Whatever happened to - following up
Larry
All-Knowing Sage ✭✭✭✭
It is early on a Friday afternoon and I just saw this post:
Having read it, I am left wondering: How can SonicWall allow/permit/let a device this old to still be in service?
I used to have an Account Manager who would send me an Excel spreadsheet, at least once a year, to confirm the devices listed were still mine - or in use. I'd mark it up and send it back to let him know what was mine and what wasn't. Granted, some of my older devices went to eBay and other homes, so I could not account for their current whereabouts.
However, neither my past nor current CAM have ever done that, so I can only assume the practice was either solely practiced by the individual or there was a corporate edict to curtail the activity.
But if I log into MySonicWall.com account, go to the Reports section, and click on Claimed Assets, the list comes back showing the following very obsolete devices:
Yes, these two devices are STILL online and were pinged as "active" this week. And they are clearly not mine, yet they are still on my list.
SonicWall has the telemetry associated with these devices. They should know who "owns" them (because there is a Tenant name on each that is not one of mine). And you would think they'd desperately want these unfortunate souls to invest in a more current, more secure, firewall (wouldn't you?).
Why isn't there some kind of outreach program to ensure that EOL devices are updated? And if there is, why isn't there more information available to partners to ensure they can engage with long-lapsed accounts to generate a new client base and an additional revenue stream?
Comments
We just get periodic emails saying we have $nnnnn in renewal opportunities for all the expired firewalls.
On occasions where we've not named firewalls properly in MSW, Sonicwall have been unwilling to provide information. All we would need is to know the last public IP it connected from and we would be able to know which customer it is, so potentially earning some renewal revenue for Sonicwall.
Hi Larry,
One of our sales directors wanted me to pass this along to you:
Hi Larry, appreciate the commentary here, sorry to hear one of our team hasn’t provided you the reports and confirmation of your claimed assets in some time, we will reach out immediately to remedy that. We do have processes in place to work with partners to ensure they are not only up to date with the latest security and solutions we have to offer, but also are empowered to engage their customers, so they are as well. Regarding our customers on Legacy product, for security reasons SonicWall would never disrupt or deactivate a customer’s product as it could have major ramifications, however we have many different outreach and rescue programs in place to work with partners and customers to move them off EOL hardware. There are many scenarios where a customer may have a legacy device still in their account but in all of them we always try to encourage them to protect their network which often times means making an investment in their security infrastructure and updating their firewall. We appreciate your partnership and look forward to connecting with you soon.A follow-up.
I heard from my CAM about this and asked: Who is supposed to reach out to these folks to point out the absolutely gaping security holes and upsell new gear: me, a local partner, or SonicWall?
His response: It would have to be a local partner if the customer is not located in your area.
So now the onus is on him to contact SW CAMs responsible for Puerto Rico and British Columbia, Canada and see if they want to contact a local partner.
Of course, there's still no explanation for why these devices still appear on my list in MySonicWall...
Larry, can you DM me the serial numbers that should not be showing in your MySonicWall account? I'll take care of it.
My CAM called and took care of this just a few minutes ago.
Thanks!
Hey, Sales Guy, what the $%^&*(??!?
for security reasons SonicWall would never disrupt or deactivate a customer’s product as it could have major ramificationsAnd yet...
The support for TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 will be disabled on October 31, 2023. After this date, connections using these protocols will be rejected by our license manager.
This will cause GEN 5 and GEN 6 firewalls running older firmware to not communicate with the license manager leading to licensing issues. The firewall will not be able to validate its license or obtain necessary updates resulting in a licensing failure. The firewall will operate with reduced functionality or disable certain advanced features that require periodic license validation or updates.
While I understand the intention, I don't quite comprehend the double-speak. Because there are going to be devices that fail on November 1 (the two shown in my initial post are obvious examples).
Oh, I get it, you are starting a new reality show! We get to watch SW sales peeps try to convince penurious firewall users (most of whom have no IT support whatsoever) to upgrade to Gen 7 devices within a matter of days. Makes for good copy on the web page, eh? Probably could become a Sales Sprint on SonicWall U. /s