Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Artificial intelligence is transforming cybersecurity, and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are at the forefront of that evolution. That's why we're launching the WatchGuard AI Innovation Challenge, an opportunity for MSPs to share ideas for AI agents and automations that help security teams work smarter, operate more efficiently, and better protect their customers.

For years, VPNs have been the standard for securing remote access. But today's hybrid work environments, cloud applications, and evolving cyber threats have exposed the limitations of a security model built on implicit trust. Once a user authenticates through a traditional VPN, they often gain broad access to the corporate network. If those credentials are compromised, attackers can move laterally, access sensitive resources, and escalate an attack. Zero Trust takes a different approach.

It's 4 p.m. and a client calls. It's an employee's last day, and you need to make sure they no longer have access to company environments, applications, systems, sensitive information—or even the corporate laptop. You remove VPN access. Then remote desktop access. Then access to applications and internal systems. Multiple locations, multiple consoles, and it only takes missing one of them to leave a door open. Now multiply that by the number of clients you manage.

The biggest challenge in cybersecurity is no longer just detecting threats. It's doing so before time runs out. Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to automating isolated tasks within an attack. It is enabling threats to operate as continuous systems that can adapt, coordinate, and evolve in real time, drastically reducing the time security teams have to react. This shift is doing more than simply increasing the volume of offensive activity.

Generative AI has gone mainstream, and your customers are already using it, whether IT knows it or not. Employees are turning to AI assistants to write emails, summarize documents, generate code, analyze spreadsheets, and speed up everyday work. Most are simply trying to be more productive. The problem?

As businesses continue moving critical workloads to the cloud, attackers are increasingly targeting identities, SaaS applications, and cloud configurations. While many organizations believe their cloud environments are secure, hidden risks often go unnoticed until it's too late. For MSPs, this presents an opportunity to deliver greater value while growing recurring security revenue.