Managed XDR, AI and SMB Defense: Barracuda CEO Shares Vision

SMBs and mid-market organizations adopting XDR often lack the capacity to manage numerous security tools from different vendors effectively. That’s why Barracuda rolled out AI-driven threat detection and automated response across multiple environments. It eliminates the reliance on manual intervention, reduces false positives and helps limited resources focus on actionable threats, according to Barracuda CEO Hatem Naguib.

The company has also leveraged advanced AI to identify and block malicious emails before they reach users and is using it internally to accelerate employee onboarding and simulate customer interactions (see: Hatem Naguib on Charting Barracuda’s New Course Under KKR).

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“When I talk to customers about this, they feel managing of these tools takes a lot of investment on their part,” Naguib said. “And so their eyebrows raise, and they light up when we say, ‘Look, we can take care of the management of that component for you.’ They want to go, do their jobs, their business, and not necessarily be held back by having to manage too many tools from a security perspective.”

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Naguib also discussed:

• AI-driven protection against phishing and business email compromise attacks;
• How Barracuda uses automated incident response to eliminate attack remnants;
• Internal applications of AI for employee training and operational efficiencies.

Naguib, who joined Barracuda in 2016, brings more than 25 years of experience building and delivering innovative products in enterprise software, cloud services, data center virtualization, software-defined networking and security. Under Naguib’s leadership, the team has successfully launched several offerings in email, network, application security and integrated products.