Datto - Experts & Thought Leaders

Datto, a Kaseya company, and a renowned global provider of security and cloud-based software solutions purpose-built for managed service providers (MSPs), has released its 2022 State of Ransomware report, which surveyed nearly 3,000 IT professionals in small to medium-sized businesses across eight countries (the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore). Datto’s 2022 State of Ransomware report The report shows that SMBs are aware of increasing cyber threats and allocating resources and investing in areas such as network and cloud security. Key takeaways from this year’s survey include: About a fifth of IT budget is dedicated to security and many are seeing increases in budgets. 47% of SMBs plan to invest in network security in the next year. Over 50% of SMBs have implemented AV and email/spam protection, with network and cloud security as the top areas planned for investment in the next year. 37% of respondents run IT security vulnerability assessments three or more times a year, with 62% running them at least twice a year. 69% of SMBs currently have cyber insurance and 34% of those without cyber insurance are highly likely to get it in the next year. 42% of SMBs with cyber insurance think it’s extremely likely that a ransomware attack will happen in the next year, while only 16% of SMBs without cyber insurance think the same. SMBs take cyber security and ransomware threat seriously We're seeing many businesses take more steps to protect themselves against threat actors" “We're seeing many businesses take more steps to protect themselves against threat actors,” said Chris McKie, the Vice President (VP) of Product Marketing for Security and Networking Solutions, adding “Whether they’re investing in new security products or utilising multiple security frameworks, most SMBs realise the very real threat that ransomware poses for their business, and they’re doing what they can to keep themselves safe.” Only 3 in 10 of SMBs have a best-in-class recovery plan in place, with 52% of them claiming they have a standard recovery plan in place. MSPs can help their clients improve their disaster recovery plan by building out their security and backup offerings or requiring clients to have cyber insurance. Cyber insurance can offset the risks of potential breaches Cyber insurance can offset the risks of potential breaches, something which became increasingly more important when many SMBs accelerated their digital transformation efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Additional insightful findings: Rather be phishing. Compared to ransomware, respondents think phishing is more likely to occur in the next year. Many think this is the better alternative, as they believe its impact is lower than the impact of ransomware. Getting insured. Organisations with cyber insurance are more actively engaged in their cyber security. They have more IT support, more cyber security frameworks (CSFs), and more security solutions. They’re also more likely to have experienced a cyber security incident in the past. The right frame of mind. CIS framework is the most used cyber security framework, with 34% of respondents utilising it. This is followed by CMMC (30%), COBIT (27%), and NIST (22%). Datto surveys IT professionals globally For the past seven years, Datto has surveyed IT professionals worldwide to gain insight into industry trends, so that knowledge can then be shared with the IT community, in order to better understand and service customers.

SaaS Alerts, the cyber security company purpose built for MSPs to protect and monetise their customers’ business SaaS applications, announced that it has closed a round of funding totaling $1.2 million. Most notably, the round was led by MSP industry veterans, including Gary Pica, David Bellini, Adam Slutskin, Paul Cissel, Pete Peterson, Kevin Lancaster, Paul Brady, John Barrows and Michael France. SaaS Alerts announces funding round completion “The technology landscape has been evolving for a while, but the rate of change has been hastened by the pandemic. Now more than ever, MSPs need to realise the importance of protecting the SaaS applications, which they and their customers use daily. Based on this transformation, I feel like SaaS Alerts is the right solution at the right time for the MSP community,” said David Bellini, Co-Founder of Connectwise and CFO for ConnectOn. Jim Lippie, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SaaS Alerts, said, “When we started our fundraising efforts, it was important for us to bring in investors who truly understand the MSP industry and how it’s changing.” SaaS Alerts to use funds to further development activities SaaS Alerts will use the funding to further its development activities and incorporate additional features Jim Lippie adds, “We now feel like we have a dream team of investors who have seen the industry evolve and know exactly where it’s headed. Receiving investment from such an impressive group of MSP veterans is a real endorsement of our vision and mission at SaaS Alerts.” SaaS Alerts will use the funding to further its development activities and incorporate many of the additional features being requested by its existing partners, in addition to sales and marketing initiatives. Unified SaaS alerting and monitoring platform The unified SaaS alerting and monitoring platform is currently processing over two million events per day and growing rapidly to support its expanding list of MSP partners, allowing those MSPs to add more value to their client relationships and to build incremental recurring revenue. SaaS Alerts is looking forward to engaging with the nearly 3,000 MSPs anticipated to attend Datto’s upcoming MSP Technology Day on March 18th, where the focus is on cyber resiliency.

SaaS Alerts, led by CEO Jim Lippie, raises $1.2 million in early stage funding from Gary Pica, David Bellini & additional MSP industry pioneers. The lineup of investors includes Gary Pica, David Bellini, Adam Slutskin, Paul Cissel, Pete Peterson, Kevin Lancaster, Paul Brady, John Barrows and Michael France, ChannelE2E has confirmed. SaaS Alerts secures funding The funding arrives at a key time for SaaS Alerts and the MSP software industry. Indeed, thousands of MSPs have successfully extended from on-premises device monitoring to reselling SaaS applications, such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace (formerly Google G Suite). However, most MSPs have yet to monetise the monitoring of SaaS, IaaS and PaaS applications. The SaaS layer SaaS Alerts addresses one of those Big Three cloud opportunities - namely, the SaaS layer SaaS Alerts addresses one of those Big Three cloud opportunities - namely, the SaaS layer. The startup is a cyber security company “purpose-built for MSPs to protect and monetise customers’ core SaaS business applications”, as per the firm. With that focus in mind, SaaS Alerts offers a unified, real-time monitoring platform for MSPs to protect against data theft, data at risk and bad actors, the company adds. SaaS Alerts: Angel Investors of Note The SaaS Alerts seed funding round features funding from such MSP technology industry veterans as: Gary Pica, a former MSP Owner who now leads TruMethods - an MSP coaching firm, David Bellini, CFO at ConnectOn, and Co-Founder/Former President of ConnectWise, Adam Slutskin, Chief Revenue Officer at Liongard, and former CRO at ConnectWise, Paul Cissel, formerly CEO of Internet & Telephone, an MSP that successfully exited to OnePath, Pete Peterson, CEO of Merit Solutions, a major MSP, Kevin Lancaster, Executive VP of Kaseya and founder of ID Agent, Paul Brady, CEO of Gtms, John Barrows, CEO of JBarrows sales training, and Michael France, Managing Partner at Taylor Business Group. Importance of protecting the SaaS applications In a prepared statement about the funding, David Bellini said: “The technology landscape has been evolving for a while, but the rate of change has been hastened by the pandemic. Now more than ever, MSPs need to realise the importance of protecting the SaaS applications, which they and their customers use daily. Based on this transformation, I feel like SaaS Alerts is the right solution at the right time for the MSP community.” SaaS Alerts’ Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jim Lippie, stated: “When we started our fundraising efforts, it was important for us to bring in investors who truly understand the MSP industry and how it’s changing. We now feel like we have a dream team of investors who have seen the industry evolve and know exactly where it’s headed. Receiving investment from such an impressive group of MSP veterans is a real endorsement of our vision and mission at SaaS Alerts.” SaaS Alerts to use funds to accelerate R&D, sales SaaS Alerts will leverage the funding to accelerate R&D, sales and marketing Jim Lippie joined SaaS Alerts in January 2021. The move reunited Lippie with Co-Founders - Chip Buck and Seth Bostock. The trio previously built independenceIT, a desktop as a service (DaaS) provider that ultimately joined CloudJumper and then tucked into NetApp. SaaS Alerts will leverage the funding to accelerate R&D, sales and marketing. But to be clear: The cloud-based platform is up and running, supporting MSPs, and already processes more than two million events per day. Next-generation cloud monitoring, management for MSPs Meanwhile, a growing list of startups along with larger technology providers is striving to help MSPs manage and monetise SaaS, IaaS and PaaS workloads. Examples areas of development include: Windows Virtual Desktops: Nerdio has emerged as a major partner that helps MSPs to further automate and manage Windows Virtual Desktops on Azure. Public Cloud Data Protection: Numerous backup and disaster recovery (BDR) companies now run natively and protect such public clouds as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. The latest example involves Datto, which will start beta testing Datto Azure Cloud Continuity for MSPs in Q2 2021. Cloud Cost Management Tools: Some of the options help MSPs to optimise public clouds and mitigate runaway customer costs. Cloud Security Posture Management Tools: CSPM tools can help MSPs to ensure cloud services are properly configured without accidental security loopholes. Application Performance Management and Monitoring (APM) Tools, such as DataDog, New Relic and Cisco AppDynamics, among many others. SaaS Monitoring Tools, such as SaaS Alerts, Augmentt (from N-able veterans Gavin Garbutt and Derik Belair), and Torii. Also, Sherweb has announced a monitoring, detection and response service to safeguard Microsoft's cloud applications.