Office Hours: Webroot and COVID-19 June 2, 2020

  • 26 May 2020
  • 8 replies
  • 272 views

Userlevel 7
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Hello Webroot Community, 

I wanted to create a space for us to come together and discuss Webroot and COVID-19.

Consider this our office hours. 

In case you might have missed it, we created a page here where we’ll keep a running list of articles, blog posts, and other pieces of content about our COVID-19 response.

If you have specific questions on what we’re doing as a company during the pandemic and our tips for how you can stay cyber resilient in these uncertain times. 

Please add your questions below or join us Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM MT.


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8 replies

Userlevel 4
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On Ashley’s ‘How has working at home been?’

A great question (especially as I came into the office for the first time since March 10th today - there is almost no one here by the way). 

I think for most of  us at Webroot we have found we need to spend more time jointly meeting on Teams ans switching on our cameras to discuss, agree and clarify.

Some things move faster, some take a little longer - as you cannot just pop your head into a cubicle or office and get an answer. 

I think it varies from person to person too. The 'Lighthouse keepers' among us are actually quite content with the work distancing, but the more socialized among us techies like the work face to face social too and miss it.

What's probably been most revealing is that from a business perspective we can operate this way pretty seamlessly. However in my role I'd attend quite a few events and regularly chat with Webroot and non-Webroot MSPs, and I really miss that feedback and input and I can only get that here in the Community now 20.png?v=4 

Userlevel 7
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Hello Webroot Community, 

Hope you’re staying healthy and safe this week. It’s hard to imagine that it’s already June. Unbelievable. 

We’ll get started in a little bit with the usual cast of characters. Hang tight. 

 

Userlevel 7
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As always, thanks for writing in your questions. I hope that you find this helpful and informative. We do.

It’s a way for all of us to check-in and come together. With that, here are your questions this week: 

 

How can we extend coverage to personal devices? - Andrea R. 

What cybersecurity threats have you seen the biggest increase in during the pandemic? - Martin H. 

How has working from home been? Ashley D. 

How do we, as MSPs, help our clients bounce back from these times? - David H. 

How are remote worker PCs protected if not on same network? Sean 

 

 

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

Hi Andrea,
On the how can you extend coverage to personal devices?

The easiest way for you to extend control to personal devices would be to install the standard Webroot Business Agent and then you can set policy as if the user is in the office (although you might want to modify slightly for a home machine).

If the user is not using their office license than this will NOT change your license usage and is a no cost option. Deployment is simple. You can send an email with the Agent attached, and you can get the Agent download via the Management Console.   

As Webroot is designed not to conflict with other AV programs there is no problem with installing Webroot alongside any AV currently on that user's home device.

The way Webroot bills is to only charge for Agents in use in a 30 day period, so there should not be a cost. You can also use the unlimited 60 day free trials temporarily to cover those users too, if they have both a work and home machine that they use.

If using the Business Agent isn’t an option then please call Customer Success and explain your needs and they will try to help out with our Consumer solution.

 

Userlevel 4
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Hi David,

On the issue of how do you, as an MSP help your Clients bounce back from these times? 

I don't think there is a 'vanilla' answer to that. Every Client's circumstances will be very different, but I do think there is an approach you can take that will help both you and your Clients in the longer term.

  1. Set-up a virtual meeting or similar to discuss with them what their situation really is - 'Getting Back To Business'.
  2. Use and Agenda related to the services you provide today and what you charge them and get a full understanding of the challenges they see ahead. What is affordable what can maybe be minimized? Also is the business direction the same, I think many SMB’s are maybe looking to change direction too!
  3. Then look to be flexible (but profitable) and willing to accommodate the period between their business starting up again and getting back to normal (you might have to take a cut in monthly income, or margins, but consider what is needed and inform the Client and negotiate on what is possible)?
  4. Try then to draw up a joint 'Recovery Plan' over an agreed period of time, and specifically how you can help your Client, for them to agree to. 
  5. Then set-up regular Client Account reviews (as you should already have in place), to monitor and assist with preserving your Client account as reasonably as possible.

There undoubtedly will be some very hard decisions to be made, but going through the discovery to agree on a recovery plan will help you to help your Clients' bounce back and lead to a strong business bond in the future.

Userlevel 7
Badge +24

As always, thanks for writing in your questions. I hope that you find this helpful and informative. We do.

It’s a way for all of us to check-in and come together. With that, here are your questions this week: 

What cybersecurity threats have you seen the biggest increase in during the pandemic? - Martin H. 

 

 

Phishing malspam into ransomware is probably the most popular right now. They have adaptive to the COVID19 landscape and basically all of the emails now are around COVID, usually themed with CDC guidelines, COVID testing for free and anything related. The email contains a word doc that wants you to run a macro. Once clicks that enable content button, it will download trickbot or dridex which will analyze the network so criminals can decide what kind of environment they are in and ballpark figure of what they want to charge for ransom. One change that we’ve seen recently is that criminals will now steal the data before they ransom, so in the case that you decide not to pay the ransom because you are able to bounce back without the files they encrypted, they will just auction or release the data so your company faces ramifications of things like GDPR and CCPA

Userlevel 7
Badge +24

As always, thanks for writing in your questions. I hope that you find this helpful and informative. We do.

It’s a way for all of us to check-in and come together. With that, here are your questions this week: 

 

How are remote worker PCs protected if not on same network? Sean 

 

If you are using a corporate laptop that was given to you and was set up by IT, then even when not on the corporate network, it should have the same security and backups applications in place along with any company wide group policies that were set for security as well. 

 

If you are using a personal device to work from home on then you are responsible for your security. Make sure to have a reputable AV installed, perform all of windows updates, and use a VPN when connecting to any work network or handling sensitive information. If storing sensitive information in cloud drives, make sure to password encrypt them and not just plain text sync as all a criminal would need is your credentials to steal all that info. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +48

Thanks to everyone for joining us today and to @GeorgeA and @TylerM for helping us answer questions. 

If anyone has any additional questions, be sure to stop by next Tuesday at 1:00 PM MT. or add your questions here and we’ll do our best to answer all of them.

Until next week, stay resilient!