OpenText has partnered with cyber warranty protection vendor Cork Inc. to bring Cork’s financial warranty protection to OpenText products and services aimed at MSPs and their SMB customers.
Under the deal, MSPs will be able to offer Cork’s cyber warranties in combination with OpenText products and services, giving its customers additional financial protections in the event of cyberattacks and related incidents, according to the companies.
Cork is a cyber warranty company for MSPs and SMBs that uses an AI-enhanced cyber risk engine to offer MSPs and their customers financial coverage and monetary payouts in the event of security incidents, according to the company. The coverage includes actionable insights, flexible premiums, and claims management to help companies protect their valuable digital assets.
“Financial protections like cyber warranties are now a must-have for organizations of all sizes due to the number of attacks they are fending off, especially SMBs, which tend to have fewer resources,” Geoff Bibby, the SVP of SMB cybersecurity marketing and strategy at OpenText told ChannelE2E. “As MSPs look to equip their customers with the best tools and services, cyber warranties have emerged as part of a larger demand for holistic protection against cyberattacks that go beyond security defenses alone. Cork's cyber warranty offers customers financial protection in the event of an attack, covering financial losses, legal expenses and recovery costs.”
OpenText is now offering Cork's cyber warranties to build on its security products portfolio and expand it into a one-stop-shop for cybersecurity, said Bibby. “Integrating security tools and financial protection ensures that our MSPs can equip SMB customers with simplified, holistic services to navigate evolving cyber threats.”
For SMBs, “this offers peace of mind and reassurance that, even if they cannot prevent a breach, they can have confidence in their financial protection,” he continued. Cork's cyber warranty, combined with OpenText’s security products and services, will deliver more value to OpenText’s customers, he said.
Bryan Hauptman, OpenText’s cybersecurity sales leader, told ChannelE2E that it can be difficult explaining cyber warranties to MSPs and their SMB customers. In a stroke of luck, one of OpenText’s MSP advisory board members knew another MSP who worked with Cork and used it in a claim in the past, Hauptman said. That helped others understand what cyber warranties are, how they are different from cybersecurity insurance, and why MSPs would want to offer them to their SMB customers, he explained.
“It is still confusing” for MSPs and SMBs, he said. “We spoke with our advisory board, and the first thing they all said is, ‘I do not want to get involved in insurance … or sell insurance.’ And someone said, ‘Wait, hold on a second – I know this company, Cork. It is not like that. It is a little different. This is a warranty, and we had someone who, in 24 hours, was able to get funds to support their incident. And they all said, ‘Oh, I want that.’”
Cork: Built to Evaluate Cyber Risks for MSPs and SMBs
Dan Candee, the CEO of Cork, told ChannelE2E that Cork’s cyber risk insight platform is built to evaluate risks across MSPs and their customer endpoints and notify them of vulnerabilities exposing the MSP and SMB clients to cyberattacks. The risk evaluations are backed by a $500,000 cyber warranty, which is designed to be resold as financial peace of mind to SMB customers, he said.
“We are 100% focused on supporting the MSP community and the investments they have made into their cyber stack,” said Candee. “We have agentless APIs that instantly log into and provide the insights on the 50 integrations we have, which cover 93% of the endpoint market share.”
Cork, which came out of stealth about one year ago, is the brainchild of Datto founder Austin McChord and Jon McNeill, the former president of Telsa, according to Candee. Cork expects to have about one million endpoints under analysis by the end of 2024, he said.
Cork is like a guarantee, bringing together cyber risk insight monitoring and financial protection while also providing a new revenue stream for MSPs, said Candee.
