Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

MSPs have a critical role to play in safeguarding SMBs and SMEs against cyber threats, and there are always tools coming onto the market to help you do this. In a recent interview for our Beyond the Horizons Podcast, Dave MacKinnon explored some of the key considerations MSPs should keep in mind when selecting a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solution for their customers.

A few weeks ago, I received a message over Teams from Laura White, one of our Partner Success Managers who works with many of our Super Elite partners. Laura was preparing for an important meeting with a partner to discuss migrating from an On-Premise N‑central server to a Cloud Hosted N‑central with N‑able, and she wanted my input. The move from on-premise infrastructure to the cloud has been a hot topic.

Staying ahead of emerging threats is paramount for MSPs tasked with safeguarding their customers’ digital assets. However, amidst the broad range of technologies and buzzwords, distinguishing genuine solutions from marketing spin can sometimes be challenging. This blog draws on a recent podcast interview with N‑able Chief Security Officer, Dave MacKinnon, to give insights into Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and its implications for MSPs.

Maintaining strong relationships with your customers is essential. As an MSP, your customers rely on you for their IT solutions, cybersecurity, and overall technological support. But beyond providing these services, creating a sense of appreciation and gratitude can enhance customer satisfaction, add value to the relationship, and boost loyalty. While grand gestures may seem appealing, sometimes it’s the small, thoughtful actions that can make the biggest impact.

This month, I want to address a question I was sent from one of our MSP partners. As a smaller MSP looking to grow, they were wondering what they should focus on first: Marketing and lead gen to fill their sales pipeline? Or strategies to improve their organizational and operational efficiencies? They recognized that both areas are currently a source of weakness for their business.

Earlier this month, Google Cloud disclosed that it accidentally deleted the account of its customer UniSuper, a $125 billion Australian pension fund. According to a joint statement from Google Cloud and UniSuper, the deletion occurred due to an “inadvertent misconfiguration.” As a result, more than 600,000 pension fund users were unable to access their accounts for over a week. UniSuper had geographical redundancy built into its Google Cloud environment, according to the statement.

If you haven’t already read part 1, click here to do that first. If you look at the screenshots, they’re actually quite simple to understand. Anyone can easily identify whether the OS booted successfully at first glance. Look at the following examples and you’ll see what I mean : So, rather than the existing deterministic method, which relied on indirect evidence, we opted to use machine learning and neural networks to analyze and classify screenshots like a human being.

What’s this Paul, are you banging on about Custom Properties in N‑central again? Yes I am. For those of you familiar with my work, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Custom Properties and how they can help expand what you can do in N‑central. But I’ve been thinking about this recently and I found that when I talk about Custom Properties I tend to just focus on what you can do with device-based Custom Properties, which leaves customer-based Custom Properties out in the cold.