Sophos extends MSP Connect program to respond to growing demand
Sophos has extended its MSP Connect program with the intention of expanding public cloud security expertise. The company has also introduced Sophos XDR.
Sophos' MSP Connect is designed to help managed service providers (MSPs) increase customer management efficiencies, unlock business opportunities and boost revenue.
According to the company, the growth of the program is fueled by the increased demand for Sophos next-generation cybersecurity solutions and services that protect against ransomware and other cyber threats.
Sophos states MSP Connect achieved 67% year-over-year billings growth in the first quarter fiscal year 2022, ending June 30, 2021, and 55% year-over-year billings growth in fiscal year 2021, ending March 31, 2021, through MSP Connect Flex, the Sophos flexible monthly billing program.
MSP Connect now supports more than 16,500 global and regional MSPs worldwide, a 54% increase since April 1, 2020, the start of Sophos fiscal year 2021, according to a statement from the company.
New to the MSP Connect portfolio is Sophos XDR, the extended detection and response (XDR) solution that synchronises native endpoint, server, firewall, and email security.
Sophos Intercept X with XDR and other pillar products including Sophos Firewall and Sophos Cloud Security share threat intelligence in real time for coordinated and automated response to threats as part of the Sophos adaptive cybersecurity ecosystem, a new open security architecture for protection.
Built on a cloud-based data lake backed by a data set, the ecosystem is designed to continuously improve based on the collective input of Sophos solutions and services, partners, customers, developers, and other security industry vendors.
MSPs further benefit with Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR), a fully-managed threat hunting, detection and response service that provides a dedicated 24/7 security team to rapidly identify and neutralise sophisticated and complex threats.
The customisable offering provides growth opportunities for partners, and is a growing managed detection and response services, now with more than 5,000 customers, Sophos states.
Sophos vice president of global MSP and cloud alliances Scott Barlow says, "The world experienced a necessary shift to remote working this past year, requiring businesses to rely heavily on the cloud.
"MSPs have been on the frontlines since day one, helping organisations secure hybrid workforces with remote employees a critical role considering changing attacker tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) that increasingly involve remote access services such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
"MSP Connect makes it easier than ever for MSPs to secure diverse customer environments with one comprehensive cybersecurity portfolio thats simple to deploy and manage.
Barlow says, "We're seeing unprecedented demand for integrated security solutions and services that better protect customers and enable partners to expand their business.
"Sophos is constantly innovating, and we're arming MSPs with the multilayered security needed for protection, visibility and compliance of on-premises and public cloud environments.
"Sophos' new managed cloud security bundle, for example, provides everything MSPs need to extend their cybersecurity expertise to the public cloud.
MSPs manage Sophos solutions and services in the cloud-based Sophos Central platform, where they can oversee all customer installations both on-premises and in the public cloud, respond to alerts, and track licenses and upcoming renewal dates via a single interface.
