Channel Brief: JFrog Acquires Qwak, Beazley Security Launches With XDR

Good morning, folks, and welcome to Tuesday.

A few months ago, specialist insurance firm Beazley merged its in-house cyber services team with its wholly-owned cybersecurity company Lodestone. In late June, that merger became Beazley Security, which went live as an integrated cyber risk management company. This is a growing trend -- cyber insurance companies going into business with XDR/MDR solutions and competing with traditional MSPs and MSSPs.

In other cybersecurity news, TeamViewer confirmed it was targeted by a cyberattack from none other than Midnight Blizzard. You may remember Midnight Blizzard from several high-profile incidents going back to 2008, including the 2015 DNC attack and the 2020 SolarWinds incident.

In acquisition news, IBM completed its acquisition of StreamSets and webMethods from SoftwareAG, JFrog scoops up Qwak to streamline AI model deployment and, in product news, Leaseweb introduced a new object storage solution that is going head-to-head with the big hyperscalers.

As always, drop me a line at [email protected] if you have news to share or want to say hi!

Grab your coffee. Here's what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. TeamViewer Confirms Midnight Blizzard Cyberattack: TeamViewer disclosed last week that it experienced a cyberattack tied to the credentials of a standard employee account within its internal corporate IT network. In the security advisory, TeamViewer said the attack took place on Wednesday, June 26 and has been attributed to the state-sponsored Russian group Midnight Blizzard, also known as Cozy Bear and APT29. Midnight Blizzard has also been implicated in the attack against Microsoft disclosed in January 2024, and has been associated with several high-profile intrusions since 2008, including the 2015 compromise of the Democratic National Committee and the 2020 SolarWinds incident. Most recently, 2023-2024 attacks against Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise have been attributed to Midnight Blizzard, with the group potentially accessing and exfiltrating sensitive information from mailboxes.

2. JFrog Acquires Qwak to Streamline AI Model Deployment: DevOps platform company JFrog has acquired Qwak, an AI and machine learning operations (MLOps) company. Through the acquisition, JFrog aims to offer a unified and scalable solution for DevOps, Security, and MLOps stakeholders, the company said in a statement. This functionality will free data scientists and developers from infrastructure concerns, accelerating the creation and delivery of AI-powered applications. Enhancing JFrog's machine learning (ML) model capabilities will enable users to streamline models from development to deployment, the companies said in the statement.

3. Leaseweb Launches New Object Storage Solution: Leaseweb today launched an Object Storage solution that the company said is an as an alternative to major hyperscale options. Leaseweb Object Storage provides uninterrupted data access with 99.99% uptime, competitive pricing, scalability, compliance with AWS S3's API and simplified management and integration capabilities, according to a statement from the company. Leaseweb Object Storage is tailored for businesses aiming to reduce storage expenses while additionally accessing robust features and enabling users to customize their object storage needs for a variety of use cases, from backup and disaster recovery to AI and ML data. 

4. IBM Completes Acquisition of StreamSets and webMethods: IBM has completed its acquisition of StreamSets and webMethods from Software AG, as ChannelE2E reported in December. This acquisition is crucial in the current hybrid cloud and AI era, Big Blue said, as companies worldwide grapple with an influx of apps, APIs, events, and data scattered across hybrid cloud environments. With this acquisition, IBM gains a robust, hybrid integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) to expand its portfolio. StreamSets and webMethods currently serve more than 1,500+ companies and provide additional integration technologies for modern AI applications that require data and connectivity to everything, everywhere, across the hybrid multi-cloud landscape. StreamSets enhances IBM's AI and data platform, watsonx, by adding cloud-based, real-time data ingestion capabilities for all types of data, and further extends the breadth and depth of IBM’s Data Fabric and Data Integration. With webMethods, IBM helps users manage complex systems, applications, and data silos within business environments. The webMethods iPaaS extends to support IBM integration products and enables users to create modern, unified, and seamless applications and services, while meeting local data sovereignty requirements. 

5. Beazley Security Launches XDR: Beazley Security today went live as an integrated cyber risk management company, following the merger, announced in February 2024, of leading specialist insurer Beazley's in-house cyber services team and its wholly owned cyber security company, Lodestone. Beazley Security launched with an expanded portfolio of services, the company said in a statement, including a new managed extended detection and response (MXDR) service. Other core offerings include professional services to help clients prepare for and defend against cyber risks, as well as incident response, forensics, and restoration services should a client suffer an attack. With a newly expanded roster of staff and clients in the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Singapore, Beazley Security can now provide specialized services to Beazley policyholders, while also driving organic growth outside of the Beazley client community, the company said.

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