Resellers believe new threats are their customers’ biggest concern

83 per cent of resellers believe new ransomware attacks are their customers’ main concern, according to a new survey from WatchGuard which examined the opinions of more than 1,4000 of its partner organisations around the world. ‘Ransomware’ is a malware attack, that hackers use to demand payment in order for victims to get back their encrypted data.

45 per cent of resellers that were surveyed stated that less than half of their customers have the correct resources in place to protect themselves against a ransomware attack. Watchguard’s Northern Europe sales director Jonathan Whitley believes it is clear as to why resellers have identified this form of attack as being concerning: “This survey further validates the importance of the reseller and service provider community for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) dealing with cyber security.

“Organisations rely heavily on the expertise of our channel partners to provide guidance that keeps employees and customers safe from the evolving threat landscape."

The survey also suggests that many SMBs do not have the time or personnel to focus on managing their network solutions to protect themselves against security threats such as ransomware. “The proliferation of ransomware reached epidemic proportions in 2016, so it makes sense that resellers are forecasting it as the top threat next year,” said Corey Nachreiner, chief technology officer at WatchGuard. “On top of cyber extortion, security customers are hearing about tons of other new attacks and threat vectors each day, and they’re wondering how best to protect themselves.”

Other results from the survey show over half of the respondents do not think their customers understand the difference between Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances and Next Generation Firewalls (NGFW) – both of which are key aspects of protecting systems from ransomware attacks.