Each week, ChannelE2E compiles a list of the top stories we’ve covered about the security services market from our affiliate brand, MSSP Alert. Here’s this week’s round-up of news from MSSP Alert.
AvePoint Adds AI to Elements Security Services Platform for MSPs
The way Scott Sacket sees it, MSPs can no longer avoid the need to provide robust security services to enterprises and SMBs, and in today’s world, that means using AI.
MSPs are growing the services they’re offering organizations around governance, resilience, management, and data security, according to Sacket, senior vice president of partner strategy at AvePoint, a cybersecurity firm that is adding such services to its expanding Elements platform.
The Jersey City, New Jersey company 2021 launched its global partner program that now includes more than 3,500 MSPs, VARs, and systems integrators, accounting for more than half of AvePoint’s annual recurring revenue (ARR).
A key part of the program for MSPs is the Elements platform, which pulls together the company’s myriad services into a central spot for managing, optimizing, and securing clients’ IT environments. It also gives MSPs new avenues for building revenue streams.
Ransomware Attacks on Critical Infrastructure, AI to Grow in 2025
Ransomware groups are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure sectors in their attacks, a trend will continue into this year, according to the Information Technology-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC).
Of the 3,500 or so ransomware attacks the organization tracked last year across multiple critical infrastructure sectors, about 20% – or 733 – were aimed at critical manufacturing facilities, followed by commercial facilities at 17%, healthcare and public health (9%), IT (8%), financial services (7%), and food and agriculture (5%).
The numbers were part of a report issued this month by IT-ISAC that looked back at what its researchers saw regarding ransomware last year and the trends likely to continue into 2025.
The report, Exploring the Depths: Analysis of the 2024 Ransomware Landscape and Insights for 2025, paints a picture of an increasingly aggressive ransomware environment, with bad actors continuing to use AI in their operations, embrace double-extortion techniques, adopt the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, and target the software supply chain.
Ontinue Turns Its Managed Services to IoT, OT Security
Ontinue’s decision this month to extend the reach of its managed security services to cover Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) systems puts a spotlight on what has become a thorny challenge in the cybersecurity world.
The IoT continues to expand rapidly, with Statista analysts saying the number of such connected devices – which can range from smartphones and thermostats to point-of-sale systems and massive industrial machines – will grow from 18 billion last year to more than 39.6 billion by 2033.
Meanwhile, OT is hardware and software used to monitor and control industrial processes and infrastructure, much of which is in critical infrastructure sectors, and that for decades was air-gapped and run on networks separate from an organizations IT environment. However, that’s changing as OT and IT environments continue to merge.
Both IoT and OT technologies are being integrated into organizations’ operations, which vastly increases the attack surfaces of these companies.
