Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) Market News: 15 June 2023 -

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

The Content: Written for MSSPs and MSPs; threat hunters; security operations center as a service (SOCaaS), managed detection and response (MDR), and eXtended detection and response (XDR) providers — and those who partner 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 Managing Editor Jim Masters: [email protected].

Today’s MSSP, MSP, MDR, XDR and Cybersecurity Market News

1. Ivanti Joins Cyber Defense Group: Ivanti is now a member of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) to further strengthen the federal government focus on cybersecurity. Established by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in 2021, JCDC is a leader in integrated public-private sector cyber defense planning, cybersecurity information fusion and dissemination of cyber defense guidance.

2. Company Rebrand: Sherweb, a cloud marketplace and value-added services provider, has rolled out an evolution of its brand that reinforces their focus on managed service providers (MSPs). “Since Sherweb began as a web hosting provider in 1998, we’ve continued to evolve to meet the needs of MSPs. We want our branding to reflect this same focus,” said Marc-André Fontaine, vice president, Marketing & Client Experience at Sherweb.

3. Contract Award: Cycuity, a hardware security solutions specialist, has been awarded a contract worth up to $99 million over a seven-year period. The contract is funded by the Trusted and Assured Microelectronics Program (T&AM) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Cycuity will expand the development of its core security solutions and work with partners in the defense and commercial sectors to address semiconductor design supply chain security.

4. Funding Boost: Blackbird.AI, a specialist in AI-driven narrative and risk intelligence, announced the close of a $20 million Series B round led by cybersecurity investor Ten Eleven Ventures, with follow-on support from existing investors Dorilton Capital, Generation Ventures StartFast Ventures and Trousdale Ventures. Other investors include Paul Kurtz, chief cybersecurity advisor to Splunk, and Richard Clarke, the first "cyber czar" for the U.S. government. The fresh funding brings total dollars raised to $32 million.

5. Funding Boost: Elastio, provider of a cloud native recovery assurance platform that bridges the gap between data protection and cybersecurity in the cloud, announced an $18 million Series A investment led by Venture Guides. New investors include Capri Ventures and Alumni Ventures, with strong participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Uncorrelated Ventures.

6. Security Patent Award: Cobalt Iron, a provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, announced it has received a patent on its adaptive, policy-driven data cyber inspection technology. U.S. patent 11663362, granted on May 30, introduces new policy-based approaches for effectively validating data integrity using multiple cyber inspection tools. The technology will be available as part of the company’s Compass enterprise SaaS backup platform.

7. Product Launch: OneSpan, a digital agreements security company, announced expanded features for OneSpan Notary, a cloud-connected solution that enables organizations to transform the way notaries and customers complete agreements and notarize documents in a secure and trusted environment. These new capabilities will now support Remote Online Notarization (RON) identity-proofing requirements.

8. Russia-Ukraine Cyber War: A wave of cyberattacks hitting Ukrainian government agencies and information-technology vendors has been traced back to hackers associated with Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, an official with Microsoft said in a blog post. The ongoing digital belligerence is attributed to a group dubbed “Cadet Blizzard,” allegedly active since 2020. (Source: C4ISRNet)