657 Malwarebytes Unveils ThreatDown: Enterprise-Class SMB Security Solution

[Speaker 2] (0:15 - 0:44)
Hello friends, Uncle Mark here, coming at you live once again from Radio Row at PAX 8 Beyond in Denver, 2024. Yeah, you heard cackles because I think we're in between sessions so people will be walking by. But anyway, ignore them and pay attention to me and my guest, and you have seen him on here before, he has been around, he is our friend from Malwarebytes, Brian Cain is with us.

Brian, how are you?

[Speaker 1] (0:44 - 0:47)
I'm doing wonderful, Marvin, thanks for having me.

[Speaker 2] (0:48 - 0:59)
So I guess the last time we saw each other was last year at IT Nation, is that right? I believe it was, yes. In Florida, we're here in Denver now, what do you think?

[Speaker 1] (1:00 - 1:13)
I'm loving it, the energy is amazing, great announcements from PAX 8 this morning, things that I think will help shift and change the mindset of MSPs that are continually evolving.

[Speaker 2] (1:14 - 1:28)
So speaking of change, why don't we just go right there because Malwarebytes is the company but you guys are actually promoting ThreatDown, a new product line in Malwarebytes. So why don't we tell everybody about that?

[Speaker 1] (1:28 - 2:06)
Absolutely. So this is a story we love to talk about, a story we love to tell, and that is everybody knows what Malwarebytes is. We've been talking about it for years and years, it's that product that was a great consumer product, we launched Malwarebytes for business and really broke into SMB.

Now we've said, let's take it to the next level, let's show everyone that we can truly compete with a strong SMB product that's enterprise class. And so we laid down and said, you know what, how do we go after this? We came up with ThreatDown, right?

It's literally what we do, we take down threats.

[Speaker 2] (2:07 - 2:31)
Now as I understand it, this is something that's supposed to help us as MSPs, of course we're strapped for resources and time, we want a product that works. But I know that there has been this portal for the last couple of years that has been morphing to help us be multi-tenant and stuff like that. So is that what ThreatDown is?

Is it supposed to make the MSP life easier? It absolutely is.

[Speaker 1] (2:31 - 2:52)
So the portal you're talking about, it's called OneView, it's still there, stronger than ever, we continue to enhance it, and we continue to do all that with one single agent. So that is our goal, it's our mantra, to help that MSP, to help that resource-constrained business, and absolutely the portal is the way we're doing it.

[Speaker 2] (2:52 - 3:03)
Okay, is there anything new in ThreatDown that we should know about that, you know, yeah you might have OneView, you might know Malwarebytes, but what's the new thing coming out of ThreatDown?

[Speaker 1] (3:03 - 3:41)
Absolutely, so one of the key things that we launched recently, it's called Security Advisor. And so when you come into that OneView portal, you would see a list of all of your customers, all their tenants, and we actually assign a security score based on the things that are deployed, their patch levels, lots of specific things. That's something that we've just launched, it's going really well, we're going to continue to grow and enhance around that, helping those MSPs see the bigger picture, not just, here's your endpoint protection, and thinking of it like AV, it's how can we look at our overall security solution.

[Speaker 2] (3:42 - 3:55)
Okay, now can I ask specifically what is a part of that score, is it just simply, you know, OS, and is it patched, is it the cybersecurity, you know, KPIs or anything like that?

[Speaker 1] (3:55 - 4:28)
So there's a few different key things, one of the main things that we look at is deployment levels, stuff like that, so like, I've purchased this number of licenses, I've only deployed this much, so going in and verifying, if you have the integrations built, so lots of people integrate with RMM, PSA, other things, going in and verifying against those things, you know, did you deploy fully at this site, is this set up properly, you know, do you have DNS protection, do you have these other things, so it's quite a few different things, there's a wide array there.

[Speaker 2] (4:29 - 4:41)
So that goes a little bit beyond what I was thinking, because I'm thinking of a Malwarebytes agent is just something I install on an endpoint, you're talking about going in and being able to look at the entire environment.

[Speaker 1] (4:41 - 4:55)
Not yet, not yet, so this is still at the local endpoint, so the data that we're pulling in comes from WMI, it comes locally from that endpoint on the agent, we're not reaching beyond into the network yet.

[Speaker 2] (4:55 - 5:24)
Oh, so how do you manage the levels of deployment, like how do you know if I've got 50 endpoints, I've only deployed 40? Sure, so it's based on your allocations inside of one. Oh, okay, yeah, okay, all right, well that seems interesting, I'll have to take a quick look at that.

Yeah. So ThreatDown, it's basically a separate product line. It is.

But is it, like is it something that's purchased separately as part of the licensing?

[Speaker 1] (5:24 - 5:39)
So everything that comes through now, so if you're purchasing through Pax8 for instance, so our business line is ThreatDown. Okay. So whether you're a VAR reseller, whether you're an MSP, you're buying ThreatDown now.

[Speaker 2] (5:39 - 5:39)
Okay.

[Speaker 1] (5:39 - 5:41)
Powered by Malwarebytes.

[Speaker 2] (5:41 - 6:03)
Powered by Malwarebytes, I like the sound of that, so that's interesting. All right, so how much of what this has become has been a result of talking to MSPs, because I know that your responsibility is to kind of get in our heads and understand what we want and what we need, so how much of this was derived out of those conversations?

[Speaker 1] (6:03 - 6:36)
I would say most of it. Okay. So, so much of what we do is driven by the feedback of our customers.

Right. I actually just sat down, had a customer come out to HQ this past week that spends obviously a lot of time in the portal, and we're not there to talk, we're there to listen. We want to understand what's working well, what's not.

If we were to add a feature, you know, if you could pick a feature, what would you add? Things like that. So the changes you see and what's going on is direct result of feedback from our customers.

We listen.

[Speaker 2] (6:36 - 6:49)
Nice. Nice. All right, anything else new that, I'll be honest, I probably haven't paid as much attention as I should have.

I use Malwarebytes when I need to, but that's been about it. But what else?

[Speaker 1] (6:49 - 7:06)
I mean, one of the things I'd love to highlight, especially being at an event like this, is we are a company that was absolutely known for being a direct company, obviously because we were very consumer-focused. Right. Over the last few years, we've really pivoted to not just channel-first, but channel-focused.

[Speaker 2] (7:07 - 7:07)
Okay.

[Speaker 1] (7:07 - 7:21)
So we really are focused on bringing business to our partners, connecting partners and customers, working with distribution, things like Pax8 in their marketplace. So the channel is actually key to our sales motion.

[Speaker 2] (7:22 - 7:49)
Okay. So let me ask about this, because I know that some of the people I know that have partnered with and done the OneView and stuff, I guess some of the, I don't want to say issues, because that's a little negative, but people have always talked about having to manage licenses to make sure that their customers don't renew on their own and stuff. Does the new OneView, well not new, but does the updated OneView and the threat down prevent customers from buying their own licenses and helping us manage them?

[Speaker 1] (7:50 - 7:56)
So I want to make sure I clearly understand the question. So there's kind of two models there.

[Speaker 2] (7:57 - 7:57)
Okay.

[Speaker 1] (7:57 - 8:47)
So in the usage-based model, which is the traditional MSP model, then yes, so you can essentially deploy as needed and you pay for what you're using. There's the other side, which is more of a upfront purchase model, where I'm purchasing 100 licenses, I get 100 licenses. If I want 101, I have to go in and ask my MSP of our reseller for another license.

So we still operate both of those models, because I will say one of the large feedbacks we got from our MSPs was, we don't want to come to you every time we want a license. We want to manage our own licenses. I want to be able to wake up tomorrow and go to a doctor's office and deploy 25 endpoints and just get billed for those 25 endpoints.

So it's a balance of both models exist.

[Speaker 2] (8:47 - 9:06)
Okay. Because I'll be honest. I get my licenses through the tool set.

Sure. Okay. Yeah.

Which is that purchase you buy in bulk and do that. The online portal. Yes.

Okay. Now, as part of the tool set, can I utilize that through ThreatDown and all of that, or is that still separate?

[Speaker 1] (9:07 - 9:09)
To clarify, when you say tool set, do you mean TechBench?

[Speaker 2] (9:10 - 9:10)
Yes.

[Speaker 1] (9:10 - 9:11)
It might mean TechBench.

[Speaker 2] (9:11 - 9:18)
I'm sorry. Malwarebytes tool set, which is TechBench, I get ... I'm like five years old.

In my terminology.

[Speaker 1] (9:18 - 9:36)
That's all right. So Malwarebytes TechBench still exists. It is on the consumer side, though.

So the licenses and things that you would buy via that portal are Malwarebytes Premium, VPN, Identity, I believe now. So those all tie into that TechBench tool set.

[Speaker 2] (9:36 - 9:38)
So I need to stop doing that, is what you're saying.

[Speaker 1] (9:39 - 9:40)
Yeah. Come join us on the one day site.

[Speaker 2] (9:42 - 9:49)
Get your licenses right, man. Okay. All right.

So that helps me understand. I've been doing it wrong for ...

[Speaker 1] (9:50 - 9:56)
It's different. It's not wrong. There's nothing wrong when you're buying Malwarebytes.

We just have different options.

[Speaker 2] (9:57 - 10:20)
Different options. All right. So I'll have to take a look at that and stuff.

All right. So PAX 8 Beyond, big event, huge event compared to last year. You guys go to a lot of events.

So how does this compare in terms of not just the ambience and stuff, but you've got the booth in there, the response you're getting from MSPs and attendees. How's that been?

[Speaker 1] (10:21 - 11:00)
It's been absolutely wonderful. One of the things that really excites me that I think is probably a little more specific to PAX 8, the way PAX kind of separates their customer groups and the way they have account managers assigned, I do feel like when we talk to partners and work with partners, there's a very close connection. If I say, hey, if you're interested in this, let's work together with your SSE or your account rep or whatever, and it's a very connected team effort versus, hey, follow up with me and we'll send you a quote or we'll do something like that.

So I really love the way that we collaborate and work together.

[Speaker 2] (11:01 - 11:19)
All right. Very nice. Well, Brian, thank you for stopping by, and we keep looking over.

She's not from legal, but she's helping us make sure we get our terminologies right. Thank you for stopping by, and we'll be sure to see you. I've got to go and see what your swag is like.

So I'll have to check that out.

[Speaker 1] (11:19 - 11:20)
We'll take care of that.

[Speaker 2] (11:20 - 11:21)
All right.

[Speaker 1] (11:21 - 11:32)
We'll be on the main stage today as well. That's right. That's right.

Is that it? 4? 4-20.

4-20. So our CEO, Marcin, will be on the main stage. Marcin.

With Ryan Dennehy, CEO of Electric AI.

[Speaker 2] (11:33 - 12:03)
Nice. I will be there to cover it because I am here for the press. Awesome.

Brian, thanks a lot. And, folks, that's going to do it here from Radio Row. Brian Cain with Mario Bytes talking about the new ThreatDown.

And if you're using TechBench, move over to the OneView and ThreatDown. There you have it, folks. That's it.

We'll be back here with more from Radio Row. We'll see you. Holla.