On this episode of Sunny’s Silver Linings, I had the privilege of welcoming my friend and lifetime confidant, Al Alper, founder of CyberGuard360.
Al isn’t just another successful entrepreneur in our industry: he’s been a sounding board and a true friend through both good times and the tougher moments in my own journey. As I shared during our conversation, friends for a reason or a season come and go, but lifetime friends are the ones who show up in the hardest times. Al has been that for me.
He, of course, turned the compliment back, calling me “the personification of the American Dream” because I was born on July 4th. In truth, that same dream is made real in Al’s own family history. It’s his tribute to hard work and ambition that he dreamed for his future. And that opportunity for enterprise, not enterprise itself, is the guiding American value.
The Spark of Opportunity
Al remembered one of his all-time favorite Independence Day holidays with his family on a boat in New York Harbor when he was in his early 20s. Music was everywhere, fireworks went off in the sky over the Statue of Liberty, and freedom emblems illuminated the skyline.
That moment, he said, was the instigation to take his entrepreneurial spark seriously.
But the spark had been there long before. At 12 or 13, he took a job delivering the Penny Saver newspaper on Long Island. Quickly, he realized he could hire other kids to do the routes for less than he was paid: pocketing the margin. That early lesson in leverage shaped how he saw opportunity.
Since then, Al has launched six companies, sold several, and continues to build CyberGuard360 while already working on new ventures. He joked that entrepreneurs have a “disease”: the inability to stop spotting ways to improve things. Even at 62, he sees “a dozen more businesses” he’d love to launch if only there were more time.
Blind Spots in the MSP Space
When asked what MSPs most often miss, Al didn’t hesitate:
Too many MSPs treat problems as isolated issues to fix with tools. Something breaks? Throw a tool at it. But tools, he argued, are only enablers. They’re not the solution.
The real value comes from understanding the source of problems: cultural issues, broken processes, or flawed assumptions. And often, MSPs overlay their own price sensitivity onto clients, assuming clients want the cheapest option. In reality, clients want the right solution to achieve their business goals.
This mindset, Al said, is one of the biggest weaknesses holding MSPs back. For those willing to think differently, it’s also a tremendous competitive advantage.
AI and the Future of Cybersecurity
Naturally, our discussion turned to AI, the hottest topic in the channel today.
Al’s first warning: don’t just listen to vendors. Vendors frame AI in terms of efficiency and cost-cutting; using automation to replace people. That might sound attractive, but it misses the bigger picture.
At CyberGuard360, Al’s team is working on something more ambitious: using AI not just to detect threats faster, but to predict where attackers will go next.
He explained it with a simple analogy. In skeet shooting or football, you don’t aim where the target is: you aim where it’s going. Similarly, predictive modeling can anticipate a hacker’s next move and shut them down before they get there.
As I aptly added, the goal is clear: “predict to prevent.” Al readily agreed and endorsed the term.
If successful, this approach could fundamentally reshape cybersecurity by eliminating the need for many traditional protections by cutting off attackers before they gain ground.
The Role of Compliance
Another area Al is passionate about, surprising to some, is compliance.
“Compliance is the goal of everything we do in the MSP space,” he said. Standards and controls bring consistency, exactly what MSPs want to bring: guarantee maximum uptime, allow engineers to work more productively, and bring confidence to clients that they receive safe, reliable outcomes.
By viewing compliance not as a restriction but instead a set of parameters, MSPs can more aptly align tools, processes, and visibility to yield real results for their clients.
Advice for MSPs
When asked for one actionable piece of advice, Al’s answer was simple but powerful: put yourself in your client’s shoes.
MSPs should know their clients’ industries, compliance pressures, and business goals: sometimes better than the clients themselves. The most successful MSPs, he noted, are those who anticipate client needs, eliminate friction, and position them to grow securely.
In his words, success comes from identifying opportunities, overcoming dangers, and aligning technology as a true strength for clients.
Final Thoughts
Our conversation reminded me why Al is not just a business leader but a thought leader in the channel.
The takeaways are clear:
- Problems are opportunities in disguise.
- Tools are enablers, not solutions.
- AI’s real promise is in predictive prevention.
- Compliance is the backbone of consistent outcomes.
- The best MSPs know their clients better than their clients know themselves.
Thank you, Al, for joining me and for sharing your wisdom. I know our community will be better for it.
