Channel Brief: Evo Rebrands, inforcer Raises $19M

It's tough out there for SMBs. Recent Sophos research showed that 96% of SMBs struggle to investigate suspicious alerts, with 33% of alarm bells not even being monitored, according to the data. It's not that they don't want to -- but the cybersecurity skills shortages coupled with the challenges involved in investigating and remediating malicious alerts and incidents just increase the difficulty.

Sophos's research found that:

SMBs are disproportionately impacted by the skills shortage: A shortage of in-house cybersecurity skills/expertise is ranked as the second-biggest cybersecurity risk, topped only by zero-day threats.
SMBs have a higher rate of data encryption in ransomware attacks: In 74% of ransomware attacks against SMBs, the attackers succeed in encrypting data.
No one is watching: A full 33% of the time, SMBs have no one actively monitoring, investigating, and responding to alerts.
Investigating suspicious security alerts and remediating them in a timely fashion is challenging: And 96% of those in SMBs find at least one aspect of investigating suspicious security alerts challenging. A full 75% of SMBs find remediating malicious alerts or incidents in a timely way challenging.

This data reinforces why defenders in the SMB and midmarket need increased support from vendors and partners to close the gaps in protection. Automation is also key to make protection easier and stop attacks early.

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. Evo rebrands, launches refreshed features for MSPs: Evo Security, an identity and access management (IAM) company focused on MSPs and their customers, announced a major company rebrand, upcoming product releases and significant enhancements to its existing solutions. Evo’s platform now offers a suite of advanced identity and privileged access tools including a new admin portal, mobile apps, MFA and more.

2. Censys channel program grows 200%+ in 2024: Threat hunting and attack surface management (ASM) solutions firm Censys announced the global expansion of its channel partner network, according to a statement from the company. In 2024, Censys worked with over 50 partners from top regions, including North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, resulting in 238% year-over-year growth of Censys' channel program and an overall increase of Censys' new business by 75%. The expanding attack surface and the importance of threat hunting are leading to growth opportunities, the company said. Censys launched its program in 2022.

3. NETRIO, SUCCESS merge to create SMB-focused MSP: NETRIO, an IT managed services and solution provider, and SUCCESS Computer Consulting, a Minneapolis-based managed services and security firm, are joining forces to create one of the largest full-service IT managed service providers (MSPs) in North America focused on serving small to mid-market businesses. The new, unified organization together has more than 50 years of combined experience in managed infrastructure, cybersecurity, connectivity and cloud services, the companies said.

4. inforcer raises $19M Series A: Microsoft multi-tenant management firm inforcer has raised $19 million in a Series A funding round led by Meritech Capital. Inforcer was founded in 2022 and is used by MSPs across North America, EMEA, and APAC, to automate configuration of Microsoft policies and security baselines that are usually managed manually. The new funding will enable inforcer to accelerate its product roadmap, scale its active MSP community, and further innovate in response to evolving cybersecurity regulations, the company said in a statement.

5. Sekoia announced new channel partner program: Sekoia.io this week announced a new partner program to support the growth of IT managed service companies (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSP) operating its SOC platform and to develop managed XDR offerings, the company said in a statement. The four-level program offers MSSPs structured support, pricing advantages, customer success services, certification training and joint marketing and communication activities.