Breaches, Brews and Banter: A Fun Roadtrip with Cybersecurity Experts Huntress

I recently joined cybersecurity experts Huntress on their ‘Breaches and Brews’ tour of the UK.

If you’re unfamiliar with Huntress, here’s what to know. They’ve built a phenomenal reputation in North America for supporting Managed Service Providers (MSPs). They provide cybersecurity threat detection and a human-backed Security Operation Centre (SOC).

Therefore, the ‘Breaches and Brews’ series of events, held across England, was an opportunity for MSPs and IT Solution Providers to learn more about the company.

At each event, Tracie Orisko, Senior Director of Sales Development & Community at Huntress, was present. This was to meet attendees and get to know the UK MSP community.

Plus, attendees got to network, share their own cyber experiences and hear about the latest threats. Oh, and every event was in a cool venue where there were craft beers, pizzas and lots of banter!

We even found time to record a quick travelogue while we were there. Listen in below:

Listen to the Travelogue

Breaches and Brews: London

The opening venue for Breaches and Brews was Crate Brewery in London. MSPs from all across London came together. And one attendee is a professional wrestler (who also works on an MSP Helpdesk).

I can assure you that no attendees were injured, but they did enjoy some top beers, snacks and cybersecurity chats!

Had a blast @CrateBrewery in #London for the first of the @HuntressLabs #BreachesandBrews UK MSP tour!

We had beer, pizza and even a Pro Wrestler in attendance! 😀

Now off to #Manchester for next leg! https://t.co/pSSPBUSDHR

Thanks, @Tracie_Orisko and Huntress for organising! pic.twitter.com/iUBOUaO5Yc

— Richard Tubb (@tubblog) October 17, 2023

Manchester Meet-up

Our next stop was in the North West of England!

The Manchester Breaches and Brews event was held at Fierce Bar. Attendees were treated to some fantastic craft beers in a very cool pub in the Northern Quarter.

We had a bumper turnout of some of the top names and most progressive MSPs in the North-West, and it was just as well we had such a large venue to accommodate everyone!

An awesome evening at the @HuntressLabs #BreachesandBrews event in #Manchester last night!

Beer, Snacks and #Cybersecurity chats! 🤓

Thanks to Liam and the team @FierceBarMAN for looking after us, and @Tracie_Orisko of Huntress for organising the evening! pic.twitter.com/3TpP8FXlwF

— Richard Tubb (@tubblog) October 18, 2023

Birmingham Breaches and Brews

The next stop on Breaches and Brews was a special one for me, as I revisited my hometown of Birmingham in the West Midlands.

Before selling the business, I ran a successful MSP in Birmingham.

Therefore, I was thrilled to invite a large number of my peers to join us at the wonderful Distillery B16 on the Birmingham canal side.

I was also delighted that Team Tubb’s Community Manager, Stephen McCormick (who is also based in Birmingham) was free to come along for Breaches, Brews and some banter!

Stephen shared with me his highlight of the event: Joe Burns of Reformed IT (one of Huntress’ early adopters in the UK market) fired up the big TV to give a demostration. We saw how quickly and easily threat actors can gain access to your systems. They do this through a simple phishing method which allows them to steal your session cookies.

Scary stuff — not least for Joe who bravely got between the attendees and their beer!

A wonderful evening @DistilleryB16 in #Birmingham for the @HuntressLabs #BreachesandBrews tour!

Fab to see many familiar faces from the West Midlands #ManagedServices community, and make some new #Cybersecurity friends too!

Thanks, @Tracie_Orisko and Huntress for organising! pic.twitter.com/YvVQmg3z8b

— Richard Tubb (@tubblog) October 19, 2023

TubbTalk Travelogue at Breaches and Brews

Our final destination for Breaches and Brews was the beautiful Brewhouse Craft Beer Pub and Kitchen in Bristol.

This event — like so many of the others — definitely had a vibe of a peer community meetup rather than a vendor roadshow. The attendees exchanged cybersecurity tips, tricks and war stories.

Plus, Tracie Orisko of Huntress and I found time to record a quick Travelogue with Stephen McCormick and Pascal Fintoni from Team Tubb.

During the podcast and the “Breaches and Brews” events, that was a lot of talk about the Product Lab, a monthly virtual event run by Huntress and open to all MSPs.

I’d highly recommend checking out the Huntress Product Lab.

Huntress in the UK

So, Huntress are a very well-known and respected presence in the North American MSP community.

And the “Breaches and Brews” tour was their first foray into the UK market.

But it’s not to say that Huntress don’t already have many MSP partners and staff in the UK, though!

During the tour, we learned that Huntress have just hired their first head of the UK and Europe, and I got the opportunity to interview Dray Agha, UK Operations Manager for Huntress, on How to Become the Go-To Threat Operations Expert for MSPs.

We’ve had *rave reviews* on this podcast (with some listeners calling it the best episode of the show they’ve ever heard) so I’d highly encourage you to check it out.

Conclusion

The Huntress “Breaches and Brews” UK tour was a big success. And set the standard for how these type of vendor events can help everybody in the community.

Rather than doing any hard sales pitches during the tour, Huntress were in the UK to meet the MSP community with curiosity being their main motivator.

And equally, the MSP community got to meet Huntress in an informal environment that proved to be a lot of fun.

So if you’re an MSP looking at taking the next step with your cybersecurity, then I’d suggest keeping an eye on Huntress in the next twelve months. They are definitely one to watch!

Did you attend any of the Breaches and Brews events? Leave a comment below with your feedback!

You might like: