ASCII Insight: MSPs Share Their Thoughts On All Things Cybersecurity

In our ongoing quest to provide you with the best business advice possible, we’ve partnered with The ASCII Group and their members who are going to share their thoughts on timely topics or best business practices. In this article, the following ASCII members answered our questions about how cybersecurity; from developing a strong strategy for yourself to working with clients who don’t think it’s important:

• Kim Nielsen, Founder & CEO, Computer Technologies, Inc.
• Cary Wagner, Technical Operations Director/CEO, Pacific NorthWest Managed IT Services
• Mike Bloomfield, President Geek, Tekie Geek
• Raffi Jamgotchian, Founder & CTO, Triada Networks
• Michael Hornby, President, RTC Computers
• Joshua Liberman, SNSA, President, Net Sciences, Inc.
• Zina Hassel, CEO and President, ZLH Enterprises

Q: What do you tell clients who feel that antivirus and firewall are enough protection against a cyberattack?

Nielsen: I have the discussion that THAT used to be enough but is no longer the case. Cyber-attacks have increased in sophistication and the antivirus and firewalls of the past are no longer sufficient. At a very high level we’ll discuss the new technology in advance endpoint protection vs antivirus and the benefits of a UTM vs a firewall only

Wagner: That is a great place to start. However, those only help close the attack surface. There are still other areas where the door might still be open.

Bloomfield: We thank them for the opportunity of working with them but let them know that due to the increase in risks, we will need to let them go and recommend other providers in the area who will be a better fit for their thinking. We also let them know that we will be there when they realize the importance of an increased security stack to protect their organization.