Barracuda Networks has embedded functionality from its Content Shield web filtering solution directly within its Managed Workplace RMM platform.
Available now at no†extra cost to MSPs who use both systems, the new integration lets Managed Workplace users deploy Content Shield agents on customer endpoints from within the same interface they use to deploy other agent-based software. It also allows technicians to view metrics on security-related topics like threats detected and quarantined, among others, without exiting their RMM.†
“It’s a nice dashboard for the MSP to see at a high level what their posture is across their customer base,” says Chris Crellin, senior director of product management for Barracuda MSP, the vendor’s MSP-focused business unit.
Users who wish to view more detailed information can also click directly from Managed Workplace to Content Shield for further investigation. “It’s not quite single sign on yet, but we’re working in that direction as well, so that you can shoot over to the Content Shield portal and do more in-depth management there,” Crellin says.
Letting technicians access Content Shield functionality without leaving the RMM solution they spend much of their day in, he continues, enhances both their productivity and their ability to keep customers secure.
Content Shield, which joined Barracuda’s lineup of security solutions for MSPs last September, is designed to help businesses keep employees away from malicious websites, sites containing illegal content, and non-work sites like Netflix and Amazon.com. The addition of a local agent to the product earlier this year allows it to protect mobile endpoints both on and offsite as well.
“If you have a laptop, for example, that’s going out to people’s houses or on the road, it’s protected wherever it goes rather than just on the corporate network,” Crellin observes, noting that Content Shield offers granular policy management functionality as well.
“You can actually decide at the user level what’s going to be filtered and what’s not going to be filtered,” he says.
Barracuda plans to integrate Content Shield with Managed Workplace more closely next year. Single sign-on access to both products plus access to more policy-setting options and reporting data from inside the Managed Workplace console are among the features in development.
Barracuda acquired Managed Workplace from Avast in February and intends to distinguish it from ConnectWise Automate, Datto RMM, and the many other RMM products currently on the market by positioning it as the most security-focused system in its class.†
In August, for example, the company equipped the system with patch management support for third-party solutions as well as assessment functionality that MSPs can use to give clients a snapshot of their current security health and progress toward best practices. According to Crellin, the assessment tool is a complement to more robust products like Network Detective, from Kaseya’s RapidFire Tools unit, rather than a potential replacement.
“It’s meant as more of a demonstration of value as opposed to a real in-depth compliance and security assessment tool,” he says.
Integrating more closely with more security solutions than other RMM platforms is a key element in Barracuda’s competitive strategy for Managed Workplace. The system already integrated with antivirus software from Avast when Barracuda bought it, and has been integrated with Barracuda’s Intronis Backup solution since August. Integrating with Content Shield as well is the next step in a longer-term effort to link the product with Barracuda’s entire portfolio of email and network security offerings.
“We plan to do the same with pretty much our entire portfolio one step at a time,” Crellin says.
