MSP, MSSP & IT Industry Notes

Sponsored by

October 9th, 2023

Arcoa Group

Why partnering with ARCOA makes sense
Electronics Recycling is an important and profitable part of the IT asset lifecycle, but it can be overwhelming with all you already do, varying state regulations, and the limited resources at hand. That’s where ARCOA comes in. When you partner with ARCOA, you get all the benefits of a big company without any of the capital investment. We’ve been doing this since 1989 and have the expertise, certifications, and nationwide resources to get the most for all your clients’ retired IT assets. Plus, positioning your clients as environmental stewards not only elevates their appeal to consumers, it meets government requirements and avoids fines.

What partnering with ARCOA looks like
Our role is to make it easy for you to bring more value to your clients. We work with you to help stretch your clients’ IT budget by reducing the total cost of ownership of their electronics. We’re experts at identifying and implementing the solutions your clients need for the end-of-use remarketing, recovery, and recycling of their technology assets. The sooner you involve ARCOA, the sooner you and your client.

Hamilton acquires Computers on the Run

• announced Monday that they have finalized an agreement whereby Hamilton will acquire COR Managed Services
• Hamilton a technology company located in Aurora
• COR offers managed IT services in Grand Island

Lumifi Acquires Castra to Deliver Next-Generation Managed Detection and Response

• announced its acquisition of Castra Managed Security
• Castra offers enterprise-level MDR, specializing in Exabeam
• Exabeam is a security information and even management (SIEM) platform
• Lumifi is a provider of managed detection and response (MDR) services

The 20 MSP Acquires Key Player in Managed IT Services, Continues Rapid Expansion

• announced the acquisition of 3i International
• 3I International offers managed IT services in Houston and Dallas areas
• Acquisition marks the 24^th for The 20 since last year
• The 20 is a consortium for Managed Service Providers (MSP) for the IT industry

Magna5 Expands Managed IT Services and Cybersecurity Coverage in the Mid ..

• has acquired Advanced Network Systems, a Virginia-based cybersecurity and managed IT services company
• acquisition provides Magna5 additional scale in the Mid-Atlantic region
• Magna5, provides managed IT services, cybersecurity, private and public cloud hosting, backup and disaster recovery
• Advanced Network Systems specializes in helping small and mid-sized organizations implement the right security and networking technologies

Cybersecurity Notes

• CommonSpirit Health, headquartered in Chicago, IL, claims that the recent cyber attack cost the IDN at least $160 million.
• The FBI sent out warning that the BlackTech hacking group of China has successfully penetrated Cisco router firmware
• PurFoods, aka Mom’s Meals, notified 1,237,681 patients that their PHI was exposed after cyber attack
• City of Dallas admitted it has spent $8.5 million to restore its network after a ransomware attack
• Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee Health Care Service Corp (HCSC) of Chicago, IL was sued for alleged negligence regarding a breach that exposed PHI of 192,231 patients
• Salud Family Health Inc. of Colorado agreed to pay millions to settle a lawsuit regarding a breach that exposed the PHI of 427,540 patients
• Sony Corp. notified an unknown number of subscribers to its Playstation Gaming system that their info may have been exposed after ransomware attack
• Broomfield Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of Colorado agreed to pay an unannounced amount of money to settle a lawsuit filed after a breach exposed PHI of 677 patients
• Baccarat Hotel of New York City, NY notified an unknown number of customers that their info was exposed after ransomware attack
• University of Vermont Medical Center admitted that recent ransomware attack cost the hospital a total of $65 million to repair
• Nuance Software, a division of Microsoft, maker of Dragon voice to text solutions, notified 1.2 million patients across the U.S. that their PHI may have been exposed after data breach
• IBM and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems were sued for negligence regarding a recent data breach that may have exposed PHI of up to 1.16 million patients
• Baruch College of New York City, NY notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after recent FERPA breach
• Johnson Controls Corp. notified an unknown number of customers that their info may have been exposed after recent ransomware attack, and hackers are demanding $51 million

Epson Invites Startups and Developers to Join its Third "Innovation Challenge"

• Epson is expanding its third Innovation Challenge, held Oct. 26-Nov.
• Will welcome innovative developers and startups from the United States, Canada and Mexico
• Applications are open now through Oct. 15
• third hybrid hackathon "Innovation Challenge" event invites innovators from U.S., Canada and Mexico to leverage “Epson Connect” cloud service for scan and print workflows
• developers can find more information on the Epson Innovation Challenge website

Lexmark Named 2023 Managed Print Services Leader by Quocirca

• announced it has again been named a leader in Managed Print Services (MPS) by global print and market insight research firm Quocirca
• marks the 11^th consecutive year in which Lexmark has earned this recognition
• Quocirca highlights Lexmark's industry expertise, deep sustainability focus, and comprehensive security approach
• recognizes Lexmark's small and medium businesses (SMB) MPS offering which was expanded in February 2023 with the launch of MPS Express
• MPS Express is a solution for SMBs to streamline their document management processes and free them from day-to-day printer management

CrowdStrike Introduces Next Generation of the CrowdStrike Falcon Platform to Unlock the ...

• new ‘Raptor’ release of Falcon gives customers the petabyte-scale, lightning fast data collection, and search and storage
• Rolling out to all CrowdStrike Falcon customers over the next year with initial upgrades starting in late September 2023
• • First AI-powered Incident Creator with Charlotte AI Investigator
  • XDR for All
  • XDR Incident Workbench
  • Collaborative Incident Command Center
  • Lightning-Fast Search

Lock in on Cyber Security with ARCOA

• ARCOA, data security is a critical part of what we do
• every item received, we adhere to NIST 800-88 procedures
• strict protocols to overwrite information render all data permanently removed and unrecoverable

Konica Minolta Named to MSSP Alert’s 2023 List of Top 250 MSSPs

• announced it ranks among the Top 250 MSSPs for 2023, according to MSSP Alert, a CyberRisk Alliance resource
• The 2023 Top 250 reported 2022 revenue about 47 million
• Honorees from 23 different countries
• 87% of MSSPs surveyed expect to be profitable for fiscal year 2023
• 67% have in-house SOCs, 23% are hybrid, 8% completely outsource their SOCs, and 1% are reevaluating their SOC strategies
• most frequent attacks targeting MSSP customers in 2023 include phishing (95%), vulnerability exploits (91%) and ransomware (86%)
• Larger MSSPs were more likely to run their SOC entirely in-house (85%)
• larger MSSPs (90%) provided 24/7 security event monitoring and response for threat detection use cases on their own

Managed IT services spend to grow

Cisco report - Sector to expand by 12.7% to reach $472 billion in 2023

• 56% expect spend on cybersecurity solutions to rise

Sourcepass Announces Their 9th and 10th Acquisitions, CompuWorks and A.D.B. Services. Inc.

• announces its acquisition of two nationally recognized Managed IT Services Providers
• CompuWorks and A.D.B. Services, Inc.. Based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, CompuWorks is the ninth acquisition made by Sourcepass since March 2022, with A.D.B. Services Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia it's tenth in eighteen months

CloudScale365 Acquires Firefly IT Services, Inc.

• announced at Kaseya DattoCon its acquisition of Firefly IT Services, Inc
• Firefly IT Services offers technology solutions in Sacramento, California
• CloudScale365 offers managed IT cloud migration security disaster recovery and business continuity
• Firefly IT Services is a network and systems management company located in Northern, California

Somerville rebrands to Atturra Managed Services

• will be rebranded to Atturra Managed Services following its acquisition by technology services advisor Atturra
• Somerville established in 1982
• 40 years saw Somerville invest in millions of dollars into its network infrastructure to deliver services to clients

Laserfiche achieves new security certification

Headquartered in Long Beach, CA, is provider of ECM (enterprise content management) solutions

• Announced it has achieved the ISO/IEC 27001-2022 certification for information security management systems

Printers/MFPs may be unprotected endpoints

• report published by Forrestar Consulting
• 72% of companies have hybrid working model
• 75% say shift to remote work has magnified IT security issues
• 60% have issues with managing security on remote endpoints
• 55% struggle managing firmware on remote devices
• 42% schedule firmware updates annually
• 50% say they have inadequate solution to manage security on remote devices
• 54% admit that encrypting hard drives is insufficient

75% of Companies Struggling with IT Operational Challenges in a Hybrid World

• conducted by Forrester Consulting, highlighting the need for companies to adopt always-on endpoint management to cater for increasingly dispersed global workforces
• survey of 312 IT and security decision makers shows that companies are struggling to balance asset management, user experience assurance, and risk management
• 72% of companies surveyed currently have a hybrid working model
• 75% of respondents reporting that the shift to remote and hybrid working models has magnified IT operational challenges.¹
• The top challenges companies face when managing remote endpoints are ensuring data security (60%); keeping software on remote devices up to date (55%); and maximizing the accuracy of asset databases (55%).
• Just 42% of companies perform firmware updates annually, 23% update every two years or less, and 12% only update “when essential” – putting firms at risk of security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues.
• Two-thirds (67%) of respondents say ensuring secure and continuous communication with remote endpoints is a major concern for their company’s IT department.
• IT is having to rely on subpar protection, with 50% citing inadequate endpoint security solutions as an obstacle to addressing security and management challenges. Meanwhile, 54% believe full-disk encryption provides substantial protection for endpoints but acknowledge it can be insufficient. For example, if the attacker has physical access to the device