MSP & MSSP Industry Notes for July 12th, 2020

MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

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Respond Software revamps SOC staffing and addresses critical analyst shortage Managed security services provider uses a virtual analyst product from Respond So

• The MSSP has incorporated Respond Software's technology into its managed detection and response (MDR) service (reported on ITweb.co.za)
• Respond Analyst monitored 138M events, escalating just nine incidents in a one-month period. That is the equivalent of 2 000 human analysts working 24×7 to cover 138M events in one month
• Respond Software's offering acts as a virtual analyst, emulating a seasoned analyst's judgement and analysing more data without adding personnel, according to the company

 HP CEO interviewed in CRN magazine

• Plan for “as-a-service” acceleration according to CEO Enrique Lores
• Hopes to combine managed print with Instant Ink program
• The COVID-19 crisis has brought the opportunity to the forefront for the company and its channel partners
• Countless businesses continuing to work from home and customers looking to reduce costs
• "What we have seen as a consequence of the pandemic is significant growth in anything that has to do with as-a-service--whether it's Device-as-a-Service, managed print services or subscriptions"
• "Clearly, customers are shifting in this direction very fast."
• Many clients are now asking us to enable their employees to be able to print from home
• They want to make sure that the cost of printing is paid by the company
• That the printing happens in a secure way

New York Managed IT Service Provider Reviews What Is Structured Cabling

• SeaGlass Technology, recently released a new informational article that discusses what is structured cabling and how properly setting it up can be a difference-maker for your company's organization
• Hope it will be used as an informational resource for managers at tech companies who are looking for a more in-depth understanding of the process
• They explain how important it is to maximize the organization of your cabling in order to maintain efficiency and minimize the chance of cable errors that result in network crashes

MNP acquires managed IT solutions firm Next Digital

• Accounting and consulting firm MNP has acquired Next Digital, an Alberta-based managed IT solutions company
• Next Digital’s leadership team – Andrew Jackson, Shawn Kubiski, and John McLaughlin – will join MNP as partners
• MNP in May acquired T4G, a Toronto-based applied data firm, adding 100 professionals
• MNP has grown to more than 85 locations and 5,500 employees coast-to-coast.

COVID-19 Affected Businesses Rescued by Managed IT Services Companies Like iTecs Promus

• iTecs Promus, a subsidiary of iTecs IT Outsourcing and Support, is a white-glove control-panel-less cloud hosting provider
• iTecs employee monitoring services allow managers a 360 real-time view of how the staff is performing when they are connected
• Many have resorted to having employees use their home computer to dial into the corporate office and access resources; however, this opens them up to a sleuth of security vulnerabilities

$12 Billion Intelligence IT Contract Out for Bid

• Defense Intelligence Agency bid out its $12.6 billion Solutions for the Information Technology Enterprise III, or SITE III, information technology services contract this week

• The multiple-award contract—a third iteration of the DIA’s SITE and E-SITE contract vehicles that date back to 2010
• According to the solicitation, the contract will provide “managed services directed towards improving integration, information sharing, and information safeguarding through the use of a streamlined information technology approach.”

NITOROM Launches NiTO, a Powerful, Next-Generation Monitoring Platform for Virtual, Cloud and ...

• NITOROM Inc., a global provider of next-generation IT infrastructure monitoring software, announces the launch of NiTO
• NiTO is a SaaS-based and affordable integrated infrastructure monitoring solution
• NiTO is being used across a broad range of global public and private sector industries, including municipal governments, legal, manufacturing, entertainment and telecom

NiTO Features Include:

• Real time, high-resolution monitoring for Windows and Linux
• Ping, and TCP uptime
• SNMP network monitoring
• VMware & Hyper-V host and guest monitoring
• AWS & Azure cloud monitoring
• Website monitoring & SSL certificate checks
• Log file monitoring
• Parenting & flapping detection
• Event escalation
• Custom metrics
• Detailed historical data
• Performance reports

Managed Office Experts Novatech Announces New Atlanta Call Center, Expanding Support and Maximizing Business Continuity

• Novatec announced the debut of a new Atlanta Call Center that will provide support for Managed IT and Managed Print customers
• The center will both expand Novatech's support capabilities and serve as a redundant call center for the firm's primary call center in Nashville, Tenn
• The platform will be delivered by RingCentral, the Unified Communications

'Keeper' hacking group behind hacks at 570 online stores

• Hacking group known as "Keeper" is responsible for security breaches at more than 570 online e-commerce portals over the last three years (reported on ZDnet.com)
• These types of attacks are what the cyber-security community calls web skimming, e-skimming, or "Magecart" intrusions
• In a report published today by threat intelligence firm Gemini Advisory, the company says that Keeper has been operating since at least April 2017, and continues to operate even today

GRM Document Management Launches Zappix Back To Work Solution To Help With COVID-19 ...

• Zappix launched a mobile-based visual solution to help GRM Document Management adapt their workforce management to COVID-19
• Zappix “Back To Work” Solution delivers proactive daily symptom assessments pushed to employees via dynamic SMS or email links to keep employees, visitors, and customers in multiple GRM locations across the US, Brazil, Peru, and Colombia safe
• The Back to Work Solution leverages end-to-end automation to keep the employee assessment process fast and simple for all involved

ERMProtect Cybersecurity Solutions Chosen to Sell Powerful Breach Assessment Tool by Lumu

• EMRProtect announced today that it is partnering with Lumu to offer customers an AI-powered Continuous Compromise Assessment tool
• Lumu product systematically collects and analyzes a wide range of network metadata sources for confirmed indications of compromise in real-time
• ERMProtect will re-sell Lumu products as well as use the Lumu Insight product for specific engagements
• To kick off the partnership, Lumu and ERMProtect are sponsoring the Illumination Virtual Summit at 11 a.m. on July 16 th featuring Lane Bess, former CEO of Palo Alto Networks

MSP Xchanging attacked in ransomware incident

• Xchanging, a managed services provider (MSP) specialising in the insurance and financial services industry
• Owned by US-based services provider DXC, alerted authorities to the incident on the evening of Sunday 5 July 2020

Syncro's Next-Gen MSP Platform Sees Massive Growth in 2020

• According to recent studies, the growth of the Remote Monitoring & Management (RMM) and Professional Services Automation (PSA) software space is experiencing vast changes in 2020
• MSPs finding segregated RMMs and PSAs too difficult to manage
• Combines a full-featured PSA and embedded RMM

Channel Partner Insight Honors StorageCraft with Top MSP Innovation Award

• StorageCraft ShadowXafe wins in “Best Backup/Continuity Offering” category
• The annual awards are independently judged and honor vendors, distributors, and managed service providers (MSPs) across the United States

Konica Minolta announces new Channel partnership with Manchester-based specialist managed ...

• Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Limited announces its new Channel partner, Manchester-based specialist managed print and IT services provider ITECH Managed Services
• partnership is a key part of Konica Minolta’s continued expansion of the Channel market

Cybersecurity Update

• Legacy Community Health Services, headquartered in Houston, TX, is notifying 19,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack
• UnityPoint Health, headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, announced it agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle a class action lawsuit regarding a recent breach that exposed PHI of 1.4 million patients
• Bleeping Computer magazine is reporting that a hacker group has posted the databases from 14 different companies and posted them for sales on the Dark Web
• The State of Texas Court System and the Texas Department of Transportation both notified an unknown number of citizens that their info may have been exposed after being hit by Ransom X ransomware
• Iowa Total Care notified 11,581 patients that their PHI was exposed after an email emailed the info without authorization.
• UF Health (University of Florida Health of Gainesville and Jacksonville) notified 54,002 patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack
• UCSF Health (University of California – San Francisco) announced that it paid $1.14 million to a hacker to reclaim control of network after being hit by ransomware. Unknown how many patients had their PHI at risk
• Urban Choice Charter School of Rochester, NY notified an unknown number of students that their info was exposed after being illegally accessed by a former employee
• OneClass, a national eLearning platform, notified over 1 million students that their info may have been exposed after accidentally made available on Internet to public
• The Maine State Police notified an unknown number of citizens that their info may have been exposed after data breach of its Maine Information and Analysis Center website
• North Shore Pain Management, headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, notified 12,472 patients that their PHI was stolen after ransomware attack
• US Cyber Command is warning that foreign state-sponsored hacking groups will try to exploit new security bug found in PAN-OS, the operating system running on firewalls and enterprise VPN appliances from Palo Alto Networks
• Federal Trade Commission is warning users of TikTok app that its use of HTTP to move sensitive data across the Internet is allowing videos and other content to be tracked and altered
• IOActive Security is warning that hackers are now trying to inject code into bar code scanners, in attempt to gain access to networks
• Lucy Security is reporting that SQL databases from 945 websites have been stolen and are now for sale on the Dark Web
• Sergey Medvedev (aka Stells, Segmed, Serjbear), originally from Russia, pleaded guilty in a U.S. court for his role in an international cyber theft ring (aka Infraud, Obnon, Rector, Helkern), causing loss of $568 million from various organizations
• Symantec Corp. is reporting that 31 large organizations (including those on Fortune 500 list) have been hit by WastedLocker ransomware
• ZDNet magazine published results of research that shows that one out of every 142 passwords is the classic "123456" string
• Bleeping Computer magazine published article that researchers have discovered a new Mac malware that encrypts files on compromised systems like a piece of ransomware, but also allows its operators to steal data and take full control of an infected device
• Initially named EvilQuest, the malware was later renamed ThiefQuest to avoid confusion as EvilQuest is the name of a video game
• ZDNet is reporting that a hacker uploaded ransom notes on 22,900 MongoDB databases left exposed online, which is 47% of all MongoDB databases online