WatchGuard CEO: MSPs Face Growing Pressure As AI Accelerates Threats

MSPs and SMBs have increasingly become attractive targets for cybercriminals, WatchGuard CEO Joe Smolarski tells CRN.

MSPs are facing intensifying pressure as AI-enabled threat actors increasingly target their SMB clients, according to WatchGuard CEO Joe Smolarski.

In an interview with CRN, Smolarski, a Kaseya veteran who became WatchGuard’s CEO in November 2025, said that WatchGuard’s long history provides a massive advantage at a time when MSPs are looking for stability from their security vendors.

Unlike many enterprise-focused security vendors, “when you're built for MSPs, you understand that their business is their livelihood,” he said. “They lose everything—around their career and their life—if they can't step up for their clients when it matters.”

MSPs and SMBs have become highly attractive targets for cybercriminals, given that attacks against smaller organizations often do not receive the same level of government or law enforcement response as attacks against large enterprises, Smolarski noted.

Ultimately, “the pressure on MSPs and SMBs is increasing exponentially,” he said.

Despite those pressures, the current environment also creates a major opportunity for MSPs to strengthen their role with their SMB customers, Smolarski said.