MSPmentor

A widespread lack of protocols for mobile employee access to corporate networks among SMBs may not be too surprising a survey finding. However, according to a new survey from Citrix Systems, there is also a somewhat surprising lack of awareness about mobile employee access to corporate networks among SMBs.

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Zenprise, the mobile device management (MDM) software provider, has released a mobile data leakage prevention (DLP) solution for the enterprise market. The DLP solution, which supports Microsoft SharePoint, is part of the company’s larger mobile enterprise Security Framework technology. Here’s the update.

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As if hackers and cloud outages didn’t offer enough headaches for MSPs and their SMB clients, there is another potential liability that has been brought to light by a column in the Huffington Post. That liability is known as the government. Apparently there is currently no coherent, national standard regarding how much access the government has to data stored in the cloud.  Here’s the update.

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In an article for Risk Magazine, Clive Davidson looks at how software-as-a-service (SaaS) may save smaller financial firms. He describes the current climate where firms, big and small, are preoccupied with changing systems and processes to comply with regulatory changes.  “But,” Davidson points out, “there is only so far the resources at many smaller institutions can be stretched.” Could a managed service be the solution to their problems?

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Verisign has announced a new service bundle designed to protect businesses against costly downtime caused by malicious attacks. Here’s some background for service providers seeking protection from DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks.

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Over the past year, encryption has become an increasingly important conversation for MSPs. And the story has quickly turned to email encryption offered as a managed service. It’s an obvious evolution. Email carries data—often sensitive or confidential data—and businesses, big and small, have taken on greater responsibility for managing and securing this data. So how are MSPs dealing with email encryption? Here’s a look at a few companies that are addressing this growing need.

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Data breaches come in many varieties. A company might expose customer information (such as credit card numbers), leak employee information (like Social Security numbers), or lose confidential company information (such as plans for a new product). The information might be stolen by a hacker, transmitted by some malicious code, or accidentally left in a cab. So how can MSP’s cope with data leak prevention? Network Box USA has some thoughts.

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If you’re not familiar with the Korean computer market, ESTsoft’s name may not ring a bell. But its desktop application suites have led the company to market dominance in Asian markets, with a claimed 90 percent of all PCs in Korea running the company’s antivirus, file compression, image viewing and media player applications. And as of today, ESTsoft is making a play in the United States for the consumer desktop with its ALtools suite. Here’s why service providers should pay attention.

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Chicago-based ServerCentral, a managead data center provider, has launched a Dedicated Private Cloud solution, or ServerCentral DPC for short. What does it offer? Well, cloud services, of course, but ServerCentral says that security, performance and scalability are paramount to their infrastructure. Read on for the cloudy details…

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It looks like Microsoft is looking to establish the “Essentials” brand as a label for free and useful, if bare-bones, services for users of the Windows platform. To wit: today sees the availability of Microsoft Security Essentials as a completely free antivirus/malware protection suite for small businesses up to 10 users. Here’s the scoop.

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Online Tech, a managed data center operator in Michigan, is promoting HIPAA expertise, SAS 70 compliance and virtualization know-how to win business in the health care vertical. One prime example: AccuMedWeb, which develops electronic patient care reporting (ePCR) software, now leverages Online Tech’s managed servers and off-site disaster recovery capabilities. Here’s why.

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In recent months, we’ve heard from a range of MSPs and hosting providers that have embraced PCI compliance to win new business. Building on that theme, CipherOptics is promoting Virtual IP technology that allegedly allows service providers and customers to secure PCI regulated data over public and private networks. Here’s some insight on the effort.

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If you thought MSPmentor was done talking about freemium, think again. Internet security vendor Websense has launched DLP (data loss prevention) for Download, a product that’s free to their channel partners for the first 30 days. The move somewhat reminds us of a similar strategy over at Sophos, which offers DLP for free with its endpoint security solution. Here’s a closer look at DLP trends.

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Crossbeam and Sophos are teaming up for real-time email security. The partnership targets enterprise customers and service providers. Crossbeam now has relationships with roughly half-a-dozen well-known security companies. Here’s a closer look at the Crossbeam-Sophos relationship and potential implications for managed services providers…

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SonicWALL is launching “SuperMassive” firewall and a new virtualized appliance for e-mail security. And it’s all happening at the Interop show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here are the details.

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OnForce, the service provider marketplace, today reveals the OnForce Services Marketplace Index (OSMI) results for Q1 2010. OSMI is designed to reveal IT spending and project trends across the U.S. The latest results show some positive IT trends, but OnForce Director of Marketing Diana Ermini says now’s not the time for irrational exuberance. Here’s why.

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RSA, the security division of EMC, has released a new version of its global enterprise-targeted Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Suite with over 70 new features. Here are some details.

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McAfee, Inc.’s Chief Executive David DeWalt made waves last Friday when he told Reuters that they were looking to acquire multiple technology companies this year. Here’s the scoop from the security sector.

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A potential headache has emerged for managed security service providers: Symantec has revealed the existence of a seriously embarrassing bug in their Endpoint Security products: any definition file dated later than 11:59 PM on 12/31/2009 is regarded as out of date. Symantec has a workaround, but weren’t we supposed to have learned our lesson ten years ago?

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If any part of the managed services field is growing, we’re told over and over, it’s security. To that end, WatchGuard Technologies, a Seattle-based SaaS security firm that specializes in enterprise-grade firewall appliances, has launched a newly enhanced Managed Security Services Program (MSSP). No surprise, it’s designed to help their MSP partners make more money selling more WatchGuard services to more clients. Here’s the scoop.

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Symantec and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) have released the results of their survey of the cyber security practices and habits of about 1,500 small businesses in the United States. Not surprisingly, it shows many companies are lax in their policing of the network. Some of the more interesting data points include…

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Ben Yarbrough has seen it. Bob Walters has seen it. And now, hundreds of managed service providers are starting to see it. What exactly is “it”? The simple answer: The convergence of open source with managed services.

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The week of September 24 could represent a tipping point for MSP platform prices. As you know, many VARs and integrators balk when they hear they have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an MSP platform before they can begin generating recurring monthly revenue.

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