Metaphorically, the tech security world tends to look over a city-scape and hones in on a few shiny skyscrapers, protects them, and declares victory. These big buildings represent the largest institutions. But oftentimes, all the interconnected infrastructure of smaller homes remains unprotected — the smaller homes, in this context, are the SMBs and other various organizations. Sinan Eren, the VP of Zero Trust Access at Barracuda, broke down how security is interconnected across all institutions, regardless of size. 

Main Takeaways

• Attackers Have a Market Now Too: Eren explains the challenges around the reality that cyber attackers have their own market now. Gone are the days when a singular attacker might be responsibile for conducting all elements of a criminal act. Instead, Eren reveals that an entire criminal community facilitates these acts. 
• The Long Tail Must Be Protected: Eren points out that larger entities that have security in place can still be vulnerable through interactions with smaller and less secure entities in its supply chain. These smaller organizations include SMBs that often interact with larger companies. Furthermore, Eren suggests that there can be an ethical component to make sure that the entire community is secured, not only the largest companies and institutions. 
• How to Secure SMBs: Since it is clear, from Eren’s point of view, that large businesses and SMBs are interconnected and therefore all must be secured or none will be, the question becomes: What is the best way to secure SMBs? Eren contends that security must be provided to SMBs through MSPs rather than as direct sales to SMBs. His argument is a very reasonable one — SMBs have too much on their plates already to handle security themselves.

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