We’re back with this week’s critical channel news, industry insights, and partner program announcements to help sharpen your strategy and boost your business. Staying ahead of the curve leads to smarter decisions, better client service, and stronger leadership.
Barracuda Launches Partner Sales Engineer Community and Enhancements to Partner Success Program
New community enables sales engineers to build technical expertise, access tools to help customers advance their cybersecurity defenses, and collect rewards.
Key quote from the press release:
“The need for always-on security operations is critical in protecting against today’s complex cybersecurity threats, and partners need to prioritize complete solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. We are continuously listening to and learning alongside our partners in a truly collaborative approach, and these phase three program updates directly address feedback to meet their evolving needs.” — Jason Beal, vice president of worldwide partner ecosystems, Barracuda
EasyDMARC Integrates with ConnectWise Through Invent Program
To directly integrate with ConnectWise APIs and platform through Invent, integrators must pass an independent security review that ensures their integration is safe and secure.
Key benefits from the press release:
- Revenue Growth: The integration allows MSPs to meet the increasing demand for DMARC management, unlocking new revenue streams.
- Automated Ticketing: EasyDMARC alerts automatically create tickets in ConnectWise, enabling faster issue resolution and improved operational efficiency.
- Seamless Billing: Sync billable products and align Domain Groups and Companies for simplified, accurate billing.
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“The ConnectWise partnership is going to be a game changer for small and midsized MSPs. It really streamlines key cybersecurity processes, which is huge for MSPs managing multiple clients. With more automation and centralized control, MSPs can improve security without the usual headaches. This integration levels the playing field by letting smaller MSPs offer enterprise-grade services without needing a ton of extra resources or staff.” — Anush Yolyan, channel alliances manager, EasyDMARC
Sea Pine Equity Partners Announces Acquisition of Hi-Tek Data Holdings
Post-acquisition, Hi-Tek Data will continue to operate under its established
brand while benefiting from the strategic guidance and resources provided by Sea Pine and
its partners.
Key quote from the press release:
“Hi-Tek Data has demonstrated remarkable growth and innovation in the managed services space and we are thrilled to be partnering with Adam Hartley and his talented team to build a best-in-class platform.” — Bill Hobbs, Mike Williams, and Chris Claudio of Sea Pine Equity Partners
Sophos Launches New XGS Series of Desktop Firewalls and Updated Firewall Software
Sophos firewall software can now use third-party threat intelligence feeds for extended protection against cyberattacks.
Key quote from the press release:
“We’re innovating and advancing how organizations should use firewall technology to defend against persistent, modern-day cyberattacks targeting the midmarket and smaller businesses. This includes designing our firewall software to now also leverage threat intelligence feeds from third-party sources, in addition to Sophos’ native threat intelligence, for faster, real-time response to a broader scope of suspicious activity. The support also gives defenders greater control over their risk profile.” — Dan Cole, senior vice president, Network and Content Security, Sophos
TD SYNNEX Report: Channel Partners Seek Balance Between Accelerating AI Innovation and Core Technologies
Third annual Direction of Technology Report highlights key trends shaping the IT landscape, including AI innovation, security advancements, and the growing importance of ESG.
Key quote from the press release:
“This year, we’re seeing much more detail on how partners are embracing the power of AI and cloud technologies while making technology more adaptable to the needs of their customers. At the same time, they are balancing the need for robust security and regulatory compliance across all industries.” — Patrick Zammit, CEO, TD SYNNEX
3rd Annual Ponemon Institute Report: Nearly 7 in 10 Healthcare Organizations Experienced Disruption to Patient Care Due to Cyberattacks
At an average cost of $1.47 million, disruption to normal healthcare operations because of system availability problems continues to be the most expensive consequence of a cyberattack.
Key stats from the press release:
- 92% of healthcare organizations surveyed experienced at least one cyberattack in the past 12 months.
- 68% of respondents said their organizations had an attack against their supply chains, of which 82% said it disrupted patient care
- BEC made up 69% of the group of attacks most likely to result in poor outcomes due to delayed procedures and tests.
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“MSPs play a critical role in helping to protect these organizations. It isn’t just about safeguarding their data; it’s also about ensuring patient safety and care. While awareness of cyber threats in healthcare is increasing, many organizations still struggle to defend themselves. MSPs are crucial in helping healthcare organizations prepare for and prevent cyberattacks and safeguard patient care and safety.” — Ryan Witt, vice president of industry solutions, Proofpoint
Fortinet Expands Its Cloud-Native Security Offerings with the Introduction of Lacework FortiCNAPP
Combining Lacework’s leading cloud-native application protection platform with the Fortinet Security Fabric delivers unmatched visibility and protection across multicloud environments.
Key highlights from the press release:
- Additional benefits that extend beyond Lacework’s leading offering include automated remediation and blocking of active runtime threats.
- Lacework FortiCNAPP also introduces a unique AI approach that never stops learning, maximizing cloud security with minimal time and effort for development, operations, and security teams.
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“Lacework FortiCNAPP extends and enhances Fortinet Cloud-native Security solutions, enabling partners to offer immediate value to their customers. … This empowers MSPs of all sizes to serve as trusted advisors and help their customers more effectively secure their cloud footprints, and significantly cut down the time to detect, prioritize, investigate, and respond to cloud-native threats.” — Michael O’Brien, regional vice president, strategic routes to market, Fortinet
NinjaOne Introduces NinjaOne AI for Patch Sentiment
- More informed decision making
- Reduced patch-related risks
- Improved efficiency
“Patching is more important than ever due to the rapid evolution and growing number of endpoints, which presents significant security risks and challenges for IT teams. We built NinjaOne AI for Patch Sentiment so IT teams can spend more time improving their security posture, running their operations, and innovating across their business – and less time on identifying potentially risky patches and their impacts.” — Joel Carusone, senior vice president of AI and data, NinjaOne
New CrowdStrike Partnerships Accelerate Adoption of Industry-Leading Falcon Threat Intelligence
New partnerships with CardinalOps, Nagomi Security and Veriti automate intelligence-driven detection engineering, security posture management and countermeasure deployment across the security stack.
Key customer benefits from the press release:
- Adversary-informed Detection Posture Management: With CardinalOps, customers can seamlessly operationalize CrowdStrike threat intelligence into actionable detection content for any SIEM, ensuring precise threat detection across diverse environments.
- Intelligence-driven Security Posture Management: Integrating with Nagomi Security enables customers to proactively assess the impact of threat actor campaigns against their controls and security architecture. Nagomi Security transforms CrowdStrike threat intelligence into tailored, actionable recommendations.
- Proactive Exposure Assessment and Remediation: With Veriti, customers can proactively monitor, prioritize and mobilize remediation efforts without business downtime. Veriti automatically enriches and enforces CrowdStrike’s threat intelligence across all security controls.
Keepit Survey Highlights Growing Concerns Over SaaS Data Protection Amid Regulatory Complexities
Executives express lack of confidence in protective measures and are unclear on where responsibilities for data protection lie.
Key stats from the press release:
- While 28% of respondents expressed high confidence in their data protection measures, a significant 31% reported moderate to severe lapses in their data protection.
- 50% of respondents cite increased compliance requirements as their top challenge, with growing data volumes and the complexities of managing SaaS data also ranking high.
- 57% of respondents identified brand and reputation damage as the most significant business impact of data loss, followed closely by financial consequences and regulatory compliance violations.
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“MSPs act as the outsourced IT department for SMBs, handling the same SaaS data protection responsibilities as IT departments in larger companies. To meet the market demands, MSPs must deliver scalable, reliable, and cyber-resilient solutions to their customers, ensuring small and medium businesses have the same level of data protection to meet all regulatory requirements relevant to their business.” — Rick Sloane, Senior Director Global Alliances and Strategic Partnerships, Keepit
Atera and GoTo announce partnership to complement Atera’s offering with Miradore Mobile Device Management
This partnership reinforces Atera’s commitment to being a one-stop shop for businesses’ IT needs.
Key benefits from the press release:
- The partnership offers a comprehensive solution to manage and secure a diverse range of endpoints — including mobile devices, tablets, and laptops — across iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows platforms with minimal complexity.
- With the combined power of Atera’s Action AI solution and Miradore’s MDM capabilities, customers can now achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency, speed, cybersecurity, and quality of work.
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“This collaboration with GoTo’s Miradore solution is a natural evolution for the company. Atera transforms IT management for MSPs with our all-in-one platform, so coupled with Miradore’s multitenant mobile device management, our customers can expect a newly unlocked level of productivity and security. When MSPs are busier than ever and often forced to handle increasing complexities with fewer resources, technology partnerships like these help ease the burden.” — Ran Madjar, head of App Center, Atera
D&H Distributing Invests in New Resources to Help Partners Become MSSPs
The distributor expects growth in Modern Security, adding personnel, training, and resources to guide partners toward greater opportunities.
Key facts from the press release:
- D&H expects to see growth in its Modern Security category of 63% this year.
- It is doubling the size of its Modern Security team.
- The company sees a significant area of opportunity in MSPs who want to transition to become successful managed security service providers (MSSPs).
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“If you’re looking to be successful selling technology in the current environment, you need to be in the security business, and that happens most effectively if you have supportive partners with expert knowledge and comprehensive services. D&H is bringing this expertise and support to the table to help MSPs expand their practices.” — Jason Bystrak, senior vice president of Modern Solutions, D&H
Bitwarden Integrates with Microsoft Sentinel to Enhance SIEM
The new integration strengthens real-time threat detection and response capabilities for enterprises.
Key integration features from the press release:
- Enhanced threat detection
- Streamlined incident response
- Centralized security management
- Reporting and compliance
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“Having centralized visibility through security information and event management (SIEM) platforms like Sentinel enables them to manage and monitor password and account-related security incidents with greater speed and precision. The ability to automate threat detection and response — without introducing friction or overwhelming resource constraints — empowers MSPs to offer security solutions that enhance trust with customers while reducing the time and cost associated with manual incident response.” — Jon Maurer, channel manager, Bitwarden
A record-breaking year for open source consumption as downloads hit 6.6 trillion, amplifying software supply chain risk.
Key findings from the press release:
- Python (PyPI) saw an 80% increase in consumption compared to last year, reaching more than 530 trillion package requests, while JavaScript (npm) downloads increased by 70%, with 4.5 trillion package requests.
- Sonatype observed a 156% increase in the number of malicious packages year-over-year, reaching more than 704,102 identified since 2019.
- As CVEs continue to rise exponentially, several critical vulnerabilities in 2024 took over 500 days to fix, indicating that maintainers are struggling to cope with the backlog of vulnerabilities.
To read the full report, visit sonatype.com/state-of-the-software-supply-chain.
Procure IT Empowers Partners with New AI-driven IT Procurement Platform
‘Single Pane of Glass’ transforms tech sourcing and optimization for advisors/agents, MSPs, VARs, ISVs, IT consultants, VC and PE firms.
Key AI-powered tools from the press release:
- IT DataPack Report: Auditing a client’s IT environment to provide a quantitative and qualitative assessment of capabilities and gaps
- Cloud FinOps: Maximizing the business value of cloud-based solutions by providing visibility into usage, rightsizing resources and enabling cost control
- SaaS FinOps: Optimizing spend on SaaS applications by identifying and eliminating unnecessary SaaS subscriptions, negotiating better pricing terms and optimizing resource utilization
- Technology Expense Management (TEM): Fine-tuning tech spend by streamlining invoice processing, ensuring vendor accountability and identifying cost savings
ChannelPro: How does this affect small and midsized MSPs that support SMBs in the U.S.?
“Most MSPs struggle with delivering a comprehensive IT procurement strategy due to limited resources and expertise. Procure IT bridges that gap by enabling MSPs to manage cloud and SaaS applications, provide cross-platform FinOps and offer advanced analytics — often for the first time. By leveraging our platform, MSPs can co-manage services and expand their offerings without needing to scale their internal resources.” — Randy Jeter, CEO, Procure IT
Zendesk Builds on Complete Service Solution to Strengthen Human and AI Partnership
Omnichannel AI agents and next-generation agent copilot offerings boost human and AI collaboration across workflows, including powerful voice AI.
Key features from the press release:
- Delivers instant, accurate responses with generative replies and addresses more sophisticated issues with customizable conversation flows, now extended to email.
- Automates up to 50% of voice interactions in a new partnership with Poly.ai, ensuring seamless, consistent support across channels.
- New AI agent builder requires no training and offers full customization — such as adjusting the brand’s tone — while reducing the time to build, deploy, and maintain.
Fornix Marketing Launches Hurricane Relief Fund
In the wake of the devastating hurricanes in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, Fornix Marketing is taking action with a dollar-for-dollar matching campaign to support MSPs, MSSPs, and their communities.
What your donations will provide:
- Food for those in need
- Temporary shelter for displaced families
- Essential medical and counseling services
JumpCloud SaaS Management to Help MSPs Tackle Shadow IT
JumpCloud SaaS Management empowers IT teams to efficiently secure and manage SaaS applications across their organization.
Key insights from JumpCloud‘s blog post:
“I’m so excited about the recent launch of JumpCloud SaaS Management and how it will help MSPs tackle the ongoing challenge of Shadow IT. This powerful new feature centralizes and secures all SaaS applications, making it easier than ever to gain visibility and control.” — Chris Tate, MSP principal strategist, JumpCloud
Updated: Oct. 18, 2024
Featured image: iStock
