO’SROLE Digital transformation ishavingahuge impactonhow businessesacquireanddeploy technology. Inparticular, organizationsaremovingaway from centralized ITbuying to amodelwhere the lineofbusiness (LOB)holds thepower.At the same time, IT ismostoften still responsible fromabudget, securityand complianceperspective. SaaS (Software as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) are enablingbusinessunits toown technologypurchasedecisions, transforming ITprocurementprocesses and responsibility. DECENTRALIZED IT, ASAN IMPACTOF CLOUDADOPTION, MAYGIVEMORE POWERAND INFLUENCETO LINEOFBUSINESS TEAMS,BUT THEREARECOST, GOVERNANCE ANDSECURITY IMPLICATIONSTHAT THECIONEEDSTO BEAWAREOF. Report Visitourblog: www.datto.com/blog Followuson: Datto’s European State of the Channel Ransomware Report MSPs and clients under attack The average ransom demanded from SMEs by hackers has increased to around £2,000, according to Datto’s latest European State of the Channel Ransomware report. However, the true cost rises to an average of £107,956 when you take into account downtime relating to such attacks, which in Europe is increasing by 300% year-on-year. More than half (54%) of MSPs have clients that have suffered a loss of business productivity after a ransomware attack, with 34% describing that downtime as ‘business-threatening’. One third have seen clients lose data and/or devices, infections spread to other devices on the network and reduced profitability. Three in five MSPs say that they themselves are increasingly being targeted by ransomware attacks. More than half (51%) of MSPs believe the greater sophistication of ransomware attacks will bankrupt entire companies, with attackers increasingly targeting IoT devices (cited by 69%), followed by social media accounts (59%) and utility infrastructures (52%). Phishing (65%), lack of cyber security training (31%) and weak passwords (27%) are the top three causes of successful ransomware attacks. Carolyn April, Senior Director, Industry Analysis, CompTIA Eran Farajun, Executive Vice President, Asigra

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