Managed Security Services, MSP, MSSP, Malware, Phishing

Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) Market News: 24 August 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. New Research From Cyberrisk Alliance: Early, actionable access to credible intelligence is critical amid today’s rapidly changing threat landscape, according to 210 security and IT leaders and executives, practitioners, administrators, and compliance professionals who participated in new research from CyberRisk Alliance. As a result, they now consider threat intelligence tools as essential and are working to acquire more of them. For more detailed findings and analysis, download the full report.

2. Leadership Move: Cyemptive Technologies, a provider of preemptive cybersecurity solutions for business and government, has named former United States Air Force cyberspace officer retired Lt. Col. Jason Huff as chief operating officer of Security Operations. Huff will be responsible for the company’s Network Operations Center, Security Operations Center and compliance.

3. Cybersecurity Partnership: CyberCatch Holdings, a cybersecurity company offering an AI-enabled platform solution for continuous compliance and cyber risk mitigation, and ELB Learning, a provider of learning products and services, have formed a strategic partnership to market and deliver CyberCatch's next-generation learning game solution globally. CyberCatch's CyberSavvyIQ is a series of security awareness learning games that combine movies and games to help employees become cyber smart and more effective human firewalls against cyber threats.

4. Industry Recognition: Netskope announced that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Competency status in the Infrastructure Protection category. In addition, Netskope was recently recognized as a "finalist" for the AWS US Rising Star Partner of the Year at this year's AWS New York Partner Summit.

5. Hacker Alert: A hacking campaign using compromised routers in Europe and Latin America that went dark this spring is now targeting U.S. Department of Defense procurement sites and organizations in Taiwan, according to research from Black Lotus Labs, the security research arm of Lumen. The March campaign, dubbed "HiatusRAT," used more than 100 edge routers mainly in Europe and Latin America and began new reconnaissance activity this summer designed to collect information on defense contract submissions to the Pentagon as well as manufacturing in Taiwan. (Source: Cybersecurity Dive)

6. New Phishing Scam Spotted: A new financially motivated operation is applying a malicious Telegram bot to help threat actors scam their victims. Dubbed "Telekopye," the toolkit functions as an automated means to create a phishing web page from a premade template and send the URL to potential victims, codenamed "Mammoths" by the criminals. "This toolkit is implemented as a Telegram bot that, when activated, provides several easy-to-navigate menus in the form of clickable buttons that can accommodate many scammers at once," ESET researcher Radek Jizba reported. (Source: The Hacker News)

7. Malware Alert: The SmokeLoader malware is being used to deliver a new Wi-Fi scanning malware strain called "Whiffy Recon" on compromised Windows machines. SmokeLoader is a loader malware whose sole purpose is to drop additional payloads onto a host. Since 2014, the malware has been offered for sale to Russian-based threat actors. It's traditionally distributed via phishing emails. (Source: The Hacker News)

Jim Masters

Jim Masters is Managing Editor of MSSP Alert, and holds a B.A. degree in Journalism from Northern Illinois University. His career has spanned governmental and investigative reporting for daily newspapers in the Northwest Indiana Region and 16 years in a global internal communications role for a Fortune 500 professional services company. Additionally, he is co-owner of the Lake County Corn Dogs minor league baseball franchise, located in Crown Point, Indiana. In his spare time, he enjoys writing and recording his own music, oil painting, biking, volleyball, golf and cheering on the Corn Dogs.