Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Advanced threats rarely break into infrastructure in obvious ways. In many cases, they remain hidden for months, exploiting blind spots created by unmanaged personal devices (BYOD), applications adopted without the IT department’s oversight (shadow IT), unauthorized access points, or compromised devices operating as part of botnets. As networks evolve into hybrid environments and most traffic is encrypted, the context becomes fragmented and the attack surface expands.

Most organizations don’t struggle with managing devices in the beginning. A few laptops, some smartphones and tablets, everything feels under control. The problem starts when things scale. More devices get added. Teams start working remotely. Different operating systems and use cases come into play. Over time, it becomes harder to track what’s connected, what’s updated, and what’s secure. That’s when endpoint management stops being optional.

We’re proud to announce that WatchGuard Technologies has been named Best Cybersecurity Company in the 2026 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, recognizing innovation and leadership across the cybersecurity industry. While industry recognition is always an honor, this award comes at a particularly important moment for cybersecurity teams worldwide.

Picture a Tuesday morning at any mid-size U.S. company. A sales rep logs into Salesforce from a hotel lobby in Chicago on a personal laptop, no VPN. A developer pushes a commit from a home machine four months behind on OS patches. A finance analyst pastes a revenue spreadsheet into an AI tool that nobody in IT approved. Before 10 AM, you have three real endpoint security gaps. None of them triggered an alert. That’s hybrid work in 2026. And it’s not going away.

The quiet shift no one talks about. Something happened over the past few years that most MSPs didn't plan for. Their customers moved to Microsoft 365, adopted Entra ID as their identity provider, and started using Microsoft Authenticator for MFA. It made sense at the time. It was simple, it was included in the license, and it worked. But somewhere along the way, a strategic decision was made by default. Microsoft became the identity provider, directory, credential store, and MFA provider. All at once.