TSPs can become security experts

ConnectWise has launched ConnectWise Certify, a cybersecurity education and training program. This dual track certification program targets owners and sales professionals as well as engineers. By aligning the cybersecurity expertise in these two key functions, TSPs can create a cohesive team that can share expertise and experience to maximise security capabilities for their SMB clients.
 
“We’re excited to offer the very first cybersecurity training that has been created specifically for TSPs. The customised curriculum for each track consists of a full day of live training, an accompanying workbook and an exam at the end of the day,” said Joy Beland, senior cybersecurity education director at ConnectWise. “This training was developed with the goal of teaching TSPs the most important cybersecurity knowledge that will be useful and can be implemented immediately.”
 
Offered at no cost to attendees, ConnectWise Certify focuses on the foundations of cybersecurity, including industry standards, best practices and technology alignment, backed up by sessions tailored specifically for sales professionals and engineers. The courses are updated regularly to address new cyber threats and current events so TSPs can help ensure the security of their clients, which is critical for businesses to continue operating productively and with minimal disruption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
“We take a unique dual track approach with ConnectWise Certify because it’s equally important for TSP owners and sales professionals to understand cybersecurity as it is for engineering staff – but for different reasons. Take risk assessment, for example. The owner or salesperson will need to be able to have a conversation about risk and the business impact with the client, while the engineer will need to know how to run the tools and compile the necessary information to generate a report and workplan for how to secure the environment and mitigate risk,” said Jay Ryerse, CISSP, vice president, cybersecurity initiatives, ConnectWise. “Together they would compare notes and decide what data is the most valuable -- and also the most vulnerable -- and align with how that is presented to the client.”
 
The course curriculum and exams were developed with guidance from a IT certification company and are taught by Ryerse, Beland, and Drew Sanford, director of technical sales at ConnectWise, who each owned their own TSP prior to joining ConnectWise and have more than 75 years of combined experience in providing IT and security solutions to SMBs.
 
To date, more than 500 TSP owners, sales professionals and engineers have completed the training and attained their certification.
 
“Zephyr Networks takes our clients’ data security very seriously and with the cyberthreat landscape always changing, we continually review and update our security standards. Last week, five of our engineers participated in the ConnectWise Certify training and received their course certification,” said Eric Monroe, principal at Zephyr Networks. “We saw tremendous value in aligning our understanding of the crucial security pieces that MSP’s must excel in and it gives us an additional layer of differentiation from other MSPs. This full day of training is one of the best resources we have been provided in the MSP community and speaks to ConnectWise’s commitment to cybersecurity education and training.”
 
ConnectWise Certify: Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Engineers provides TSP engineering staff with a comprehensive understanding of the technical elements of cybersecurity. Attendees learn about the NIST Framework, Critical Security Controls, tools to build their solution stack, the ins and outs of incident response planning, and an overview of intrusion detection and malware analysis. The most recent Fundamentals for Engineers training took place on April 1 as a virtual event with more than 180 participants. The next Fundamentals for Engineers is scheduled for April 24 as a virtual event.
 
ConnectWise Certify: Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Owners and Sales Professionals helps TSP sales professionals understand how to have a risk-based conversation with end clients, enabling them to sell their security services and solutions with confidence to meet the challenges of today’s SMBs. Delegates learn how to minimise fear-based selling, discuss objections that come up during the sales conversations, and present a robust action plan based on prioritising the discovered gaps and vulnerabilities. The next Fundamentals for Owners and Sales Professionals trainings are scheduled for May 6 and May 15, both as virtual events.