MSP: cloud and cybersecurity top priorities for 2022 By Top Trade editorial team N-able forecasts for next year

The rapid shift to a new hybrid work culture has meant migrating a huge amount of work to cloud-based environments. This change has helped keep companies afloat but sadly made them more vulnerable. Organizations of all sizes have found themselves in new territory and are choosing new solutions to protect themselves by focusing primarily on endpoint security and barrier-free, cloud-based backup / recovery. We expect, especially among MSPs, that the demand for the use of these types of solutions will increase in 2022. However, it must be considered that many MSPs have started using the cloud without having the right skills regarding its security. And if we add to this the continued growth of increasingly hostile cyber threats, the situation becomes potentially dangerous. In fact, in the last year we have seen organizations of all sizes fall victim to hackers, with all the bad publicity that goes with it. Many companies and IT experts focus on preventing attacks by Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, cybercriminal groups, and other professional threat actors. But it is the rise of unskilled hackers that deserves to be on everyone’s radar. New developments such as the commodification of Ransomware as a Service and Access as a Service have led to an increase in the number and complexity of attacks perpetrated by unskilled hackers. These individuals with the tools and knowledge available can launch attacks on organizations of any size. SMBs are the most vulnerable to attacks, as they have smaller security teams and budgets than large companies. To protect themselves, they will need to quantify and qualify the threats posed by these unskilled hackers when they perform risk analysis as potentially as dangerous as attacks perpetrated by APT groups. They also need to further take a standardized approach in defining a cybersecurity plan for their organization. In 2022, cybersecurity will remain at the top of the priorities of companies of all sizes. Organizations will be looking for solutions to protect their data and customers, with MSPs focusing on providing scalable solutions that enable their customers to combat these evolving threats.