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WatchGuard Technologies has brought together its Australian and New Zealand channel distributors and resellers for intensive nationwide training and certification.
The aim of the sweeping initiative is to equip its partner community with robust skills and knowledge to meet the challenge presented by ongoing myriad IT security threats.
According to a company statement, WatchGuard is taking an industry lead in training its partner network at a time when the Australian IT sector is facing the potential of an ICT skills shortage.
Last year, the Australian Workplace and Productivity Agency issued a report on the ICT skills gap indicating that ICT industry involvement and investment in skills development remains low.
About 150 engineers are being upskilled and certified in WatchGuard security solutions as the training rolls out across Australia and New Zealand.
WatchGuard is providing partners with training on its Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) and XTM hardware suite of solutions which address the escalating threats to internet security for Australian public and private sector organisations.
Historically, APT targets were exclusively government and large enterprises whose critical infrastructures were compromised by attacks such as Stuxnet and Duqu, according to a company statement.
"Today, however, small-to-medium sized businesses have been impacted by advanced threats and often simply rely entirely on anti-virus and digital-signature solutions and are almost completely vulnerable," the statement said.
"WatchGuard’s APT Blocker solution is a cloud-based service that uses a combination of sandboxing and full system emulation to detect and block highly sophisticated APTs.
"It delivers real-time threat visibility and protection in minutes, not hours and integrates with WatchGuard Dimension, providing an instant, single view of advanced threats, along with other top trends, applications and threats covered by WatchGuard's security technologies."
Partners are also being trained and certified in deploying WatchGuard’s best-of-breed XTM UTM hardware
WatchGuard vice-president Asia-Pacific, Scott Robertson, said it was important that resellers were completely informed about the latest trends in threats to internet security and are knowledgable about which WatchGuard products are suitable for customers.
"This also ensures that our channel is able to deliver the best service and appropriate tailored solution to meet an individual customer’s requirement,” he said.
Read more: The real vulnerabilities lie in operation technology: Gartner
“Nearly 88 per cent of today's malware can morph to avoid detection by signature-based anti-virus solutions," said Robertson.
“You have to know the threats to stop them which makes it critical for partners and resellers to be informed.”
