Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: 11 December 2020

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

A. Today’s MSSP News Alerts

1. Private Equity - IoT Security Unicorn: Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has invested in Venafi, creating a cybersecurity unicorn valued at $1.15 billion.

2. Funding - Enterprise Encryption Management: Kapalya has closed a seed funding round led by Caltrop Holdings. Financial terms were not disclosed. Kapalya graduated from ICE71 Accelerate, a three-month accelerator program for early-stage cybersecurity start-ups, in June 2020. ICE71 is co-founded by Singtel Innov8 (the venture capital arm of the Singtel Group) and NUS Enterprise (the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore).

3. Funding - eXtended Detection and Response (XDR): Snowflake Ventures has joined Hunters’ Series A investors alongside Okta and Microsoft's M12 venture arm. Series A investors also include U.S. Venture Partners, YL Ventures, and Blumberg Capital.

4. Funding - Threat Analytics: VMray has closed the second round of its Series B round of funding in the amount of US $15 million led by Digital+ Partners, and supplemented by eCAPITAL. The new round of funding represents the second closing of VMRay’s initial Series B round announced in September 2019, bringing the total amount raised to US $25 million. The company will use the new funding to further expand its sales and marketing operations worldwide, enhance its solution’s capabilities and integration with third-party cybersecurity systems and platforms, and expand its global channel program to new markets and geographies, VMray says.

5. Talent - Operational Technology (OT) Security: Claroty has named Adi Weisz as VP of engineering and Brian Dunphy as VP of product management.

6. Talent - SOAR: Cyware, which develops SOAR (security orchestration, automation and response) technology, has hired Bluecore veteran Rob Jacobs as VP of finance, and RiskRecon veteran Thomas Bain as VP of marketing. Cyware's threat visibility solutions are designed for enterprises, sharing communities (ISAC/ISAO), MSSPs, and government agencies, the company says.

7. Facebook Tracks Hackers: Cybersecurity investigators at Facebook have traced a hacking group long suspected of spying on behalf of the Vietnamese government to an IT company in Ho Chi Minh City, Reuters reports. The hackers, known as OceanLotus or APT32, have been accused for years of spying on political dissidents, businesses and foreign officials, the report says.

8. Ransomware Attacks Texas Water Utility: The Texarkana Water Utility network has been attacked by ransomware, according to a local news outlet.

9. Ransomware Attacks Databases: A strain of ransomware called PLEASE_READ_ME has been attacking MySQL database servers since at least January 2020, Guardicore says.

B. MSSP Partner Programs and Strategic Security Alliances

1. How to Sell Managed Detection & Response (MDR): Cisco is offering MDR sales guidance to partners here.

2. MSP Software - Ransomware Mitigation: The latest Datto RMM release apparently enhances its threat detection capabilities with native RMM Ransomware Detection. We're seeking more details about the capabilities.

3. MSPs - Remote Access Software: ION Networks has launched Netgard Privileged Gateway, a secure remote access tool for Managed Service Providers (MSPs), government and military agencies, and enterprises.

4. Broadcom Re-Embracing Symantec Partners?: The preliminary details are here.

5. Partnership - AWS and IBM Security: IBM Security has announced new technology initiatives leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS), designed to "help clients simplify and extend their security visibility across AWS and hybrid cloud environments," IBM says. The projects include "integrations with AWS security services, quick start deployment for key IBM Security technologies, as well as expert consulting and managed security services support," IBM adds.

6. Partnership - UK Managed Security: Open Seas will bring Comodo's endpoint protection, SOC-as-a-Platform, and Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services to the UK market.

7. Cloud MSP and Managed Security Services: 2nd Watch, a Top 250 Public Cloud MSP, has partnered with Armor to offer managed security services.

8. Government Distribution - Network Security: DLT Solutions, a Tech Data company, has agreed to distribute FireMon's network security policy management software.

9. Distribution - Zero Trust Data Security: Ingram Micro has agreed to distribute Atakama's Zero Trust file system to U.S. partners.

C. MSSP and Cybersecurity Virtual Events and Conference Calendar