Our favorite new meme answer to 2021: a time traveler keeps going back to fix 2020, and 2021 is the result of unforeseen consequences. Try to slow down murder hornets? Hurricanes in Rhode Island. Discuss amongst yourselves after reading these always timely newsbits.
Big security bucks news. Googlers went to the White House for a cybersecurity meeting, and came home promising to invest $10 billion in security over the next five years. Plans are to expand zero-trust programs and train 100,000 Americans through the Google Career Certificate program.
Microsoft’s ante? $20 billion to advance their security solutions over the next five years. Cybersecurity training partnerships bodes well for more experts where we need them.
More security news. Palo Alto Networks announced Cortex XDR 3.0 to expand its extended detection and response tools. Look for Cortex XDR for cloud, identity analytics, and more.
New from Keyfactor is Certificate Lifecycle Automation as-a-Service (CLAaaS). Better key management in complex hybrid and multi-cloud environments and on-premises PKI with certificate automation via the cloud.
The newly revved-up Kaspersky License Management Portal speeds MSP ordering and management of Kaspersky licenses. Also in the box: a new product configurator to simplify offerings.
HackerOne now integrates into AWS Security Hub and works in combination with HackerOne Assessments: Application Pentest for AWS. Easier to find and fix vulnerabilities and improve cloud application security.
Cowbell Cyber, the cyber insurance people, have released some APIs to make it fast and easy for insurance digital aggregators to offer instant quotes of Cowbell Prime 100 insurance. Aimed at SMEs.
There’s a new cert on the wall at Sophos: AWS Level 1 Managed Security Services Provider Competency. Applies to cloud environments of any size and proves they can monitor AWS resources 24/7.
Teamup alert: Fortinet and Dragos are even tighter now to help secure OT environments worldwide. Fortinet’s FortiGate firewall will integrate into the Dragos Platform and leverage its Secure Processing Units.
Tessian partnered with Optiv Security and built an invite-only partner program to help them move to a 100% channel partner sales model.
Other product news. Sometimes your big idea demands more paper than a standard page. Say hello to the Epson Wide-format WorkForce Pro WF-7310 printer (pictured). Handle materials up to 13 x 19 inches and print borderless to 11 x 17 pages.
Gamers love faster and bigger, and the new ViewSonic ELITE 32″” professional gaming monitors should help both. Two are for PCs (2K with 0.5ms response time and 4K with 144 Hz refresh rate), and 4K model for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
You might pair your new monitor with the new Panasonic SoundSlayer Wearable Immersive Gaming Speaker Systems you wear on your shoulders for realist and immersive sound. Optimized for FINAL FANTASY XIV Online.
Whether in your home office or where someone else provides your TP, you can’t avoid the phone. Might as well stay connected without a leash with the new Poly Voyager 4300 UC Series Headsets. Home users: The mute button is easy to find.
RingCentral adds some goodies to its enterprise communications products, like Dynamic End-to-End Encryption and C5:2020 certification. And check out some new add-ons.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Qumulo now pack more bytes in a single high file density node for hyperactive workloads. Deetz: 1U form factor HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen10 Plus 291TB All-NVMe Node purpose-built for Qumulo.
Getting edgy? Not those sunglasses, but your industrial IoT network. Check out the new Advantech and Lynx Software Technologies IIoT edge systems and embedded platforms that help converge IT and OT.
Non-product vendor news. Pax8 now offers Addigy, a multi-tenant management solution for all Apple devices. Great for MSPs that want to control Apple devices across their entire client ecosystem.
Lexmark commits to carbon neutrality by 2035 and has already lowered emissions by 62% globally since 2005. The Lexmark Cartridge Collection Program has prevented 100 million cartridges from hitting landfills since 1991.
This week’s stats ticker:
If your sales are up over the first half of 2020, you may not think that says much. However, The NPD Group’s B2B Distributor Track and Reseller Tracking Services report found sales are up 4% from pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2019. Year to year over 2020, channel revenue grew 9% and hit more than $50 billion. Security software dollar sales increased 8% year over year, making up 26% of all software sales in the channel. Storage and data protection software grew 8%. Hardware’s up 10% year over year, although the leading category, notebook PCs at 35%, indicates the remote office remains important. Printers increased 22%, perhaps another indication of home office activity. NPD expects adjustments to purchasing when employees head back to the office.
Cargo and research partner Phase 5 surveyed more than 1,000 owners of SMBs for the latest “”Heads Up”” study. Headline? 44% of SMBs across North America increased their software spending. Many also feel the pull of the cloud, but 60% remain worried about cyber-attacks. Of course, software vendors have some business issues to address. While 28% of SMBs feel technology is “”truly”” meeting their needs, 27% say “”not so much”” about software doing the job for them. Since only 60% trust their software vendors, that may answer why 66% of larger SMBs are considering or are likely to switch software vendors in the next twelve months.
Sophos’ Phishing Insights 2021 reports phishing remains an effective hacking technique because it constantly evolves, like your defenses. 5,400 IT professionals answered questions about phishing, even if they don’t all agree what “”phishing attack”” really means. 57% consider emails that falsely claim to be legit an attack, while 51% cite a targeted attack like whaling and spear phishing. 49% label an email with a malicious link as phishing, and 46% say the same about a malicious attachment. 40% tag tricky SMS messages asking for info they shouldn’t as phishing. Relax, you’re not paranoid, because 70% say phishing attacks have increased. All this, even though 98% of organizations had their phishing awareness programs in place before COVID-19 hit.
Unlikely amenity. Housing continues to hit sales records everywhere, no matter what’s weird about a house. For instance, a four-bedroom house in Gulfport, Fla., with a pool behind the 2,874 square feet recently listed for $899,000, including something extra.
The “”extra”” part? A giant live oak tree growing through the floor of the kitchen and sprouting through the roof. Yes, a giant tree grows through the house. The realtor says it slowed the sales process, but Zillow reports the house sold at its asking price to an unknown tree lover on 8/23/21.
Photo: Zillow
