a couple of years of stability,” he predicted. “At some point, we’ll see pricing trend down. I’m confident in that.” Stricter requirements an advantage Those increasingly stringent requirements to qualify for a cyber insurance policy will help bring costs down for the MSP and its end users. In the meantime, they’re also a tremendous sales tool for your MSP business. Spencer points out that the security controls the insurance companies are looking for boil down to five things: • Managed endpoint detection and response; • Segregated and immutable backups; • Multifactor authentication everywhere; • Vulnerability management, including scanning and updates; and • Cybersecurity awareness training and phish testing. These five controls are something you almost certainly have in your MSP toolkit and can offer clients – and now you’ve got a compelling reason for your clients to buy them. “Insurance gets to be the bad guy that comes in and says, ‘If you want coverage, you’ve got to do more things than you ever had to do before. You may not have wanted to do them. You may not have thought you had to do them. But if you want insurance coverage, you have to.’ Period, end of story,” Spencer said. Blackpoint Cyber is also taking the approach of using security controls – in this case, the company’s suite of cyber security products – to manage the cost of premiums. Traditionally a SaaS vendor, Blackpoint recently started an insurance division offering policies to MSPs that use their tools. Of the cyber policies the company currently holds, data suggests the group “should be producing about $25 million a year in losses, and we’re at zero over the last two and a half years,” noted Wilkerson. That’s a hefty bargaining chip with carriers that have been happy to offer lower premiums for the lower risk policies. “We’ve collectively as buyers put ourselves in a position to approach the market with what is to the insurer a profitable portfolio,” Wilkerson said. “In doing so, we want to recognize some of that value back, and that’s the mousetrap that we’ve built to get there.” As a final tip on handling premiums, it’s important to shop your policy to a wide variety of carriers. “The carriers don’t all operate in lockstep,” Spencer said. He has seen carriers quote radically different prices for identical policies – as much as a $15,000 difference in one case. Don’t be afraid to ask your insurance agent how many quotes they’re getting and to request more. Or, try a broker that has direct access to a wider variety of carriers. Jennifer Tribe is host of the ‘Workflow for MSPs’ podcast. She serves as director of content at Syncro, an all-in all-in-one RMM, PSA and remote access tool that helps managed service providers run more profitable businesses. FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS - Subscriptions to RWS are free to executives working for telecommunications service providers. Simply go to rwsmagazine.com and click on the subscribe link. Fill out the form completely and you will start receiving the magazine within six weeks. ADDRESS CHANGES, RENEWALS and CANCELLATIONS - Go to rwsmagazine.com and click on the subscribe link. For address changes and renewals, simply fill out the form, submit it and your subscription will automatically be renewed with your most current information. To cancel your subscription, go to the “Cancellations” header, click “here” and follow the instructions. CORRESPONDENCE - Send letters to the editor via email to Martin Vilaboy at martin@bekabusinessmedia. com. All other correspondence should be directed to Martin Vilaboy at 10115 E Bell Road, Suite 107 - #517 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260. PRESS RELEASES - RWS magazine welcomes press releases and any other information relating to the sale, marketing and distribution of communications services. Releases should be emailed to Martin Vilaboy at martin@bekabusinessmedia.com. REPRINTS - For high-quality article reprints, minimum of 100 quantity, please contact the publisher at 480-503-0770. ADVERTISING - For a media kit or information about advertising, contact Group Publisher Berge Kaprelian at 480-503-0770, berge@bekabusinessmedia.com. Advertise Index Communication Astound Wholesale (www.astound.com/business/wholesale) 7 Beka Business Media 15, 23 CVx (www.cvxexpo.com) 12-13 Granite Telecommunications (www.granitenet.com) 2 NHC (nhcgrp.com) Back cover Snom (snomamerica.com) 3 Disclaimer: This index is provided as a free service to our advertisers. Every effort is made for accuracy, but we cannot be held liable for any errors or omissions. 22 REMOTE WORK SOLUTIONS rwsmagazine.com
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