Guardz Q&A: Agentic AI, strategic partnerships and building MSP-first security platforms

Sophie Milburn: To begin, could you introduce yourself, your role at Guardz, and provide an overview of the company and its focus?

Doni Brass: I’m Doni Brass, I lead our product strategy and community at Guardz, and Guardz is a cybersecurity platform. We're specifically focused on MSPs, and the MSPs who are serving small to medium-sized businesses. The value of our platform is really our ability to bring that security to the backbone of our economy, the 99% of businesses that otherwise would not be secured, and that's what I'm here to talk about today. 

Sophie Milburn: Guardz has grown significantly in recent years. What do you think has driven that growth, and what do you think is the strongest demand from MSPs today?

Doni Brass: Cybercriminals are scaling because of AI and attack-as-a-service models, which are reaching all-time highs. Small businesses historically had some security by obscurity, which allowed them to fly under the radar. But now even an amateur hacker can pay around $150 a month for an attack-as-a-service kit on the dark web. They can run a spray-and-pray campaign, spin up websites that look like any bank or social platform, steal credentials, and then either exploit a company directly or move through the supply chain.

The MSPs we work with want automation and outcomes. They are overwhelmed by tools and complex systems that were not built for them. By streamlining cybersecurity into a unified platform, Guardz brings the necessary tools together and automates the operations they struggle with. That is where we have seen the most growth, reducing complexity and improving execution.

Sophie Milburn: With that, I'm assuming that the expectations towards Guardz have changed a lot from both a customer and an MSP standpoint, so what do you think differentiates someone that adapts Guardz successfully and those who perhaps don’t leverage its full potential?

Doni Brass: I would say the expectation shift is from siloed tools to platforms. Platformisation has been happening in the cybersecurity world at the enterprise level for the better part of a decade. But those tools are not built for MSPs. MSPs have either had to use very complex tools that are not designed for them, or they have gone toward point solutions, meaning more focused individual tools. Then they are left trying to operationalise everything.

The move to turn-key platforms, this platformisation approach, is now reaching the MSP market. That is where the expectation has shifted toward Guardz. But the MSPs who succeed are really the crux of the question. I would say it is the MSPs who treat security as a core offering and embrace automation to achieve that.

The MSPs who struggle are still trying to piece fragmented tools together. That often requires more tooling, including SIEMs and SOARs, and other layers of complexity. Those tools also rely on an older way of approaching detection and response. AI is reshaping this. Autonomous workflows, or agentic workflows, are changing how people address security needs, and that is where things are really moving the needle.

Sophie Milburn: How would you say that your partnerships with companies like Check Point, SentinelOne and Pax8 translate into tangible value for MSPs, and how do you prioritise partnership strategy when trying to scale?

Doni Brass: Those partnerships, specifically the ones you mentioned, have allowed us to build trust with our client base. Bringing different tools together has been an important part of what we do, and we have our own IP to support that. Combining that with names like Check Point and SentinelOne also brings trust. For us, that has been a key go-to-market strategy.

Bringing best-in-class controls not only to our brand but also to our MDR experience is important. Our MDR is 24/7, with agentic triage and human-led response. That is a major part of how trust is built. Integrating best-of-breed brands into that stack also enables faster time to value.

We prioritise partnerships that integrate deeply into our platform and scale globally. With companies like Pax8, for example, we are doubling down on the relationship, not from a security perspective but from a distribution perspective. Their marketplace stands out, and we align closely on values in how we approach our client base.

Sophie Milburn: How would you say that AI is embedded within the platform, and what practical impact do you feel like it's having?

Doni Brass: My answer to this question has changed maybe three times in the last six months. We have had AI, what I would call generative AI, in the platform from day one. We are a four-year-old company, and we have always used it in ways like generating phishing emails, explaining threats to end users or MSPs, summarising data, and providing insights. That kind of generative AI has existed in the platform for a while.

What has changed more recently is the shift toward agentic AI, agentic workflows, and now more autonomous workflows. The most impactful use today is happening in the triage layer. There are many signals coming in, and because we are unifying different tools, we rely on a single data lake with normalised logs and detection data. We correlate those signals, but there are naturally many false positives. If you work from noisy data, you create more noise.

The agentic triage layer helps filter that noise. It passes enriched, clean data to human analysts, with clear reports and recommendations, allowing them to work more efficiently. That is happening on the backend and in the MDR side of things.

What we are starting to do now, and this is the most exciting part, is bringing autonomous analyst capabilities into the platform itself. MSPs will be able to interact not only with generative AI in a reactive way, but proactively with agentic tools. They will be able to say, here is how we can improve security, here is how we can reduce response time, and the AI will present recommendations directly to admins.

Instead of handing things only to Guardz analysts, it will hand them to MSP admins and say, here is what we recommend, and in some cases, I can do this autonomously if you approve it. That trust will be built over time through workflows, and it will solve more problems in a much shorter period of time. The human in the loop is still an essential part of this. We're not looking at the autonomous analyst to replace the human, it's about supplementing the skill set of the MSPs and of their teams and technicians.

Sophie Milburn: What do you think sets Guardz apart from other cybersecurity platforms?

Doni Brass: Guardz was born in the age of AI, which is a major advantage. If you think of companies that have existed for decades and have built large “aircraft carrier” organisations that have moved in a certain direction, they may be excellent at what they do, but steering that ship is not easy. Adapting to this new world is not easy. We were built to be truly AI-native from the beginning, which gives us a significant advantage.

I would highlight three things.

First is our approach to security. We unify best-of-breed tools and connect the dots across them. When we detect different signals, we can piece together what is happening in the attack chain and stop attacks as early as possible. From a security perspective, this is something we do very well and where we stand out.

Second is our focus on operational efficiency. Security is only as strong as an MSP’s ability to operationalise it, and Guardz gives them the tools to do that. Enterprise tools are not always built for MSPs. Even with the best tools, if you cannot operationalise them or turn them into an effective, manageable security programme, they are less effective. We simplify security in the way MSPs work, and that is a major part of what we do.

Third, we recognise that MSPs are also small and medium-sized businesses with needs beyond security and IT. They need to grow their business, market themselves, communicate value to clients, and retain those clients. We have built tools for prospecting new business, conducting security business reviews to demonstrate ongoing value, and a partner portal and programme where MSPs can get certified and access materials to run campaigns across social and email. All of this is designed to support them as businesses that need to grow, scale, and communicate their value.

These are the key factors that help us stand out.

Sophie Milburn: Looking ahead, what do you see evolving within the platform, and what are you looking forward to for MSPs in the next couple of years?

Doni Brass: I think automation is really the key. MSPs need to evolve in a way where they can support more clients per technician. That is just the math that has to happen financially speaking.

They have already become by default security providers. The MSP was not born as a security provider. It started in the IT space and has grown into becoming security providers. The line between MSPs versus MSSPs has gotten fuzzy, although there are still distinct differences.

I think Guardz will be the foundation for enabling the shift toward automation and toward building security into the core offering of many MSPs. The partners we are working with who are the most successful are really steering that ship as well, and we are proud to be a part of it.