MSP, MSSP & IT Industry Notes fopr November 1st, 2020

MSP, MSSP & IT Industry Notes

November 1st, 2020

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Wipro Acquires Cloud Solutions Specialist Encore Theme Technologies

• Announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Encore Theme Technologies Private Limited (Encore Theme), a specialist in providing SaaS and Cloud solutions in financial services
• Encore Theme - headquartered in Chennai, India - has focused exclusively on implementing a broad suite of Trade Finance solutions, developed by Finastra
• Acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the quarter ending December 31, 2020

LogicalDOC named Best Document Management Software of 2020 by Digital.com

• com has named LogicalDOC to its list of best document management software of 2020
• Top 20 solutions were selected based on automation and collaboration tools, demo or free trial options, and integration support
• Experts at Digital.com conducted a 40-hour assessment of over 120 software companies across the web

Fujitsu Honored with Top Award in Recognition of Achievements to Promote Work-Style Transformation through Remote-Working for the 'New Normal' Era

• Fujitsu today announced it has been recognized with the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award, receiving the highest award in the "Top 100 Telework Pioneers" contest sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
• The Ministry evaluated Fujitsu highly on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Achieved unprecedented levels of remote-working during the state of emergency announced earlier this year
• Additionally commended for the recent roll-out of its "Work Life Shift" initiative

CynergisTek Announces Diversification into Adjacent Markets

• Today announced that a large Department of Public Health located in the western half of the U.S. has joined CTEK’s expanding managed services client base as part of the company’s strategy to expand its expertise outside of the healthcare provider space
• CynergisTek’s cybersecurity managed services program offers complementary capabilities that any organization who has a requirement to protect its data

NC-based Technology Associates ranked as one of the world's most elite Managed IT service ...

• Mentioned on Tech Wire
• The Cary-based company has been awarded a spot on the MSP 501 list
• Since the MSP 501 list was started 13 years ago, the criteria have evolved to make space for a dynamic mix of companies.

CalTech Named to MSSP Alert's Top 250 MSSPs List for 2020

• MSSP Alert, published by After Nines Inc., has named CalTech to the Top 250 MSSPs list for 2020
• rankings are based on MSSP Alert's 2020 readership survey combined with the digital media site's global editorial coverage of managed security services providers

Highlights from the associated MSSP Alert research include:

• MSSP Revenue Growth: MSSP honorees, on average, expect to generate $19.15 million in revenue for 2020, up 16% from $16.47 million in 2019.
• Geography: Honorees are headquartered in 25 different countries -- up from 19 countries in the 2019 report.
• Profits: 84% of MSSPs surveyed expect to be profitable for fiscal year 2020.
• Security Operations Centers: 67% have in-house SOCs, 24% are hybrid, 6% completely outsource their SOCs, and 3% are reevaluating their SOC strategies.
• Cyberattack Trends: The most frequent attacks targeting MSSP customers in 2020 include phishing (95%), vulnerability (76%) and ransomware (69%) attacks.
• Cybersecurity Solutions: In a continued sign of market fragmentation, MSSP survey participants mentioned 129 different hardware, software, cloud, and services vendors that assist their cybersecurity efforts -- up from 95 in 2019.
• M&A: Mergers, acquisitions and private equity investments continue to accelerate across the MSSP landscape. Twenty high-profile deals involving MSSP 250 honorees have surfaced since last year's report.

Lexmark adds to Cloud Fleet Management

• Lexmark, owned by Ninestar of China, launched new features in its Cloud Services offering to dealers
  
  • Including third-party device monitoring, an expanded and free premium app catalogue, and touchless print
  • allows dealers to remotely configure Lexmark printers and keep them up to date with the latest recommended firmware
  • Solution Composer allows dealers to automatically build a workflow specific to a customer’s needs, tailored around key industries
  • Scan to RightFax and Scan to SharePoint apps enable end-to-end integration
  • Card Authentication app provides access control on customer devices, so users can access only those features approved by the customer.
  • Lexmark touchless print allows users to print jobs without ever touching the printer panel.
  • A user walks up to the printer, scans their badge to authenticate, and all jobs in the queue are automatically printed.
  • At the initial badge-in, a dialogue will pop up with a cancel button with a three second delay to cancel the print action if needed.

Xantrion Named to the 50 Largest Bay Area Women-Owned Businesses List

• Xantrion has been recognized as one of the San Francisco Business Times "Largest Women-Owned Businesses" for the thirteenth consecutive year
• San Francisco Business Times partners with PriceWaterhouseCoopers to research privately held businesses headquartered in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties, ranking them by criteria such as revenues, ownership and growth

Ntiva and Southfield Capital Announce the Strategic Acquisition of eGuard Technology Services

• Southfield Capital, a market private equity firm, announced today that Ntiva, Inc., ("Ntiva" or the "Company") has completed the acquisition of eGuard Technology Services ("eGuard Tech"), a managed IT services provider based in Washington DC
• Transaction represents Ntiva's eighth acquisition in the U.S., reinforcing the Company's continued growth in the MSP market
• Southfield Capital acquired Ntiva in 2016 in partnership with Ntiva's founder and CEO, Steven Freidkin
• Acquisition will increase Ntiva's client base to over 1,400 organizations located across the U.S., including Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, New York, Southern Florida, and Southern California

Air IT Limited acquires leading London Managed Services Provider (MSP) Netstar UK Limited

• Air IT announced that it has acquired London-based MSP Netstar
• Acquisition has enabled the Air IT group to double its size in just nine months
• Air IT was founded in Nottingham in 2005 and delivers managed IT and communication services
• Founded in 2002 by Mit Patel, Netstar is an IT managed services company based in Central London

SunTel Technologies Is Pleased to Offer Their New Managed IT Services to Businesses Across ...

• SunTel Technologies, announced that is adding Toronto Managed IT services to the services they are providing

ThoughtTrace Unveils the First All-In-One AI Document Understanding and Management Platform

• ThoughtTrace, Inc., announced the official release of their new Document Understanding platform
• New platform combines self-organizing document management with contract analytics and powerful contextual search to discover critical contract data in seconds

CETech Partners With FoxPointe Solutions to Provide Comprehensive IT and Cybersecurity Services

• CETech, in Western New York, has joined forces with, FoxPointe Solutions, a division of The Bonadio Group dedicated to information risk management (IRM) services
• FoxPointe Solutions’ services include compliance and attestation support for various standards including SOC 1, 2 and 3, PCI, HIPAA, HITRUST
• CETechis a family owned Rochester NY-based business incorporated in 2006

Managed Print Services Channel Optimistic Despite Impact of COVID-19

• The Managed Print Services (MPS) channel is optimistic that 2021 will see revenues rebound
• Growth in opportunities to offer cloud services, contactless printing and support for home printing
• Quocirca’s 2020 State of the Channel survey investigated attitudes among 205 channel organisations selling managed print services (MPS) in the UK, France, Germany and the US
  • 50% of respondents reported that revenue has declined in 2020
  • 66% predicting that revenue will rise in 2021
  • 45% of respondents saying customer print volumes have fallen
  • This rose to 62% among UK respondents and 64% in the USA
  • Only 24% of French organizations said print volumes had dropped
  • 53% said the pandemic had a negative impact on their business
  • 25% stated the effect of COVID19 was positive

1Path Earns OneLogin MSP Partner of the Year Award

• 1Path has won the OneLogin MSP Partner of the Year award for 2020
• Award was announced last week at the OneLogin Connect 2020 Virtual conference
• 1Path and OneLogin have been working together since 2019
• 1Path has integrated the OneLogin identity and access management tool (IAM) into its IT managed services offering, and 1Path also offers OneLogin to clients as part of its SecureID solution

Bishop Fox Taps Former Facebook CSO and Cybersecurity/Data Privacy Trailblazer for Board of ...

• Bishop Fox, focused on offensive security testing, announced the establishment of an Advisory Board with distinguished cybersecurity veterans Alex Stamos and Evan Wolff
• As the inaugural members, they will assist Bishop Fox in accelerating and strategically guiding the expansion of Bishop Fox’s services portfolio and mission to provide comprehensive offensive security testing for organizations globally
• Bishop Fox is the largest private professional services firm focused on offensive security testing

IT-Based COVID Responses Inviting More Vicious Ransomware Attacks, Says 'MSP 501 ...

• Newly released cybersecurity trends data suggest that COVID-19 contact-tracing apps and telemedicine initiatives have helped create a target-rich environment for increasingly vicious ransomware attacks
• Middleground Technologies—was named to Channel Futures' prestigious MSP 501 list
• Middleground Technologies was inducted to the MSP 501 list of best-in-class managed services providers after evaluators from Channel Futures determined Sajjad's company had "inspired and contributed significantly to the design, construction, and operation of a better digital world”

CyberSecurity Updates

• The City of Atlanta spent more than $2.6 million on emergency efforts to respond to a ransomware attack that destabilized municipal operations last month
• Cyber criminals have used the Windows REvil ransomware to attack the Las Vegas-based Gaming Partners International Corporation
• REvil ransomware attack on Gaming Partners International
  • Extracted more than 500Gb of data
  • Files included contracts, banking info along with technical documents
• Newhall School District of southern California notified an unknown number of students that their info was exposed after ransomware attack
• Yorktown Public School District of Westchester, NY notified an unknown number of students that their info was exposed after ransomware attack
• Croton-Harmon Public School District of Westchester, NY notified an unknown number of students that their info was exposed after ransomware attack
• Bozeman Deaconess Hospital of Montana notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after a former security guard was caught stealing computer hardware

• The ransomware hacking group known as “The Darkside”, announced that it is taking part of the ransom it collects and donates it to charities, including Children International and The Water Project
• The Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled; “Hackers Smell Blood As Schools Grapple With Virtual Instruction”, detailing how school districts are being hit by ransomware
• Passavant Memorial Homes Family of Services of Warrendale, PA notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after cyber incident
• The City of Shafter, CA notified an unknown number of citizens that their info was exposed after ransomware attack
• A federal grand jury in Pittsburg, PA indicted 6 hackers from Russia with an attack on Heritage Valley Health System of Beaver, PA, including:
  • Yuriy Sergeyevich Andrienko
  • Sergey Vladimirovich Detistov
  • Pavsi Valeryevich Frolov
  • Petr Nikolayevich Pliskin