Getting customers to accept and address the risk of cybersecurity breaches is one of the big challenges that MSPs face, according to CT Group boss Anton Thysse, who also says that determining the cybersecurity maturity of the customer can be a tricky issue.
The problem is compounded by the fact that many prospects and customers maintain outdated views of where threats come from, and how to manage them, he says.
Thysse spoke to CRN as part of the inaugural Boardroom Impact Program, the first session of which focused on endpoint detection and response and featured partners such as Arinco, Boutique System, Cross Point Technology Solutions, Step FWD IT in addition to CT Group.
According to Thysse, it's just as important for the partner to assess the client's risk profile as it is for the client to do so.
"One of the most important things for us is to gauge the perception of the client of how at they are," he said.
"Many typical managed services businesses feel they are not at risk at all since it's normally the big businesses that are targeted. That obviously not true, it is a shotgun approach, with 1000s of emails going out, and the unlucky user receiving that spam or phishing email."
Getting clients to recognise this is important he says. "It doesn't have to be fear-mongering, just getting them to understand they are at risk is a big one. Then you can open the doors to the conversation and have an open discussion with regards to the implementation options, cost surrounding implementation, and to what degree they need to be protected or want to be protected."
Another key consideration is the client's receptiveness to advice.
"Security is not static, by any stretch, it is ever-changing. And every single week, month and year that passes, there are new challenges, new threats."
There are also new ways to protect businesses from those threats and challenges.
"If you engage with the business, and they have implemented your advice, and they're not willing to do anything else, that to us is a warning sign, because this needs to be reviewed every quarter, every month and realistically, on an ongoing basis.
"If the users aren't happy to move and shift with the landscape, that'll just leave them exposed."
The client he says need to understand that this is a continuous process to review and implement small increments of changes to provide the best possible protection within given cost constraints.
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