Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

If you're an MSP or MSSP, you've probably had some version of this conversation with a customer: “We just found out we need to comply with NIS2, DORA , HIPAA, PCI DSS... What do we need to buy?” It's a fair question. It's also usually the wrong first question — and answering it well is where you create real value for your customers.

For years, companies treated shadow IT primarily as a policy and control problem. Employees have always found and used technology outside the approved IT stack, from unauthorized endpoint applications and browser extensions to personal cloud services. It left a trail: an install, a device on the network, something a scan or an agent could eventually catch. From there, an analyst had to investigate the finding and assess the risk before deciding how to respond.

Security is built on the small decisions we make each day. That’s why Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2026 focuses on the habits that make life harder for attackers—such as using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA), recognizing and reporting scams, and keeping software updated. However, security awareness must also address the risks that arise when employees introduce new applications and services into their work.

At IMPACT North America, WatchGuard showcased a simple idea with significant implications for managed security: the next phase of cybersecurity AI is not only about helping people work faster. It is about expanding what the security operation itself can do. Today, that next evolution of Rai is generally available. Rai is WatchGuard’s agentic AI Digital Workforce, built specifically for MSPs and embedded in WatchGuard Cloud.

Organizations today face a common challenge: networks are growing, wireless connectivity is supporting more users and devices, and security threats continue to evolve. At the same time, IT teams are expected to deliver stronger protection, better performance, and greater visibility without increasing operational complexity. To help organizations meet these demands, WatchGuard is introducing three new additions to its Network Security portfolio: Firebox T175, Prime Security Suite, and AP340 Wi‑Fi 7.

Security teams have spent years improving their ability to detect and respond to cyber threats. More visibility, better tools, and richer telemetry have helped organizations identify suspicious activity across users, devices, applications, and infrastructure. But the nature of the challenge is changing. Modern attacks are rarely defined by a single event.

Every vendor this year says the same thing: AI is transforming cybersecurity. True, and not useful. Here is the useful version. AI is doing two things at once. It is compressing the time between a vulnerability being found and being exploited, which is the part everyone talks about. And it is quietly installing a brand new attack surface inside your clients' businesses, which is the part nobody is selling against yet.

HTTPS protects communications between users and the services they access by encrypting data in transit. That makes it much harder for someone to intercept and read that information. But there is a trade-off: encryption can also prevent security controls from seeing what is inside the traffic they are supposed to protect. Your Firebox may know that a user is connecting to a website or service. Without HTTPS inspection, however, it may have limited visibility into what is actually being exchanged.