MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

Sponsored by

Arcoa Group

ARCOA Group is here to help you successfully manage your IT Asset Disposition process. We help you recover value from retired electronic equipment through responsible methods of reuse and recycling.  We ensure proper handling of assets which may contain data, while being environment stewards for assets that have no reuse value and are headed for recycling. We’ve built a robust de-manufacturing process to offer additional options for asset value recovery by disassembling equipment for commodity grade materials, which can be diverted from landfills and be used to create new base materials. You can find out more here.

OnTask, Powered by Accusoft, Partners with Mid-America Document Imaging

• ONTask provides business process automation for clients
• Mid-America Document Imaging located in Minneapolis, MN and is a division of Mid-America Business Systems
• OnTask is an electronic form generator with workflow software that automates business processes
• Small business package starts at an annual cost of $2,400

Workforce Logiq Named “Best-in-Class” by Ardent Partners in 2020 MSP Solution Advisor Rankings

• Workforce Logiq located in Orlando Florida, offer AI-powered workforce intelligence technology
• Awarded “Best in Class” in Ardent Partners 2020 MSP Solution Advisor
• Ardent Partners is a research and advisory firm
• The 2020 MSP Solution Advisor helps talent acquisition, human capital management, human resources, and procurement executives better navigate the MSP landscape and maximize investments in the talent procurement market

Spectro Cloud Launches With $7.5 Million to Help Enterprises Realize the Promise of Kubernetes

• Spectro Cloud located in Santa Clara, CA and provides solutions that help enterprises run Kuberbetes their way, anywhere
• Spectro Cloud is founded by multi-cloud management experts and is backed by Sierra Ventures and Boldstart Ventures
• Kubernetes is an open-source container-orchestration system for automating application deployment, scaling, and management. It was originally designed by Google, and is now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation

FNTS Expands Disaster Recovery as a Service Offerings to Cloud Environments

• FNTS located in Omaha, NE. Provides cloud and managed IT services
• Expands existing Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) to include universal cloud environments, including public, private and hybrid cloud
• Global data expected to grow to 175 zettabytes by 2025
• 49% of the worlds data will reside in public cloud environments according to International Data Corporation
• According to Gartner the average cost of IT downtime is $5,600 per minute and $300K per hour

Segra Helps Customers Affected by Coronavirus Impact

• Segra announced today it is joining other carriers and honoring the FCC's (News - Alert) "Keep Americans Connected Pledge" to ensure connectivity to those customers negatively impacted by the Coronavirus
• For the next 60 days, Segra, and its subsidiary Lumos Networks, will not terminate service to residential or small business customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic
• Segra is one of the largest independent fiber bandwidth companies in the eastern U.S

FileTrail Expands Global Account Management and Business Development Team in the US and UK

• FileTrail headquarters in SanJose, CA. Provides information governance and records management software for law firms
• Announced hiring of Keith Schneider as strategic account manager
• In addition, the company has engaged Jon Roscow of Laureus Consulting in the UK to build awareness for FileTrail’s information governance and records management solutions and grow its customer base in EMEA

ECS Named to CRN Top 100 Security MSP in 2020

• ECS headquarters in Farifax, VA. Provides advanced solutions in cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), application and IT modernization, science, and engineering
• Awarded Security 100 for CRN’s Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list
• CRN's Managed Service Provider 500 list recognizes the top technology providers and consultants whose forward-thinking approach to providing managed services is changing the landscape of the IT channel
• Three categories that include Elite 150, Pioneer 250 and Security 100

Israeli cybersecurity firm Checkmarx acquired for $1.15 billion

• Checkmarx a Ramat Gan-based cybersecurity company
• Acquired by preeminent global equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F) valued at $1.15b., the largest ever acquisition of an application security company

Cybersecurity Update

• Corvus Institute announced that ransomware attacks in the healthcare vertical in the U.S. have increased 350% during last quarter
• UK (University of Kentucky) Health System notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after cyberattack
• The Department of Homeland Security announced that Charles K. Edwards, and Murali Yamazula Venkata, both former employees, were indicted for allegedly stealing government software and databases and then attempting to resell it back to the government.
• Cybereason announced it has discovered a new malware, called njRat, which is used by hackers to infiltrate networks of other hackers, so they can access firms that have already been hacked.
• FBI arrested Kirill Victorovich Firsov for allegedly operating a dark website that sold stolen confidential information, including PHI.
• Facebook paid a $55,000 bounty to Amol Baikar of India after he responded to a contest to find a serious security vulnerability in the Facebook platform.
• Whisper, an app that allows users to confidentially share an anonymous confession, was hacked exposing 900 million messages and their users.
• Microsoft has a bug with SMBv3? Fortinet stated “The vulnerability is due to an error when the vulnerable software handles a maliciously crafted compressed data packet. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this to execute arbitrary code within the context of the application.” o Possibly impacted by the CVE-2020-0798 bug are:  Windows 10 v1903
  •  Windows 10 v1909
  • Windows Server v1903
  • Windows Server v1909
  • “Users are encouraged to disable SMBv3 compression and block TCP port 445 on firewalls and client computers”
• Hackers are impersonating employees from Vanderbilt University Medical Center of Nashville, TN to send out email phishing attacks
• Palo Alto Networks research claims that up to 83% of hospital devices that use Windows OS are using outdated operating systems and are therefore vulnerable to hacking
• Google announced it has released a new software tool designed to identify potential USB keystroke injection attacks
• ESET announced that a Russian threat group known as Turla (aka Waterbug, KRYPTON, Snake, Venomous Bear) is using 2 new pieces of malware to launch attacks
• Jay Public School District of Oklahoma announced it was hit by ransomware, possibly exposing info on an unknown number of students.
• Cheyenne Regional Medical Center of Wyoming notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack