Datto's Founder Is Backing a Cyber Warranty Company That's MSP-First

Hello, and welcome back to CRN's newsletter on the latest news and insights impacting the channel and technology industry over the past week.

In this edition, we take a look at a new MSP-first cyber warranty company backed by Datto's founder, what you need to know about the ScanSource ransomware attack, why Aviatrix's CEO says the company's new Distributed Cloud Firewall is exposing other security companies' cloud security shortcomings and more.

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Datto Founder Backs Cyber Warranty Firm Cork To 'Give Control Back To MSPs:' Exclusive

Austin McChord, founder of Datto, and Carlson Choi, former Datto Chief Digital Officer, this week launched a cyber warranty company that takes the complexity out of cyber insurance by automatically scanning critical infrastructure to reduce risk and offer near-instant financial coverage.

What makes Cork different from other cyber warranty providers? When an attack happens, Cork will gear up to help the MSP "rather than the traditional insurance approach, which is 'let me find all the reasons why you're not eligible for us to help you,'" McChord said.

"It's a completely different way of thinking about it, but it's entirely MSP-focused top to bottom," he added.

ScanSource Ransomware Attack: 5 Big Things To Know

Amid what some cyberthreat experts are saying is a resurgence in ransomware overall in 2023, IT and telecom distributor ScanSource confirmed this week that it has become the victim of what appears to be a major ransomware attack. The cyberattack has impeded some of ScanSource's basic digital systems, including many pages on its website, impacting customers and suppliers in geographies including North America and Brazil, according to the Greenville, S.C.-based company.

While total ransomware attacks fell in 2022 from the peak of the prior year, there has been a "substantial increase" on several barometers of ransomware activity in 2023 so far, Mark Lance, vice president for Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) and threat intelligence at GuidePoint Security, said in an interview with CRN last week.

In spite of the continued impacts from the ransomware attack, shares in the publicly traded company rose Wednesday , with ScanSource's stock price closing 1 percent higher at $28.67 a share.

Here are five key things to know about the ScanSource ransomware attack .

Aviatrix CEO: Cisco And VMware Cloud Security Shortcomings, Palo Alto Networks' Price 'Gouging'

Aviatrix CEO Steve Mullaney says the launch of the company's new Distributed Cloud Firewall once and for all exposes the traditional network firewall as a "bad security" solution that is "horribly expensive" with a nagging "performance bottleneck."

The new offering is exposing the cloud security shortcomings of Cisco, VMware and Palo Alto Networks, according to Mullaney.

A former top executive at Palo Alto Networks, Nicira and VMware, Mullaney said the launch of the Distributed Cloud Firewall amounts to the official launch of Aviatrix as a force to be reckoned with in cloud networking.

As for solution providers, Mullaney said the message is: "Do you want to be on the LGFW (Last Generation Firewall ) track, or do you want to jump on to the new innovation?"

More From CRN

Check out some of CRN's other best-read stories on tech news impacting the channel over the past week and more:

• Mike Valentine On Why He Left Sophos, What's Next And Why Vendor Channel IQ Is 'Deteriorating' (Read )
• Amazon Gets $1 Billion Tax Break To Build New Data Centers, AWS Regions (Read )
• Stay tuned for next week's new episode of CRN In-Depth on CRNtv on key takeaways from CRN parent company The Channel Company's Women of the Channel Leadership Summit West in Palm Springs this week. We'll hear from CRN Senior Editor Gina Narcisi and Senior Associate Editor CJ Fairfield.

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