Content, Content

Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: 16 October 2019

Each business day, MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across that managed security services provider ecosystem.

  • The Content: Written for MSSPs, SOC as a Service (SOCaaS), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and MSP security providers — and those who need to partner up with such companies.
  • Frequency and Format: Every business morning. Typically one or two sentences for each item below.
  • Reaching Our Inbox: Send news, tips and rumors to [email protected].

A. Today’s MSSP Alerts

1.  Talent: Digital Hands, a Top 200 MSSP that works closely with distributors and MSP partners, has named Jeff Foresman as CISO & VP of security operations.

2. Talent - Cyber Insurance: Cowbell Cyber, a startup focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered cyber insurance for small to midsized enterprises (SMEs), has added David Miles and Varun Badhwar to its board of directors. The appointments follow Cowbell Cyber's September 2019 launch, where the company announced a continuous underwriting platform for cyber insurance.

3. Research - MSP Cyberattacks: Over the past year, 74 percent of MSPs have suffered a cyberattack, with 83 percent reporting that their SMB customers have suffered one as well, according to research commissioned by Continuum and conducted by Vanson Bourne.

4. Research - Ransomware Part One: Eighty-five percent of MSPs reported attacks against SMBs over the last two years, compared to 79 percent of MSPs who reported the same in 2018, according to Datto's latest Global State of the Channel Ransomware Report.

5. Research - Ransomware Part Two: Ransomware attacks continued to become more focused and sophisticated in Q2 and Q3 2019, an Emsisoft report says. In contrast to the spray-and-pray campaigns of the past, threat actors are increasingly targeting larger and more profitable targets such as businesses, schools and government organizations, the company says.

6. Email Security - Artificial Intelligence: Vade Secure has unveiled Computer Vision Engine, a proprietary technology now available in all Vade Secure products that enhances phishing detection accuracy, the company says. The technology is based on VGG-16 and ResNet CNN object detection deep learning algorithms.

B. MSSP Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances

1. Integration - SIEM and Endpoint Security: BlackBerry's CylancePROTECT and CylanceOPTICS will integrate with Chronicle Backstory, a security analytics platform from Google. The integrations will surface this quarter, BlackBerry Cylance says.

2. MSP Cybersecurity: The 20, an MSP consortium, has agreed to embrace ThreatLocker's endpoint security solutions for small, midsize and large enterprise customers.

3. Cyber Services - ISPs: Akamai has updated its Security and Personalization Services (SPS) Secure Business solution, which provides ISPs with turnkey security solutions for SMB customers.

4. Partner Strategy - VMware and Carbon Black: VMware executives Sanjay Poonen and Patrick Morley provide more clues about VMware's strategy for Carbon Black in this blog post. VMware completed the Carbon Black acquisition earlier this month, and immediately launched a Security Business Unit that will work closely with MSSPs, MSPs and other types of channel partners.

C. Next Five Cybersecurity Conferences

  1. EuroCACS/CSX 2019 (October 16-18, Geneva, Switzerland)
  2. Mimecast Cyber Resilience Summit (October 28-30, Dallas)
  3. Qualys Security Conference (November 18-21, Las Vegas)
  4. Infosecurity and ISACA North America Expo and Conference (November 20-21, New York)
  5. RSA Conference USA 2020 (February 24-28,  2020, San Francisco)
  6. Bonus: The complete MSSP Alert calendar

Email me your news, rumors and tips for potential coverage here on MSSP Alert.

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.