The ‘channel first’ strategy has helped Sophos grow faster than its contemporaries

Matt Fairbanks, Chief Marketing Officer, Sophos
 

Sophos has grown both its network and its endpoint business faster than the market growth during fiscal year FY17, ended March 31st 2017. It has done this by remaining steadfast to its “channel first” commitment to build products and programs that drives business for its partners. Sophos now has a channel ecosystem of more than 30,000 partners worldwide. In addition, Sophos has continued to innovate to provide customers with next-generation endpoint and firewall protection that is required to protect against today’s sophisticated threats.
 

“The channel has a critical role to play in helping Indian businesses through digital transformation. To add real value, partners will need to act as a trusted advisor, understanding the unique challenges and threats of each organization. It is imperative for them to drive innovation that delivers customer needs, learn from feedback and always strive for excellence. In addition, with today’s global economy it is important that as trusted advisors, they understand the regulations that govern data protection for citizens in any country that their client might operate – such as GDPR which governs data protection for citizens in the European Union,” says Matt Fairbanks, Chief Marketing Officer, Sophos.
 

IT security in India has evolved as the most sought after discussion in the industry and until recently there have been several triggers to it. Last year Sophos Labs analysed the attacks that happened all over the world and predicted some of the threat trends -

·         Financial infrastructure at greater risk of attack - The use of targeted phishing and "whaling" continues to grow. These attacks use detailed information about company executives to trick employees into paying fraudsters or compromising accounts. Experts expect attacks on critical financial infrastructure to continue in 2017.

·         Destructive DDoS IOT attacks  - Cybercriminals will find it easy to extend their reach because there are so many IoT devices containing outdated code based on poorly-maintained operating systems and applications with well-known vulnerabilities

·  Shift from exploitation to targeted social attacks - Cybercriminals are getting better at exploiting the ultimate vulnerability - humans. Ever more sophisticated and convincing targeted attacks seek to coax users into compromising themselves.

·         Ransomware evolves - As more users recognize the risks of ransomware attack via email, criminals are exploring other vectors. Some are experimenting with malware that reinfects later, long after a ransom is paid, and some are starting to use built-in tools and no executable malware at all to avoid detection by endpoint protection code that focuses on executable files.