I recently saw an article in ARS Technica that really caught my attention – there have been a significant number of ransomware attacks on Managed Service Providers (MSPs) this year, with 6 MSPs getting hit in the past few months alone. This trend is growing, and MSPs need to be concerned. As Sean Gallagher, ARS Technica’s IT and National Security Editor writes, “Organizations using full-service IT-managed service providers… are particularly at risk because the security of all of their systems is dependent on that of the MSP.”
This puts a lot of pressure on the MSP to keep their clients secure. Here at CloudJumper we really care about MSPs and their security. We take great pride in serving the MSP community. It’s a passion of ours – and runs much deeper than a bottom line. In fact, many of the best and brightest at CloudJumper come from MSPs.
I recently spoke to some of our MSP partners. Many are still traditional in that their clients are on-prem, using the cloud only for backup and email. I was curious – what would it take them to rethink the cloud, to move the core aspects of their clients’ computing – storage centers, workspaces, applications – to the cloud?
As it turns out, while they’re starting to understand the workflow benefits and cost-effectiveness of cloud-based workspaces, they’re still unsure about how secure the cloud is. Am I at risk? Can I remain compliant? So, in many ways it’s still easy for MSPs to say to their clients, “we’ll just do it the way we’ve been doing it”
Which means my job – as a true believe of how secure the cloud is – is to make MSPs and end users feel more comfortable. You see, 8 years ago there were big breaches that occurred because the cloud wasn’t secure end-to-end. Within a few years, the cloud evolved and security exposures were on par with what could happen on-prem. Today though, the cloud has the clear advantage, for a few reasons.
Let’s take a look at Microsoft’s offerings with Azure and Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD), which, in my mind, is the best example of the cloud done right.:
(Read our security infographic and whitepaper)
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- For users looking to access Windows desktop applications, WVD using CloudJumper’s Cloud Workspace Management Suite (CWMS) is a solution that is proactive, not reactive, and inherently more secure than on-premise solutions. It represents a managed environment, following a least privileged methodology with the built-in controls and compliance features Azure is known for. WVD plus CWMS has an authority structure built into the interface so that as the primary administrator, you can be granular in how you set access levels for your individual team members. This ensures the security of the end-user computing environment.
- Microsoft and Azure automatically meet more than 90 global compliance standards for regulations like HIPAA, PCI DSS and GDPR. But even if a business isn’t subject to any of these standards, being compliant in these areas demonstrates a general excellence in security. If Azure can honor their requirements to be compliant, well, that’s a tell tale sign of Microsoft’s depths and capabilities in security.
- When a client moves their data into an Azure data center, and their workspaces in WVD, they’re dealing with Microsoft – a huge company that has the wherewithal, know-how and financial ability that no small or medium business could possibly have. Sometimes you’re measured by who you hang out with – and Microsoft is a great friend to have.
(Read about how Cloud Jumper’s Least Privileged Methodology keeps your cloud workspace secure.)
At CloudJumper we’re proud of our deep, longstanding relationship with Microsoft – CWMS is a preferred solution on the Microsoft Marketplace. In fact, we’ve worked with Microsoft in the development of WVD pretty much since day one. Which is to say that it’s not happenstance that we’ve built our platform to work most effectively with Azure. And as a result, CWMS doesn’t just make the configuration and administration of a cloud workspace easy, it transcends other solutions’ security components because it was built hand-in-hand with Microsoft. It’s how we can provide assurance that, end-to-end, an MSP partner that works with us will have the most secure experience for their business and their customers.
We’ve spent an incredible amount of time and resources building security into our platform because it matters to us. MSPs have a duty to their customers to best ensure their environments are secure, and CloudJumper will help fulfill that duty. There’s a mass migration happening right now – and the cloud is the destination. MSPs have two choices: watch it unfold, or get out in front and lead your customers to a more secure option, today.
Interested in learning more about the cloud, WVD, and security?
Contact us at Hello@cloudjumper.com or 877.972.7717, and follow us on social media: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn.
