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Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: 07 February 2018

Each morning MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across the global managed security services provider, SOC (security operations center) and IT outsourcing ecosystem.

Here’s the lineup for Wednesday, February 7, 2018:

18. Crypto Currencies Going to Zero?: That's the prediction from Goldman Sachs. And it's sort of ironic. Goldman Sachs itself almost went to zero a decade ago...

17. DDoS Attack: BusinessWire has suffered a multi-day DDoS attack...

16. Multi-cloud Security: Palo Alto Networks has unveiled a multi-cloud strategy to product workloads on-premises and across public clouds like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. Among the key moves: Panorama network security management will be supported in all major clouds, offering centrally managed firewalls regardless of form factor or location, the company says.

15. Earnings: Fortinet's revenue was $416.7 million in Q4 2017, up 15 percent compared to $362.8 million in the corresponding quarter of 2016. The results exceeded Wall Street's revenue expectations by about $8 million, according to SeekingAlpha.

14. Cyber Insurance: Validus Specialty Underwriting Services has expanded its offering with a standalone cyber insurance product focused on privacy and network protection coverage. The solution will meet the cyber risk challenges faced by U.S. companies with revenue between $150 million and $2.5 billion, and offer comprehensive cyber insurance protection with risk mitigation and remediation services, Validus claims.

13. Ransomware Simulator: SureCloud has launched a ransomware simulator to help partners and customers train users in emergency situations. The software simulates real-world ransomware attacks by infecting a machine, then displaying a message demanding payment – without encrypting, accessing or damaging data. The infected user (i.e., employee), SureCloud says, is then monitored to see how they respond to the demand; do they attempt to pay or do they escalate it to the IT department? Hmmm...

12. Funding: SAM, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based home network cyber defense company, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Blumberg Capital, FinSMEs reports.

11. Partnership - Cisco, IBM: IBM QRadar customers running Cisco Firepower Next-Generation Firewall can implement advanced threat detection with a new app from the IBM App Exchange: the QRadar App for Firepower, according to Security Intelligence.

Continue to page two for items 10 to 1. We promise: No slideshows await you.

Welcome to page two, featuring items 10 to 1 for today.

10. Partnership - DNS: Comodo Security Solutions Inc. and Optimus are partnering to promote Thunder DNS security services to small, regional internet service providers (ISPs).

9. Talent: Cylance has promoted Greg Silberman to chief privacy officer. He will oversee the implementation and enforcement of practices that manage data in accordance with the Cylance’s Privacy Principles with the goal of making Cylance a leader in the artificial intelligence and security industries with respect to employee and customer privacy. Prior to joining Cylance in 2016, Silberman was a partner at Jones Day, where he worked for the Silicon Valley office's cybersecurity, privacy and data protection practice group.

8. Partnership: Hillstone Networks and Flowmon Networks have partnered to build a cybersecurity platform that spans Hillstone's next-generation firewall and Flowmon's anomaly detection service.

7. M&A: Proofpoint has acquired Wombat Security Technologies, which specializes in security awareness computer-based training. The $225 million deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018. Multiple security companies have acquired or built phishing simulations and other training tools to help partners and customers avoid cyber scams.

6. Financial Services Standards: The Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. (X9) is striving  to create a standard protecting personal and financial data. We'll share more details.

5. Financial Services: FCI Inc., an MSSP focused on financial advisors, is partnering with cleverDome are driving industry awareness campaign at the T3 Technology Conference for financial advisors this week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

4. Government Services: LogRhythm's SIEM and UEBA (User and Entity Behavior Analytics) solutions are now available under the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program.

3. Hospitality Services: SecValMSP, an MSSP, has launched a Risk as a Service (RaaS) platform to hoteliers world-wide. The service helps hotels reduce their threat surface by over 70 percent, minimizes the time and expense required to become compliant, and raises compliance sustainability year over year significantly," SecValIMSP claims. As you may recall, the company acquired Stryker Technology Solutions in September 2017 to accelerate the hospitality push.

Eric Dosal
Compuquip Cybersecurity CEO Eric Dosal

2. Check Point Software Partner of the Year: Compuquip Cybersecurity, a Florida-based MSSP with a deep history in and around the VAR and MSP sectors, apparently is Check Point Software's fastest-growing partner. We ran into Compuquip CEO Eric Dosal this morning at the CPX 360 conference in Las Vegas. We discussed the MSSP's momentum a bit. I'll share more details in the next day or so. Plus, stay tuned for more coverage from Check Point's conference.

1. Three's A Trend: Check items 3, 4 and 5 above. Surely you noticed each MSSP & cybersecurity provider is moving hard into a specific vertical...

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.