For years, the cybersecurity industry has said that small and midsize businesses are under-protected. To fill that protection gap, vendors are aggressively reorganizing their go-to-market models around. The old assumption was that enterprise-grade security would trickle down over time, eventually becoming accessible to smaller organizations through lighter-weight tools and managed services. But, what’s apparent – and quite logical given the sheer number of SMBs and SMEs – that market can’t be adequately served by repackaging enterprise products alone. It also requires a purpose-built channel strategy, a lower-operational-burden delivery model, and security platforms that can produce usable outcomes without overwhelming already-stretched IT teams.
That’s why Huntress is expanding its global partner program beyond MSPs, into the reseller channel. The move broadens a partner ecosystem Huntress has built over more than a decade and is explicitly tied to the company’s mission of protecting the 99 percent of organizations that sit below the Fortune 1000. Huntress said the expansion is intended to help more partners deliver its managed security platform to businesses that are frequently targeted but rarely staffed like large enterprises.
The timing makes sense. Microsoft Security reported in late 2024 that about one in three SMBs had experienced a cyber attack in the previous year, underscoring how exposed smaller organizations remain even as security awareness has improved. Microsoft also found that many SMBs still operate with significant misconceptions about their own risk, including the belief that being small makes them less attractive to attackers.
Huntress’ reseller move is not just a program expansion, but an awareness that the channel has evolved and cybersecurity vendors need to support multiple partner strategies to reach the very broad middle of the market efficiently.
The channel is shifting from managed delivery alone to broader market coverage
Huntress built much of its reputation through MSP relationships, which made sense for a company focused on hands-off protection for organizations with limited internal security resources. MSPs are often the natural control point for smaller businesses that outsource day-to-day IT and want security wrapped into a broader service relationship. But, reseller expansion changes the equation. It gives Huntress access to partners that may not run the full managed services model themselves, yet still have strong customer influence and can bring Huntress into accounts that want enterprise-style protection without enterprise-style complexity. It’s a model expansion that Huntress believes will help it protect everyone below the Fortune 1000.
“Cybercriminals are relentless and opportunistic, disproportionately targeting the most vulnerable businesses regardless of size or industry. Together, Huntress and our partners are the global force multiplier that makes protection possible for those most often left behind,” said Tuan Nguyen, Vice President, Channels and Alliances at Huntress. “Our reseller partner program is now live, and provides access to enterprise-grade security, purpose-built to catch what others miss, without constant false positives and alert fatigue. This enables them to differentiate their tech offerings, drive profitable business growth, and deliver tangible security outcomes. We are looking for partners who want to join our collective hunt and protect the 99%.”
That matters because the buyer profile in this segment is evolving. Many midmarket organizations want stronger detection and response, identity protection, and security awareness tooling, but they do not want to build a full SOC or tune a sprawling set of platforms. Huntress is leaning into that demand with a platform that combines EDR, ITDR, SIEM, and security awareness training, all backed by a 24/7 SOC it describes as AI-assisted or agentic-AI-powered, depending on the context. Huntress said this model now protects more than 200,000 organizations, roughly 5 million endpoints, and 10 million identities.
From a broader perspective, Huntress is really looking to make the delivery model itself part of the value proposition. That could be an important factor, considering is increasingly important in the midmarket, where the real competition is often not another vendor’s feature set but the customer’s lack of time, expertise, and tolerance for false positives. While many companies look to MSPs to provide cybersecurity, this is a market segment that also includes a large number of companies that don’t want to outsource their IT operations. Rather than a “run this for me” mindset, they follow a “help me select it, deploy it, integrate it, and support the vendor relationship” strategy.
Democratization is a channel design problem
The language Huntress uses around “democratizing cybersecurity” is familiar, but the adding the reseller market to its partner program gives it depth. Democratization in this market is not just about lower pricing or simplified user interfaces; it’s about distribution. If vendors want to reach the businesses that make up most of the global economy, they need a partner ecosystem broad enough to meet customers where they already buy technology.
The opportunity is real, but so is the challenge. While incorporating resellers into their channel strategy, vendors need to be mindful of creating conflict with their MSP partners. They need to distinguish clearly between MSP partners, resellers, and distributors, while keeping pricing, enablement, and support aligned to each model.
For Huntress, specifically, this move feels like a logical extension of a strategy it has been building for years that seeks to take enterprise-grade outcomes, remove as much operational burden as possible, and let the channel carry that package into the parts of the market that remain exposed. The move to extend its formula to resellers implies confidence that the demand is broader than an MSP strategy alone can capture. While there’s been a massive shift to managed services in recent years, Huntress clearly believes there is market share to be had from businesses that haven’t and may never adopt the MSP model. This may well be the next battleground for cybersecurity vendors.
Edited by
Erik Linask
