Live from the Summit: #AcronisCyberFitSummit Day One Highlights

Day One of the Acronis #CyberFit Summit in Miami is over! Whether you joined us in Miami, online, or are just getting caught up on what the world’s premier cyber protection event has to offer your MSP business – here’s a quick look back at some of the top moments and takeaways from the first day of our first stop on the Acronis #CyberFit World Tour 2021.

Before you dive into our second day of insights, networking, and entertainment, take a moment to check out this Day One recap to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the business-building benefits that attendees gained so far.

There’s still tons of sessions, panels, workshops, and exclusive events to check out! Register for the virtual Acronis #CyberFit Summit now or (if you’re already registered) log in to the event site or event app to continue your Summit experience tomorrow.

The Acronis #CyberFit Summit in Miami kicked off with leadership from Acronis taking the stage and offering a vision for how the company and the cyber protection movement will advance and evolve in the year ahead. CEO Patrick Pulvermueller addressed these points succinctly, cementing his commitment to the partner community with the promise “I will listen to all of you to learn what you need to be successful and deliver cyber protection with the power of you.”

That commitment was echoed by Acronis founder, Serg “SB” Bell, CTO Oleg Melnikov, VP of Cyber Protection Research Candid Wüest, and guests from UbiStor and IDC. All of whom expanded on the challenges and efforts that lay ahead, particularly with regard to partner enablement and empowerment.

As Phil Goodwin, Research Vice President of IDC noted on the main stage: “[The rise of] cyber protection is one of the defining moments of our industry.” As the research, insights, and advice offered throughout the Summit shows – the Acronis community is set to make the most of this moment and help organizations do the same.

Co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian followed the Day One opening keynote for a candid and inspiring conversation with Acronis Growth Officer Dan Havens. Ohanian offered advice from his experience building a globally recognized social community – the foundation of which he calls a “minimum viable community” from which success can grow.

After fostering this at Reddit, Ohanian reports that he sees it everywhere on the internet today and predicted an amazing decade ahead for community builders who unite users, customers, and clients online. This is far from a solo effort, of course.

Ohanian argued that two of the keys to a business’ success were minimizing time spent on less important matters and knowing when to hire others. “The time of a CEO or founder is so valuable. I highly recommend calendar audits to categorize how I spend my time and see how much time I’m spending on things I care about. You can’t let yourself waste time on things that don’t matter.”

MSPs continue to be a juicy target for cybercriminals – and with good reason. As shown by recent supply-chain attacks, a single successful infiltration of an MSP or MSP solution provides cybercriminals with access to all of their clients. In multiple sessions at the first day of the Acronis #CyberFit Summit in Miami, cybersecurity analysts and experts provided an inside look at how these attacks work, how MSPs are impacted, and how Acronis Cyber Protection Solutions prevent them.

CSI Cyber Miami: Forensic Analysis of a Ransomware Attack and Defense: Acronis cybersecurity gurus Collin Apodac and Topher Tebow led a live dissection of a ransomware attack that struck an MSP and explored why MSPs are top-of-mind for cybercriminals. “Cyberattackers know that MSPs are under-resourced. MSPs wear many hats. We need to make it easier to do their job effectively.”

94% of Attacks Arrive via Email – Strategies for Reducing Risks and Incidents: Backing up this perspective, renowned email security expert Michael Osterman provided attendees insight into new (troubling) research about how organizations experience cyberattacks. Many organizations admit that they don’t do a good job protecting users from threats. Only 28% are confident they can secure home infrastructures and 30% reported experiencing four or more unique threat types (BEC, phishing, domain spoofing, and ransomware) caused by a combination of factors.

Behind the Scenes: How Secure Software Development and Acronis MSP Protection Prevent Cyberattacks against MSPs: 78% of MSPs report attacks against their SMB clients in the last two years. Scarier yet, 92% expect they’ll be attacked more in the future. Candid Wüest explored these experiences and the people, process, and technology updates that MSPs can put in place today to be more resilient in the face of modern threats.

Acronis CTO Oleg Melnikov provided a look forward at how Acronis will advance and accelerate cyber protection in 2022 with the Acronis Product Roadmap full of new features, integrations, and expansions designed to support Acronis partners as they scale their own businesses.

“Our goal is to support more than 100 workload types within the next 12-24 months,” Melnikov explained before diving into planned advancements and launches like Acronis Cyber Infrastructure, the Advanced Security and Endpoint Detection Response (EDR) pack, and the constantly-growing global-local initiative that’s set to add more than 30 datacenters to countries around the world.

There’s still a ton of unique sessions, panels, workshops, and events ahead at the Acronis #CyberFit Summit in Miami. Register for the virtual Acronis #CyberFit Summit now or (if you’re already registered) log in to the event site or event app tomorrow morning at 8:00 am to continue your Summit experience and take part in even more can’t-miss events.