Cork is partnering with Barracuda Networks to bring its purpose-built cyber monitoring and warranty solution for managed service providers to Barracuda MSPs, too.
Under the partnership, Barracuda is introducing the Barracuda Cyber Warranty to be part of its XDR solution. This is a financial protection product that will be embedded with Barracuda’s full-stack managed services offering.
Right now this is an exclusive deal between Cork and Barracuda. Cork is not currently partnering with any other cybersecurity vendor.
“Our exclusive focus at the moment is really about making this promise work,” Cork CEO Carlson Choi told ChannelE2E. “The evaluation process and leading up to this point is not just oh, yeah, we got a good business transaction, but is really about are we compatible.” Choi said an additional partnership at this time would take Cork away from its focus on supporting the Barracuda relationship and integration, so that’s not on the table at the moment.
Cork’s Channel DNA
Cork made its debut in May 2023. The company has deep channel roots from the outset. CEO Carlson Choi previously served as senior vice president of digital partner experience and chief digital officer at Datto. Datto founder and former CEO Austin McChord is a managing partner of Outsiders Fund and is on the board of directors at Cork. Former Datto business development executive Rob Rae, who is now at Pax8, is on Cork’s advisory board. Datto’s former CISO Ryan Weeks is also on Cork’s advisory board. Kaseya acquired Datto in April 2022.
Neal Bradbury, senior vice president of MSP Barracuda told ChannelE2E that this partnership will allow Barracuda to offer MSPs an additional measure of financial protection in the form of a warranty.
The Barracuda, Cork Partnership
“Over the last few months we’ve structured an offering that is custom to Barracuda that uses a lot of the telemetry that we are collecting from the networks that we are protecting and monitoring, and allows them to evaluate the risk much more frequently than a traditional insurance product,” Bradbury told ChannelE2E.
Here are the highlights of the deal:
- Cork’s cyber warranty will be available to Barracuda’s MSPs leveraging Barracuda’s XDR full-stack offering, enabling MSPs to provide cybersecurity-as-a-service.
- The cyber warranty gives customers financial protection by covering costs related to data recovery, business interruption, and incident response in the event of a ransomware or business email compromise (BEC) incident.
End user customers do get visibility into the cyber warranty program. MSPs are equipped to do the sales process, but when they go to the end user there is a document that says they are getting a warranty that is from their MSP that is powered by Cork.
Cyber Warranties vs. Cyber Insurance
Cyber warranties differ from cyber insurance in that they provide more understandable, faster payouts. This enables the customer to recover faster from the impact of an incident. Customers can use the cyber warranty protection as an interim measure while they wait for their cyber insurance coverage to pay. Or smaller businesses may use the cyber warranty as their only protection.
In July Cork announced that its early access program (EAP) had reached full capacity with 300+ MSPs signed up just three weeks after the launch. Cork has opened up a waiting list for general availability which the company has said will come in Autumn 2023.
