While many channel vendors have experienced a difficult year, missing financial targets and laying off staff to adjust to a new reality, cybersecurity has remained a growth engine for vendors and channel partners. That’s according to Steve Brazier, former head of Canalys, Informa Fellow and Canapii co-founder in an opening session at the Canalys North America Forum.
Canalys Chief Analyst for cybersecurity Matthew Ball said that cybersecurity total spending will reach $153 billion by 2027 in North America. But IT resilience has replaced cybersecurity as a top priority, he said.
One big area of potential growth for MSPs and MSSPs is vCISO services, he said. Currently, only 2% of cybersecurity partners are offering it, and Ball is projecting this service to grow in the market.
Do you offer vCISO services? And do you have any news or tips for this column? If so please them to me at [email protected].
Today’s MSSP Update
1. Partner AI chatbot - Lookout has integrated an advanced AI-driven chatbot within the Lookout Partner Hub portal help partners access essential sales resources and boost overall efficiency for channel and MSSP partners.
2. Patch that vulnerability - Fortinet has warned of a serious vulnerability in FortiManager (CVE-2024-47575) that could allow remote, unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code. The flaw impacts multiple versions of FortiManager, including FortiManager Cloud, potentially giving attackers full control over affected devices.
3. Unmanaged SaaS app creep - SaaS identity risk management provider Grip Security’s 2025 SaaS Security Risks report found that 90% of SaaS applications and 91% of AI tools within organizations remain unmanaged – a growing vulnerability inside organizations.
4. Cyber partnership - watchTowr has forged a strategic partnership with Orange Business, secured by Orange Cyberdefense. The collaboration introduces the watchTowr Platform as a critical External Attack Surface Management (EASM) solution for strategic customers in the Asia-Pacific region with plans for global expansion. The deal follows watchTowr’s $19 million Series A funding round earlier this month.
5. Free Dark Web reports - MDR provider Quadrant Information Security is offering Free Dark Web Reports to provide organizations with critical insights into compromised credentials and leaked information on the Dark Web, along with actionable advice on how to address them.
6. Cloud-based compliance platform gets AI - AuditBoard, which offers a cloud-based platform transforming audit, risk, compliance, and ESG management is rolling out three new AI enhancements for its AuditBoard AI product suite to more effectively automate time-consuming workflows and evade proliferating risks. Read more about it here.
7. Cybersecurity for nonprofits - Okta is committing $2.5 million over the next 5 years to NetHope to strengthen cybersecurity for the global humanitarian sector. Okta is helping nonprofits adopt modern identity technologies like phishing-resistant MFA, security keys, and biometrics to dramatically increase their security postures. Okta, is also a founding partner of NetHope’s Center for the Digital Nonprofit and NetHope’s Global Humanitarian Information Sharing & Analysis Center (ISAC) — a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership created to better protect nonprofits from rising cyberthreats.
