30 01732 759725 60 SECONDS WITH… 60 seconds with Jamie Akhtar, CEO, CyberSmart I mentioned earlier is a highlight in its own right, and there’s also our continued growth as a business. That said, for me nothing tops CyberSmart Live, our annual partner event. It’s always great to get everyone in the same room and to hear some great speakers who are really pushing forward cybersecurity as an industry. MIT: What currently is having the greatest impact on your business? JA: Cybersecurity is constantly evolving and we have to continually adapt to make sure we’re offering our customers the best possible protection. MIT: What’s the best bit of business advice you’ve ever been given? JA: That’s simple: Do what you love. MIT: Have you ever had any embarrassing moments at work? JA: None that I can remember. Or maybe I’ve repressed those memories! MIT: What is your favourite quote? JA: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it’: Peter Drucker. MIT: What’s on your playlist at the moment? JA: Worakls, a French DJ. I’m a big fan of electronic music in general. MIT: What’s the most used app on your phone and why? JA: MyZone, a heart rate training app. I spend most of my spare time doing some form of training and this helps me get the most out of it. Anyone who’s into their fitness should check it out! MIT: How do you like to spend your spare time? JA: Training, running, cycling, working out and trying new sports. CyberSmart is an all-in-one cybersecurity monitoring, optimisation, training and insurance platform that enables small and medium-sized businesses to protect themselves without the need for in-house cyber expertise. It does this by providing customers with: n Compliance, assurance and threat detection software proven to defend against the unexpected and deliver complete cyber confidence; n Access to a team of cybersecurity specialists; n Cyber protection through regular vulnerability and device scanning; n An intuitive dashboard and reporting; n The simplest and fastest route to cybersecurity certifications such as Cyber Essentials; and n Help in building a ‘human firewall’ via bite-sized cyber awareness training. Through its network of managed service partners (MSPs), CyberSmart also meets growing demand from SMEs for cyber security as a service. In a OnePoll survey of senior leaders at UK MSPs for the CyberSmart MSP Survey 2024, 65% said customers now expect them to manage either their cybersecurity infrastructure or their cybersecurity and their IT infrastructure. In addition, 73% said MSPs’ cybersecurity capabilities are being mentioned more in RFP/ new business meetings, with 22% noticing ‘much more’ interest in this aspect of their services offering. Growing interest in MSPs’ ability to take ownership of cyber security for clients is understandable given the lack of cyber security skills and capabilities within SMEs. More than one third (37%) of MSP leaders said that 20% or less of their customers have a specific cybersecurity role in-house. www.cybersmart.co.uk ManagedIT (MIT): What’s your role at Cybersmart? Jamie Akhtar (JA): CEO and founder. However, I’ve worn almost every hat since founding the company, from sales and marketing to a spell in charge of development. MIT: What new products and services can you offer MSPs? JA: This has been a big year for us in terms of releases. So far, we’ve launched the new and improved CyberSmart Active Protect and our new vulnerability management tool CSVM; we’ve changed our insurance provider to help customers gain more from their policies; and we’ll shortly be relaunching the mobile version of CyberSmart Active Protect, which is something we’re very excited about. MIT: What should IT managers be doing to become cyber-resilient? JA: At CyberSmart, we believe in a concept called ‘Complete Cyber Confidence’, which refers to the trust an organisation has in its ability to protect its digital assets, data and systems from unauthorised access, cyberattacks and data breaches. To get there, organisations need to look beyond compliance with regulations (although that’s a great start) and adopt a comprehensive approach that encompasses everything from proactive risk management and staff training to risk transfer through things like cyber insurance. This is what our company and product suite is built on. MIT: What are your highlights of the year so far? JA: Each of the releases Jamie Akhtar
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