SIEM And MDR For MSPs (EP 993)

Robert Johnston’s journey goes from Marine Corps cyber operations to running incident response at CrowdStrike, to founding Adlumin and ultimately landing inside N-able as Chief Innovation Officer. We unpack why SIEM and MDR used to be “Fortune 500 only” tech, and how Adlumin intentionally built a cost-efficient, easy-to-use, channel-first platform that MSPs could actually deploy for community banks, credit unions, healthcare, and other compliance-heavy clients. We also talk through the reality for most MSPs: you’re not going to hire 15–20 people to staff a 24×7 SOC, but your clients still expect enterprise-grade protection. Robert explains how MDR lets vendors aggregate security talent and software so MSPs can operate more like MSSPs, and how N-able now ties everything together with three pillars of business resilience: pre-breach hardening, real-time detection and response, and post-breach recovery with Cove. Chapters 00:25 Robert Johnston intro and CrowdStrike days 05:30 Founding Adlumin and early SIEM vision 08:15 MDR demand from regulated clients 10:30 Talent shortage and MSP-to-MSSP shift 13:20 Defending endpoints, network, and cloud 14:40 Why N-able acquired Adlumin 16:20 Business resilience three-pillar model 18:50 Empower as a true user conference 20:50 Why Adlumin went all-in on the channel 22:20 Takeaway: selling business resilience, not tools Guest: Robert Johnston, N-able (Adlumin)  Website: https://www.n-able.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsjohnston/ Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned N-able: https://www.n-able.com Adlumin: https://www.adlumin.com CrowdStrike: https://www.crowdstrike.com Microsoft 365: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365 Cove data protection (N-able Cove): https://www.n-able.com/products/cove-data-protection Empower (N-able Empower user conference): https://www.n-able.com/empower === SPONSORS:  Livestream Partner, ThreatLocker: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/threatlocker Technology Partner, NetAlly: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/netally/ Technology Partner: Bvoip: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/bvoip Travel Partner: TruGrid: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/trugrid Digital Partner, Designer Ready: http://itbusinesspodcast.com/designerready === SHOW MUSIC:  Item Title: Upbeat & Fun Sports Rock Logo  Item URL: https://elements.envato.com/upbeat-fun-sports-rock-logo-CSR3UET Author Username: AlexanderRufire  Item License Code: 7X9F52DNML === Connect with Uncle Marv🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/🎙 Host: Marvin Bee🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcastIf you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.