Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: 16 March 2021

Each business day, MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across the managed security services provider ecosystem.

A. Today’s MSSP and Cybersecurity News Alerts

1. M&A - SPAC and Cybersecurity: LGL Systems, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is  merging with IronNet Cybersecurity. Following the merger, the business will operate under IronNet's name and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "IRNT." It will have a projected equity value of about $1.2 billion, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. Related: See ChannelE2E's expansive list of Technology SPACs here.

2. Funding - Call for Cybersecurity Startups: Merlin Ventures, the investment arm of Merlin Cyber, has formed a Public Sector growth program for cybersecurity software-as-a-service (SaaS) startups. The program leverages Merlin Ventures capital, engineering lab, FedRAMP certification acceleration process, and Public Sector relationships to help startups tap into a $200 billion Public Sector IT solutions market. Startups can receive up to $5 million in funding for Series A or B stage companies that are market-ready, Merlin says.

3. Funding: Cyware has raised $30 million in Series B funding, and plans to accelerate its channel partner program.The round was led by Advent International and Ten Eleven Ventures, with participation from previous investors, including the Prelude Fund (the venture practice at Mercato Partners), Emerald Development Managers, Great Road Holdings and Zscaler.

4. Funding - Machine Learning and IoT Privacy: Inpher has receive a "strategic investment" from the Amazon Alexa Fund. Inpher is developing privacy-preserving machine learning capabilities for connected devices and IoT services. Inpher's existing investors include JPMorgan Chase & Co, Crosslink Capital, Bowery Capital and Alpana Ventures.

5. Funding - RSA Security: Clearlake Capital Group has invested in RSA Security. Clearlake is now an equal RSA partner with Symphony Technology Group (“STG”), which acquired RSA in 2020 alongside Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board from Dell Technologies. The pension plan will remain a significant minority shareholder. Terms of the Clearlake investment were not disclosed.

6. Threat Hunting & MDR Services: Kaspersky has launched Kaspersky Threat Hunting, which is part of a larger managed detection & response (MDR) service from the software company. The threat hunting service "allows for a more effective response, saving security teams’ resources for threat analysis, investigation and response," Kaspersky says.

7. Threat Hunting - Free Active Directory Tool: Semperis has released Purple Knight, a free security assessment tool that allows organizations to "safely probe their Microsoft Active Directory (AD) environment to uncover dangerous misconfigurations and other weaknesses that attackers can exploit to steal data and launch malware campaigns," the company says.

8. MSSP Service Automation: Sea Street Technologies has introduced a new version of StratOS, a platform for end-to-end autonomous service automation designed for Communication Service Providers (CSP) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP). Early adopters are delivering leveraging the system to deliver SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge Market (SASE) services.

9. Talent - MSSP and Zero Trust: ON2IT has hired John Kindervag as senior VP of cybersecurity strategy and group fellow.

B. Cybersecurity Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances

1. MSSP Partner Program: Netsurion has rolled out an enhanced partner program for authorized MSP and MSSP channel partners.  Current partners will gain benefits, but pricing will remain the same, the company says. Key elements of the enhanced program include:

Stay tuned for more thoughts from MSSP Alert.

2. Partner Program: Media Sonar Technologies, a Web Intelligence and  Investigation platform, has announced the MediaSonarVantage  global channel program for technology partners, MSSPs and VARs. The program empowers partners to better protect their client's digital data, reputation and bottom line, Media Sonar asserts.

3. Partnership - Network Threat Detection: Tempered Networks​ and ​Nozomi Networks​ have announced a new partnership and product integration to deliver a f"ull-featured industrial security solution for network visibility, threat detection and remediation," the two companies say.

4. Distribution - SOC Cloud Services: Mideast Communication Systems (MCS) has agreed to distribute LogRhythm across the Middle East and East Africa.

C. MSSP and Cybersecurity Virtual Events and Conference Calendar