Podcasts about mssp

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: [Blumira]: The company on Tuesday launched Hearth, a vendor-agnostic AI command center that Blumira says can intelligently reason across security tools and services an organization already uses. The platform is available in the Pax8 Marketplace, giving MSPs a unified interface to monitor and respond across multi-vendor environments. Read the announcement on Business Wire [Vistera]: The Vancouver-based company on Tuesday unveiled a professional services platform powered by Vero, a multi-agent orchestration layer that Vistera says brings legal, HR, and finance expertise to Canadian SMBs in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. Every output is reviewed by a senior Canadian-qualified professional before delivery, with outcomes priced at $700 each or through monthly plans. Learn more on Vistera [CrowdStrike]: Justin Bradley, senior alliances manager for MSSP aggregators at CrowdStrike, warned attendees at XChange August this week that the group behind Akira ransomware — referred to as Punk Spider — has increased attacks by 134 percent over the past year, specifically targeting SMBs through MSPs. The group buys VPN credentials on the dark web, uses MFA fatigue to gain access, and dumps Entra IDs before deploying ransomware. Read more on CRN [ConnectSecure]: The company on Tuesday added M365 Auto Remediation, AI-powered training assessments, and Patch 360 to its MSP platform, allowing providers to automatically remediate supported Microsoft 365 security findings across multiple tenants. Read more on Channel Dive [GTIA]: The Global Technology Industry Association warned at ChannelCon last week that customers are deploying AI faster than MSPs can deliver security and governance, and announced a new Managed Intelligence Alliance to develop standards and accreditations for AI services. Read more on Channel Dive [NetRise]: The company on August 3 launched its Discovery Partner Program to expand software supply chain security through MSSPs, VARs, and distributors. Read the announcement on PR Newswire [Verizon]: Channel chief and vice president of indirect partner sales Mark Tina is leaving the telecommunications company after 23 years to become vice president of national partner sales and distribution at health insurer Humana. Read more on Channel Dive Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Thursday, August 13, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Blumira on Tuesday launched Hearth, a vendor-agnostic AI command center that the company says can intelligently reason across security tools and services an organization already uses. According to Blumira, the platform is designed to unify visibility and response across the workspace without requiring a rip-and-replace approach, giving lean IT teams a single interface to monitor disparate tools. Hearth is available in the Pax8 Marketplace, positioning it for MSPs that provision through that platform. Blumira is pitching the offering as a way to reduce tool sprawl and alert fatigue for teams that lack enterprise-scale resources. A unified reasoning layer across multi-vendor stacks could cut down on the context-switching that slows incident response for Canadian MSPs, though the value will depend on integration depth and the accuracy of the AI-driven reasoning. Vistera on Tuesday unveiled a Canadian-built professional services platform powered by Vero, a multi-agent orchestration layer that the company says brings legal, HR, and finance expertise to small and medium-sized businesses at a predictable cost. The Vancouver-based company is targeting Canadian SMBs in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario with outcomes priced at $700 each or through monthly plans, a fraction of the typical hourly rates at large firms. According to Vistera, every output is reviewed and signed off by a senior Canadian-qualified professional before it reaches the client, with credential verification and regulatory standing checks built into the workflow. The platform handles intake, research, and preparation through AI agents while preserving human oversight for final judgment. Canadian MSPs should watch how this model lands, as it could create new partnership opportunities around SMB advisory services or introduce competitive pressure in the professional services space. CrowdStrike this week warned attendees at XChange August that prolific ransomware groups are specifically targeting MSPs and their SMB customers. According to Justin Bradley, senior alliances manager for MSSP aggregators at CrowdStrike, the group behind Akira ransomware — referred to as Punk Spider — has increased its attacks by 134 percent over the past year with an emphasis on SMBs. Bradley said the group’s typical strategy involves buying VPN credentials on the dark web, then using MFA fatigue to gain initial access, escalating privileges, and dumping Entra IDs before deploying ransomware. He also noted that CrowdStrike is tracking two break-off groups from Scattered Spider, dubbed Cordial Spider and Snarky Spider, which have been known to impersonate MSPs to trick customers into launching remote access tools. The intelligence underscores the urgency for Canadian MSPs to harden identity controls and monitor for MFA abuse, particularly as credential theft continues to fetch thousands of dollars on dark web markets. In Brief – ConnectSecure says its new M365 Auto Remediation tool lets MSPs approve and automatically apply fixes across multiple customers for supported Microsoft 365 security findings. The Global Technology Industry Association warns at ChannelCon that customers are deploying AI faster than MSPs can secure it, and says it is launching a Managed Intelligence Alliance to set standards for AI services. NetRise says its new Discovery Partner Program will expand software supply chain security through MSSPs, VARs, and distributors. Verizon confirms channel chief Mark Tina is leaving after 23 years to become vice president of national partner sales and distribution at Humana. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Lisa Liu, Corporate Marketing and Communications Manager at Stellar Cyber, says the AI noise has been running since RSAC Conference, and that what separates vendors now is whether they can back their claims with data their customers gave them. She came to Black Hat USA 2026 with figures on Agentic Auto Triage. The numbers she cites: up to 19 minutes saved per hour per analyst, up to 1.5 full-time analysts per year, and 99.7 percent agreement with the human analyst. Liu treats the accuracy figure as the one carrying the weight. Reacting at machine speed matters only if the verdicts hold, and she describes security as a low trust industry where the burden of proof sits with the vendor. Stellar Cyber is a security operations platform purpose built for MSPs and lean enterprise teams, offering full cycle, full visibility, unified security operations. Liu says the company builds its business logic around the customer pain point, maximizing the efficiency of the resources a team already has. With alerts climbing as attackers pick up the same AI tools as everyone else, she argues that hiring through the volume is out of reach for most teams. So where does reclaimed time go? Liu says that call belongs to the customer. Reported answers include customer relations, other facets of the job, and expanded roles that analysts never had time for. There is a learning effect too. Analysts can see every step of the decision making behind an AI conclusion and draw lessons from it. For managed service providers, Liu says partner analysts deliver more customized services and take in feedback more productively once their schedules loosen up. Where partners serve very different market segments, platform flexibility carries the load, along with full visibility and automation at machine speed. She also hears a shift on the floor: running many separate vendors creates expensive overlap and leaves gaps, and a single platform approach is becoming industry standard. What comes next? Liu places the industry in a proof stage. More validation is necessary, claims about the Agentic SOC keep arriving, and backing those up with more numbers is a large part of moving forward. AI has been part of the Stellar Cyber logic since the company was founded over 10 years ago, and she says that has not changed. This is a Brand Briefing. A Brand Briefing is an on-location conversation recorded on site at Black Hat USA 2026, putting a spotlight on the guest and their company and pairing it with the editorial reach of ITSPmagazine. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/performance/#briefing GUEST Lisa Liu, Corporate Marketing and Communications Manager at Stellar Cyber LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaaliu/ RESOURCES Black Hat USA 2026 event coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/black-hat-usa-2026-cybersecurity-event-coverage-in-las-vegas Stellar Cyber: https://stellarcyber.ai/ Stellar Cyber and M-Theory at Black Hat USA 2026: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260728715036/en/Stellar-Cyber-and-M-Theory-to-Demo-Proof-Based-AI-SOC-at-Black-Hat-USA-2026 Stellar Cyber on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stellarcyber Are you interested in telling your story? ▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full ▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight ▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlight ▶︎ Get your own Brand Briefing at an upcoming event: https://www.studioc60.com/buy-brand-briefings KEYWORDS lisa liu, stellar cyber, sean martin, brand briefing, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, black hat usa 2026, agentic auto triage, agentic soc, alert fatigue, security operations platform, mssp, managed security service provider, soc analyst productivity, ai in security operations, autonomous soc, siem replacement, analyst burnout, human in the loop ai Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this August 2026 episode, MSSP intern Taryn Painter interviews Tamalani (Tami) Barnett, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RaisingHOPE. Tami shares her journey to becoming a nonprofit leader after years of legal advocacy for children and youth in California's foster care system. She details how RaisingHOPE supports emerging adults' own stated needs through innovative and complementary programs spanning transportation and housing assistance, youth mentoring, and life skills courses. She discusses future plans to expand RaisingHOPE's programming, including a visionary residential project called “Hope Sweet Home,” and what it means for RaisingHOPE to have been selected as a 2025 Flame Award recipient by The RightWay Foundation's Aging Out Awards.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: [Schneider Electric]: The company yesterday unveiled its next-generation APC Smart-UPS at XChange August 2026, introducing what it says is the first multi-chemistry battery technology for distributed and edge environments. The platform accepts both VRLA lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries, allowing customers to start with lower-cost lead-acid and upgrade later without replacing the chassis. Read more on CRN. [Ingram Micro]: The distributor says hundreds of channel partners are now using its Xvantage Integration Hub and secure Model Context Protocol Server to connect AI assistants directly to their business systems. Trust X Alliance member Matrix Integration estimates the platform will save its team between 1,000 and 1,500 hours this year, while IT Design Consulting says it cut quoting from hours or days to seconds. Read the announcement on Ingram Micro. [D&H Distributing]: The distributor is now authorized to carry Dell Technologies’ full enterprise storage portfolio in the United States and Canada, adding a new sourcing option after Dell ended its relationship with Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions. D&H says its Advanced Solutions+ business unit now accounts for more than 25 percent of its overall business. Read more on CRN. [Acronis]: The company unveiled an autonomous IT platform update with an AI-driven console, service desk, and migration tools designed to help MSPs automate operations and expand services. Read more on msp-channel.com. [NCC Group and SailPoint]: The two companies have partnered to strengthen identity security services for both human and non-human identities. Read the announcement on NCC Group. [Lexful]: The company announced general availability of its AI-native IT documentation platform for MSPs, with plans to join the Pax8 and Sherweb marketplaces before the end of 2026. Read more on Yahoo Finance. [Circana]: Research presented at XChange August says AI’s workforce shock is unlikely to ease in the near term, with MSP executives noting persistent talent gaps despite automation advances. Read more on CRN. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Tuesday, August 11, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Schneider Electric yesterday unveiled its next-generation APC Smart-UPS at XChange August 2026, introducing what the company says is the first multi-chemistry battery technology for distributed and edge environments. The new platform accepts both traditional VRLA lead-acid batteries and lithium-ion batteries, allowing customers to start with lower-cost lead-acid technology and upgrade to longer-lasting lithium-ion later without replacing the chassis. Adam Compton, offer management leader at Schneider Electric, told CRN that the chassis is engineered to recognize different battery chemistries through firmware and battery management systems, which then alert EcoStruxure IT monitoring software about the specific battery type and replacement timeline. The company says future battery chemistries will also be supported as they become viable. For channel partners, the flexibility creates new service opportunities around battery lifecycle management, assessment, and the Rip-Replace-Recycle refresh program. Gordon Lord, vice president of channels, said Schneider Electric is doubling down on its Gateway program to give partners visibility into distributed power infrastructure across customer sites. The online versions of the new Smart-UPS are slated to be available starting September 1, with line-interactive versions following next year. Partners will not require new certifications. Canadian partners working with regulated and industrial customers should note the air-gapped deployment potential and the EcoStruxure monitoring layer as a recurring services hook. Ingram Micro says hundreds of channel partners are now using its Xvantage Integration Hub and secure Model Context Protocol Server to connect AI assistants directly to their business systems. The distributor announced the expanded adoption last Wednesday, positioning the platform as a way to reduce integration friction and automate workflows across quoting, ordering, and customer management. Executive Vice President Sanjib Sahoo described the MCP Server as a way to bring AI directly into the flow of business, giving partners a secure, real-time connection to Ingram Micro’s data mesh without building custom integrations. Trust X Alliance member Matrix Integration estimates the platform will save its team between 1,000 and 1,500 hours this year. IT Design Consulting CEO Ryan Evans said his team cut quoting processes from hours or days to seconds using the XI Hub integration. Ingram Micro is offering on-demand training sessions to help partners build AI-powered solutions through the platform. The company is positioning the offering as part of its broader strategy to make Xvantage an intelligent operating layer for the global channel. Canadian partners should watch how quickly small MSPs adopt the plug-and-play connectivity, since Ingram Micro reports that smaller providers are the fastest adopters so far. D&H Distributing is now authorized to carry Dell Technologies’ full enterprise storage portfolio in the United States and Canada, adding a new sourcing option for partners after Dell ended its distribution relationship with Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions last month. The Harrisburg, Pa.-based distributor is bringing Dell’s advanced infrastructure, including Dell Apex as-a-service and subscription technologies, to its Advanced Solutions+ business unit. Chief Commercial and Consumer Officer Marty Bauerlein told CRN that Dell’s decision followed an RFP process and was influenced by D&H’s execution capabilities and growth mindset. Partners including Precision Computer Services and CompuCom have praised D&H’s responsiveness and collaborative approach. D&H says its Advanced Solutions+ unit now accounts for more than 25 percent of its overall business. For Canadian partners, the move adds another distributor option for Dell storage and server infrastructure at a time when Dell is also rolling out program changes focused on AI outcomes and faster rewards. The timing means partners can evaluate sourcing alongside the new rebate and registration structures Dell is expected to introduce this month. In Brief – Acronis unveils autonomous IT platform update with AI-driven console, service desk, and migration tools for MSPs. NCC Group partners with SailPoint to strengthen identity security services for human and non-human identities. Lexful announces general availability of its AI-native IT documentation platform for MSPs, with plans to join the Pax8 and Sherweb marketplaces before the end of 2026. Circana research presented at XChange August says AI’s workforce shock is unlikely to ease in the near term. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, my conversation with Exabeam about rebuilding the MSSP commercial model to fix the economics of managed SIEM. And if you haven‘t heard it yet, check out my conversation with Chris Fabes from TD SYNNEX Canada about his three-sided view of the channel. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Craig Patterson, global channel chief at Exabeam For years, SIEM has been one of those technologies that looked good in theory but was genuinely hard to build a profitable managed service around. Deal-by-deal discount negotiations, licensing structures built for enterprise resale rather than recurring managed services revenue, and no predictable floor on margin. For many MSPs, the math just never worked. Exabeam – the combined company formed from the merger of the original Exabeam and LogRhythm – is making a direct play to change that. Global channel chief Craig Patterson and senior director of service provider alliances Peter Stratis join In The Channel to walk through the new MSSP commercial framework inside the recently launched APEX Partner Program. Two new licensing pathways: a single-pool capacity model for high-volume, multi-tenant environments serving SMB and mid-market clients, and a federated subscription model that isolates customer environments for compliance and data sovereignty requirements. For Canadian MSSPs navigating PIPEDA, OSFI E-21, or Protected B, that second model is the one to pay close attention to. Peter Stratis, senior directof of server provider alliances at Exabeam The conversation also covers Sherpa, Exabeam’s new AI-powered partner enablement platform – a move away from the traditional LMS toward an always-on coaching tool that can join partner sales calls in real time – and Agent Behavior Analytics, Exabeam’s new capability for detecting malfunctioning, misaligned, and subverted AI agents inside customer environments, included at no additional cost. The standout line from Peter Stratis – who called this his first-ever podcast appearance – is the one worth writing down: “We treated our service providers like resellers, unfortunately.” The new framework is a direct acknowledgment of that history, and an attempt to rebuild the commercial relationship from the ground up. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. If you’ve been in the channel for any length of time, you know that SIEM has always been one of those technologies that seems great in theory but has been genuinely hard to build a profitable managed service around. Licensing models that weren’t built for multi-tenancy, unpredictable costs, discount structures that made margin planning more of a guessing game than a business model. A lot of MSPs have looked at the security operations space and quietly backed away for exactly those reasons. Exabeam, the combined company that emerged out of the merger of Exabeam and LogRhythm, is making a direct play to change that. They have overhauled their channel program into what they’re calling the APEX Partner Program and at the centre of it is a new commercial framework built specifically for managed security service providers. Two distinct pathways: one for high-volume multi-tenant environments and one built with compliance and data sovereignty in mind. For Canadian MSPs navigating PIPEDA, OSFI E-21 and Protected B requirements, that second lane is worth paying close attention to. I’ve got two Exabeam executives here to walk us through it. Craig Patterson is Exabeam’s global channel chief and Peter Stratis is the senior director of service provider alliances, the person who’s been working directly with MSSPs to build this out from the ground up. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Craig Patterson and Peter Stratis. Gentlemen, thank you for taking the time. Craig Patterson: Thank you, Robert. Super excited to be on here with you today, my friend. Peter Stratis: Thank you. Robert Dutt: Craig, can you just kick us off with a quick version of where Exabeam sits right now? You know, you guys went through a significant merger with LogRhythm not that long ago. Now you’re pushing an updated partner program. For solution providers who maybe haven’t been following closely, what does the combined company look like from a channel perspective? Craig Patterson: The short answer, my friend, is that we’re sitting in an amazing place. We’re absolutely in a good place positioning to really drive value to our partner community. And so to give you a little more context around that, like you asked, we’ve spent the last 12 months really kind of rethinking, reimagining the whole partner ecosystem in a way to create value for all of our partners globally. And so there was a number of things we went through over the last 12 months. We spent a lot of time really going to this assessment loop, understanding everybody’s perspective. So we did that by having very strategic conversations with our top-tier partners. We did some survey work. We looked at the broad landscape in terms of the trends that the partners are really looking for in these modern channel programs. So all of that really became this assessment loop. The output of that is that really became the foundation for what we built here with APEX. And so with APEX, the Exabeam APEX Partner Program, what you have here is you have a program that’s really centered on value that’s really focused on solving a problem that exists in our market today around enablement. And so when you think about enablement today, I’ve written a lot of articles on this. Most enablement programs really don’t drive to the level of outcome that companies are looking to have. Outcomes like conversion rates, outcomes like time to first deal, outcome rates like retention rates, all these things. And so what we’ve done is we’ve really focused on enablement as the key catalyst to really drive value to our partners. And so with that, we’ve launched new enablement programs really with a focus on increasing their competency level so we can align to those outcomes we’re looking to have with our company’s operating plan. And so there’s a lot of thought that’s got into this. The short answer is we have a program that’s built on value. It aligns to where the market is going and what partners are really asking for. Robert Dutt: Peter, your title as senior director of service provider alliances is a pretty specific role. Can you tell us a little bit about what that looks like sort of on a day-to-day basis and the big problems that you’re focused on? Peter Stratis: Sure thing. Thanks, Robert. Well, I’ve been with Exabeam for about eight years now and service providers have always been a key component of not only our channel strategy, but our go-to-market and just from our net new revenue perspective. After our merger with LogRhythm, that actually continues and if anything, it’s only been more emphasized because both from an on-prem and from a cloud perspective, we see the MSSPs being a strong driver of that strategy of our go-to-market. So over the last eight years, we’ve seen that trend of not only on net new revenue, net new logos being a major part of our business, but then how do, to Craig’s point, how do we support them? To be quite honest, in the past, it was quite difficult. We really didn’t have any kind of structured pricing for these partners. It was, to say the least, it was more of a resale program that had some discounts tied to it. So through Craig’s efforts, through our whole surveys and our intent to really go after this market and treat them the way they should be treated, he mentioned that we did these surveys. We asked internally, what do you look for in a service provider partner? We asked externally what these partners were looking for from us. And that’s when in building the APEX Partner Program here at Exabeam, we also took into account what service providers would look for in a new partner program. So that’s everything from pricing to support. Craig mentioned enablement. Enablement is a huge part of that, where they felt in the past they were just lumped up as just a regular partner. Now we have supported APIs, documented APIs that most, if not all, of our partners are using as part of their foundation for their services. So we’ve really come a long way and continue actually to build upon that, as you’ll see throughout 2026 and beyond. Robert Dutt: Okay, let’s get into the framework itself. You guys positioned it at launch as solving commercial and operational friction for MSSPs. Curious, what did you hear that friction looked like in practice? What were MSSPs telling you was broken or was a big challenge? Craig Patterson: Yeah, so I’ll take a stab at this and I’ll let Peter give more context. So a lot of this came out during that assessment phase. Robert, we’re talking to the MSSPs globally. I’m like, what’s working? What’s not working? What would they like to see incorporated into the MSSP program 2.0? So a lot of the feedback we heard was really around the flexibility. Being able to have a license that is catering to all the customer demand they have beneath. So it’s really giving them the flexibility to buy that one license and carve it up as they see fit. And giving them more flexibility on the commercial terms. That was a lot of the commentary we heard. The other thing we heard was really they wanted more value as it leads to the enablement side. So obviously getting them enabled on the pre-sales side, but more importantly on the post-sales side. So they could actually drive those implementations, drive the management and really help those customers create a lot of value. And so I think those were kind of the big levers that I heard from those assessments. And then in practice, Peter can give you some more context in terms of how we’re putting all this together. Peter Stratis: Yeah, thanks Craig. A lot of what we heard from the service provider community in the past was friction. So when they’re trying to price out their services and our product and etc., they were seeing friction at onboarding. They were seeing friction in trying to predict their margin on deals. As mentioned, not airing any dirty laundry here. It was more like a resale program. So we gave discounts and there were very opportunistic discounts on a deal-by-deal basis. So they didn’t build predictable service models around it in the past. And then you always hear the buzzword, multi-tenancy. We kept on getting asked about our multi-tenant roadmaps, etc. We’re looking at this framework as a way of solving for that. We continue to make feature enhancements into the platform that will strive for that multi-tenancy. But the way we’re solving for it is by these two pathways. One is that single license, pooled capacity, data segregation model. And the other is that federated workflow that we announced where it’s more for, whether you’re within data sovereignty, if in different regions or just different use cases from a compliance perspective, whether it’s healthcare or finance, and you have to keep these environments isolated. We have a plan and we worked with our MSSPs specifically to have these kind of pathways. So we heard from our MSSPs and we actually developed these two pathways with them in mind. So they were in the design phase and in the rollout phase for both federated and the single pool capacity. Robert Dutt: The federated model is such an interesting one, I think, for the Canadian market, specifically data sovereignty, huge topic. And there are specific compliance requirements, PIPEDA, OSFI E-21, Protected B status. It means that a lot of Canadian MSSPs can’t just kind of throw everything into one pool. Was that the sort of thing that was explicitly on the radar when you built this out or a happy coincidence of the architecture and the feedback that you heard along the way? Peter Stratis: It’s actually a little of both, right? So it just so happened to be the maturity of our platform. Even from our Exabeam New Scale platform, we went from an on-prem hardware appliance way back in 2012, to our version 1.0 was a SaaS product, to our native cloud. It was always a single-tenant solution. So it worked well for certain service providers that had the capacity. They had their APIs and their own platforms that could manage this solution. As you heard more and more about multi-tenancy and the need for data sovereignty and all that, we still had a big part of our MSSPs were asking for this single license pooled capacity. So we structured it in a way where for midsize organizations or even some small, medium business, you still have that single pool capacity using data segregation. You lose some of the customization, but you could actually solve for a lot of those customers in that model. And then you have another plan with the federated. So the more mature MSSPs are running both models in some capacity. They could still run that single license for their SMB play. And then for either large enterprise or very compliance-driven customers that want those isolated environments, they have that flexibility. And that’s what we built a framework around. Obviously, that’s one point of feedback that sort of directly informed the framework. Robert Dutt: You guys have said that this whole thing was built, as you said, with direct collaboration with your MSSP partners rather than kind of coming down on high. I’m curious along with what you’ve touched on already, what actually changed as a result of going through that process? What did you go in thinking you’d build and how did it come out differently because of what partners told you along the way to building it? Craig Patterson: Yeah. So I think there’s a lot of things that have been addressed. Obviously, the packaging and the commercial aspects as Peter was describing, but think about some of the fundamental problems in terms of partners want this path to profitability, right? Really understanding how they can create margin. That was one thing. Another path is like, how do I become enabled with Exabeam? And how do I stay informed in terms of where you’re going? Another problem we wanted to solve. So I think it’s a lot around the financial aspects of doing business with us. A lot of it’s around becoming enabled, becoming more knowledgeable on all the new features and releases that we’re dropping. And so those were some of the big fundamentals that we wanted to solve in the APEX framework. And then beneath that, obviously, is the whole MSSP play. And that’s what Peter’s been talking about. So you can probably give a little more context on that. Peter Stratis: Yeah. As mentioned, there is no one-size-fits-all. So the feedback we were getting was obviously their security platform was important to them. Some of them had an in-house platform they built on their own. And there’s ways of differentiating. So basic SIEMs are just going after alert monitoring. So how can I differentiate my service if I’m a service provider? Well, there’s ways of going to market, but also there were things we needed to do in the back office from a platform perspective to make those possible. So making our behavioral analytics available in these models so they can actually differentiate their services. As I said, we have a history of actually adding features quarter-over-quarter, month-over-month. So that’s not stopping. We didn’t announce necessarily multi-tenancy to the world. We announced a commercial framework for that. So you’ll continue to see on a month-to-month, quarter-over-quarter basis, features added to support not only the commercial framework, but the underlying platform to make it easier for service providers to add that operational efficiency, to add those differentiators from a product portfolio as well. Robert Dutt: Let’s talk about the economics underneath there. You use the term predictable margins as a phrase that shows up in the messaging. SIEM has historically been a tough service to make money on. Licensing models that didn’t fit the managed services motion, unpredictable costs on data ingestion, those sorts of things. What specifically changes for an MSSP’s P&L under the framework? Craig Patterson: Yeah. So I think there’s really two components here. The first is the whole financial package associated to the MSSP partners. And the second is the discounting framework. And so let’s maybe start with the discounting framework. One of the observations that we made during this whole assessment phase was the vast majority, Robert, of all of our deals were flowing through this non-standard process, which means the discounts that were aligned to the traditional framework were not putting the MSSP partners in a position to actually transact. And so what we did is we went through and we re-looked at the discounting framework and sort of realigned it based upon our actual data points. We looked at the last 12, 24 months, the discounts that were being derived to actually transact. And we sort of rebuilt the entire discounting framework for our company in a way that really empowers the MSSP partners now to have enough discount to actually transact without going to this non-standard queue. So what does it mean? Well, we really kind of flipped the script. Instead of 80% being non-standard, we believe 80% will flow through the standard process now because we’ve built the discounts in a way to align with what the market is looking for. That’s kind of the key component number one. And then as it relates to the discounting side, we reimagined how those discounts are calculated. And so now you kind of have your standard program discount. So that’s based upon your tier. So top-tier MSSP partners get the highest level discount. The second is deal registration. Obviously, they put the deal reg in that ties to a discount. Those are both standard common things. But what’s new, which is what you care about. What is new? Well, we’ve aligned the third discount based to their competency level. And so we measure that based upon certifications. And so if you think back to those choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid, we’re really giving the partners their own choose-your-own-adventure. And if they want to drive to the highest level discount, well, simply, MSSP partners got to go take all of our certifications, pre-sales and post-sales, so they have the highest level of competency to drive our services in the market. And our thesis around that is partners that have higher certifications, they’re going to be more active, they’re going to be more interested, they’re going to drive more pipeline. And if we do this the right way, Robert, they’re actually going to convert at a higher percentage, we’re going to see shortened sales cycles, all of which align to the operating plan of our company. So it’s kind of those two fundamental things that were addressed through that process. And then I’m sure Peter can fill in the detail for you. Peter Stratis: Yeah, if I can actually elaborate on that. Thanks for that, Craig. And just some historical context, Robert, as mentioned in the past, we treated our service providers like resellers, unfortunately, so it was very deal-specific in terms of what they were getting on a deal-by-deal basis from a discount. So the economics of it was they really couldn’t rationalize their margin predictability on an overall services basis. And you know, different regions go to market different ways. In Europe, Asia, Latin America, predominantly, it’s all SIEM as a service and MSSP owns the license. In the Americas, both US and Canada, we saw a lot of proliferation in the past of customer-owned licenses. So the MSSP would resell the license, and consequently, just provide managed services wrap on top of that. Not only do we see more of that MSSP-owned model now where it’s SIEM as a service in the US and Canada. So it’s proliferated itself throughout all the regions. Now with these frameworks, we actually are able to build these economics, the margin predictability, as Craig mentioned, because now they know as a standard, what they’re going to be selling for. So especially as we do this federated model, and even the single license, you know what your price is across the board, you know what license you’re buying, you know what price you’re buying it for, you know, the more customers you add to these models, the more your profitability will increase as well. So it continues to grow from a pure profit play. Partners want to know what their margin would be as their customer licenses grow. And this is exactly what the framework did. Robert Dutt: This is sort of a broader question around MSP/MSSP distinctions as opposed to directly about the framework. But there’s a distinction worth drawing between an MSP trying to bolt a security practice onto the existing managed services business and the established MSSP who’s been at this for a year or who has built it up. Are those two different conversations for you? And if so, what are the different entry points and care-abouts? Peter Stratis: So it’s interesting, not only because of this announcement, even prior to it, the announcement of the APEX Partner Program here at Exabeam caused a lot of interest from partners and different kinds of partners. The traditional MSP, when inquiring, it was kind of hard when we were vetting them that they had no security practice of their own. So oftentimes they would actually outsource that security to an MSSP, to a classic MSSP, or maybe just resell services from those other organizations. We see that, we see a lot of interest from MSPs with that. And we see VARs or resellers come to us that want to build managed service practices as well. So we look at both of these in two different ways. One, how can we take care of these partner inquiries now, and then how can we grow with these organizations? So both MSPs and resellers that are interested in managed services now, our first inkling is to try to introduce them to our current managed service base. These people have the experience, they have the certifications, they have the technical knowledge. We’ve seen that move from a lot of MSP partners actually having channels of their own. So they actually sell their MDR or MSSP services through a channel of resellers or MSPs. But then if that’s our first step with these type of partnerships, then it’s like, how can we grow within your organization? How can we help you get the technical skills required? Because for a true MSP to have success, not only in SIEM, but just security as a service, you can’t just train one or two people, you need the 24-by-7 support, you need the tier one and tier two level of support services as well. So you have to grow your organization or outsource it to people that are already prepared to handle that. So that MSP play, we actually see it more and more going towards our current managed security service providers and getting that as a resource. Craig Patterson: Just to add a little more context to that too. So this actually becomes a very interesting point for the distributors worldwide as well. Because a lot of what they provide in terms of value is helping those MSPs in terms of deployment and management of the services. And so we’ve gone through the vetting process globally, looking at all of our distributors and we’ve handpicked our strategic distributors around the world. So if we have MSPs that want to come into the program, but they’re not ready on that post-sale side, well, guess what? That can become the role of the distributor. And secondarily, this is where the enablement really comes into play as well. And so that’s why we’ve built very specific paths on enablement, pre-sales and post-sales, where partners can choose their own adventure. “Hey, if I want to get going on the pre-sale side, well, guess what? I can simply resell.” Or, “Hey, I want to really start focusing on the post-sales services implementation.” I can start to take the enablement around those courses to become more of an expert to really give me those new capabilities. And so there’s a whole conversation around what we’re doing on enablement with our brand new Sherpa that’s really given a lot of these partners those capabilities. Robert Dutt: On the note of Sherpa, an AI-powered tool for partners, it’s essentially a virtual channel account manager in terms of enablement, onboarding, that sort of thing, especially for an MSSP who’s new to SIEM. How does it change the friction of getting started with Exabeam as their platform? Craig Patterson: You’re going to love this. You’re going to love this. So we’ve sort of reimagined all of the enablement. Again, when you look at traditional enablement, it’s like most enablement is built in these LMS platforms. Like, “Hey, partner, go log on to this LMS platform, get your certification, and then we expect you to actually know what the hell you’re doing.” Reality is that’s not what happens. They log on to the LMS platforms. They fast-forward as quickly as they can to the end. They turn the volume down. And then when the quiz comes, they use AI to answer the questions. And so they just find a way to get the certification. The reality is none of that helps them be better in life or actually raise their competency. And so that’s a problem we took on head-on with Sherpa. And so Sherpa was built in a way to really change the way partners learn with the whole goal of raising their competency level so they can be better on the market. And there was really like three use cases we were trying to solve with the emergence of Sherpa. The first is like you think about this global ecosystem that Peter and I have. We have 3000 partners. The partner ecosystem looks different. We have VARs. We have MSPs. We have MSSPs. We have distributors. We have the trusted advisor market as well. All of them have different needs in terms of where they are from a learning perspective. And so the first use case, Robert, is simply like a tool to be able to ask questions. What are the use cases? How do I position this? Why is SIEM or UEBA better than the competition? Just an always-on tool for partners to ask questions. And so that was kind of use case one. And then the cool thing around that is you think about the ecosystem being very global in nature. The other problem with LMS platforms is I’ve got partners in Japan. Well, that means the LMS platform they log on to needs to be able to talk to them in Japanese. And so the beauty with Sherpa, it does all the translation for us. And we’ve got 15 plus languages that are now live in Sherpa. Partners in Japan are talking to it. We got partners in India and all over the world really asking questions in terms of how we position our services. And that integration can be done by just logging on to our portal. You’ll see a bot pop up. They can just simply ask a question. It integrates in Teams, integrates in Slack. So that was use case number one. Use case number two was we reimagined the whole enablement certification platform. And so it’s a very dynamic learning experience. And so the way it happens is you log on, there’s a topic that you like, you click on that, you start learning, it asks you questions, it asks you to position services, and then you record your answer to how you’re actually positioning those services or the features. And it gives you feedback like, “Robert, you did really good on this aspect, but next time you should use this and this.” Or, “Robert, if you’re talking to a customer that’s in this vertical, you should talk about this use case because that’ll help resonate.” And so the whole certification process has been rebuilt and that’s the second use case. The third use case, this is a game changer. And this really goes to your question. And it’s an always-on coach. And so partners are now able to invite Sherpa to calls. And so as they’re having those conversations with customers, and the customer may say something or give them an objection, well, in the background, Sherpa will give them the answer to that objection and say, “Customer said this, talk to them about this.” Or, “Have you shared this new feature that was just released in the quarterly launch?” So it’s like this always-on coach, always-on assistant to really give them what they need. And then we’re putting it on this innovation roadmap. And so every single quarter, we’re launching new innovation in Sherpa. As an example, we’re now launching our LinkedIn integration. So if you’re an MSSP partner, you log on to Sherpa, you’re connected to LinkedIn, it’s going to ask you, if Sherpa can look through your network to find customers that may be a good fit for our services. And then it’ll say, “Okay, great. We found these contacts. Should we go ahead and write the campaign? Should we write a campaign that you can use to send to those customers in your ecosystem on LinkedIn?” And so quite honestly, I think we’re bleeding edge in terms of really being able to use AI and adopt AI in a way to drive good outcomes, well beyond where most companies are with their simple ChatGPT things like that. We’re actually driving outcomes. Robert Dutt: The rise of AI baked into the partner program and partner tools is a fascinating space for me to watch. And that certainly, you make a compelling case for the role of Sherpa there. That sounds really interesting. A quick one on the product side, not directly related here, but just out of curiosity, Exabeam just dropped Agent Behavior Analytics in your April release, sort of extending behavioral detection to AI agents, ChatGPT usage, Copilot activity, those kinds of things. For an MSSP looking to take this to market as a service, is it a new revenue line? Is it an upsell? Or is this sort of becoming table stakes that clients expect to see bundled into what you’re doing for them? Craig Patterson: I’m glad you asked. It was just recently at RSA, the conference, obviously AI is the buzzword, but what do you do with that? When we presented the agentic behavior analytics to a lot of our partners or potential new customers, the question that was often asked was, “Well, how much is this extra?” And that’s not how we license our product. So the behavior analytics has been part of our solution since our inception from our analytics model. So specific to AI, this is going to be, you could differentiate your service from other service providers by using this behavior analytics, but by no means is it an extra cost on the MSSP’s behalf. So they’re going into an organization that has a thousand users, human entities, and overnight they now have 10,000 non-human entities. We look at and model all of them using our analytics. So now you actually have at least a basis of what’s normal from a behavior standpoint for both non-human and human entities. So we really change the game, but haven’t changed the pricing along with it. So it comes naturally within our platform. So no change for me as a partner, but if I can find a way to upsell based on it, all the better. If not, I add additional features. Hopefully my customer is more happy. Peter Stratis: I was just going to say, if you look at the macro trends we’re seeing, this is the number one conversation that’s being had right now, especially like you look at the financial sector. Every single company is facing this problem. And so this really, not only does it give them a new use case to go after, I think it just makes the overall security services of Exabeam more relevant based upon what’s happening in the overall market, which all that makes the revenue stickier, makes those conversations more impactful that those MSSP partners are having. Craig Patterson: Yeah. Well, what I’m going to mention is operational efficiency and service differentiation is what’s key to our MSSPs and their success. So the license is foundational. And now that we’ve actually solved for being predictable from a margin perspective, how can they differentiate themselves, making them operationally efficient using automation, using our threat detection, and then also the service differentiation. And the other thing too, just thinking through this a little bit, I mean, there’s different AI agents that exist out there that are doing different things. You think about the malfunctioning agent, the one that’s just off base and it’s doing things that are just incorrect based upon the fundamentals or foundation of the AI agent. That’s one thing that gets addressed by looking at the abnormal behavior. The second is the misaligned agent, the ones that are pursuing goals in a way that could negatively impact the company. And that gets a little bit more scary. But really what gets scary is those subverted agents, the ones that have been hijacked that are actually causing harm. And so you think about all those different use cases that are happening, and that’s the beauty of what we just released is our new ABA, sort of creating this new category in the market. That’s really what our ABA is looking for, is all those different things that are happening, whether it’s misused, misaligned, or subverted. All that can be detected through this new agent behavior. Robert Dutt: Okay, last question for me. If I’m an MSP who’s been sitting on the sidelines, I’ve been thinking about them or are upgrading my security operations practice. What’s one thing that you wish I understood about the opportunity and the economics, but I probably don’t at this point? Peter Stratis: It’s all about how they actually start off. They’re interested in selling managed security, but they don’t know that they have to standardize their delivery model. They can’t make it where every customer is custom, because that’s when that price predictability goes away. So everything from onboarding to customizing your offering has to go away. You might be able to do it for a certain amount of customers, but you have to build a model that’s repeatable. Automation is going to be very important to that. And then finally, you could add optional add-ons, but you have to resist the temptation to over-customize everything. The great thing about what Craig has done with the APEX Partner Program and the way we built it out here at Exabeam is it supports all of this through all the enablement efforts. So Craig mentioned all the enablement built into the program, but then we have certification tracks. So we’ll help you along in that process. And we have everything from APIs and the use case and the scripts to help you automate that track for you to make it easier, but just don’t jump in and try to do a custom solution for each customer. Robert Dutt: Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your time. Once again, I appreciate your walking us through the commercial framework. Craig Patterson: Thank you, Robert. Appreciate it. Peter Stratis: Thank you, Robert. Robert Dutt: There you have it. Craig Patterson and Peter Stratis from Exabeam. I’d like to thank Craig and Peter for their time today. And a special note, this was Peter’s first podcast appearance. You never would have known it. A few things I’ll leave you with. First, if Peter’s candid admission landed for you — that Exabeam used to treat service providers like resellers with opportunistic deal-by-deal discounts that made it impossible to build a predictable margin — sit with that for a moment. Not unique to Exabeam. That was the industry. And it goes a long way to explaining why so many MSPs have struggled to make managed SIEM work as a business. The new framework is a direct attempt to fix that math. Two pathways: a single-pool capacity model that works well for SMB and mid-market clients, and a federated model that isolates environments for compliance-heavy customers. The discounting structure has been rebuilt from the data up with the goal of moving 80% of deals through a standard process. Up from what Craig described as the opposite of that. The Sherpa AI tool is worth watching closely, not just as a training platform replacement, but as an always-on coach that can actually sit in on partner sales calls and surface real-time objection handling. The LinkedIn integration is coming next, and it starts looking less like an LMS and more like a business development tool. And the closing advice I’ll leave you with is Peter’s. If you’re an MSP thinking about entering the security space, standardize your delivery model before you take on your first customer. Resist the urge to customize every environment. That’s exactly where price predictability and profitability goes away. Thanks as always for listening. In The Channel is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all the major podcast directories. If you’re finding value in the show, leave a rating or review. It goes a long way to helping other folks in the channel find us. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

Revenue Rocket's Mike Harvath, Ryan Barnett, and Matt Lockhart break down the real reasons founders delay an exit, and why the safest-feeling choice is often the most expensive. This episode of Shoot the Moon covers the “one more year” trap, founder dependency, succession planning, derisking customer concentration and contracts, and why knowing your valuation is the first move in IT services M&A. If you run an MSP, MSSP, cloud, dev, or VAR business, this is the timing conversation to have before the market decides for you. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open and welcome 1:56 Why founders delay a sale (the “one more year” trap) 5:46 Run it forever, but stay ready to sell 6:26 Owner dependency and building a machine 12:27 What succession planning really looks like 16:07 Enjoy what you have built vs. the window to sell 21:30 De-risking: customer concentration and contracts 22:23 Know your number: the case for annual valuations 24:40 One move to make this week 28:45 Closing thoughts: have a plan KEY TAKEAWAYS ● Waiting one more year can lower value, not just raise it. You carry 100% of the downside. ● Buyers pay for a business that runs without you. Build the bench and reduce founder dependency. ● Real succession planning is documented and executable, not a someday idea. ● De-risk before you go to market: diversify clients, fix contract assignability, deepen the team. ● Know your number. An annual valuation is good corporate hygiene and a stage gate for timing. LINKS ● Blog post: [BLOG LINK] ● Valuation calculator: revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator ● Schedule a confidential conversation: [SCHEDULING LINK] ● Website: revenuerocket.com ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. HASHTAGS #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITServices #MSP #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #ExitStrategy #SuccessionPlanning #BusinessValuation Thinking about your own timing? Schedule a confidential conversation with Revenue Rocket at revenuerocket.com/contact-us. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: TD SYNNEX appoints Chris Fabes as President of Canada: TD SYNNEX announced today that Chris Fabes has been appointed President of Canada, with responsibility for driving the company’s distribution strategy and accelerating customer growth across the Canadian market. Fabes brings more than two decades of IT channel leadership, most recently from SHI where he led a multi-year strategic growth initiative across Canada, and previously from Lenovo where he served as Canadian channel chief and helped triple channel revenue to more than $1.2 billion. He succeeds Mitchell Martin, who retired earlier this year after more than 36 years with the company. Huntress warns of massive Azure CLI password spray attacks: A new Huntress report published Monday warns that threat actors have been running massive password spray attacks against Microsoft Azure Command Line Interface accounts, making more than 81 million attempts between June 12 and June 26, 2026. According to Huntress, attackers are exploiting a loophole in Azure CLI that does not support multifactor authentication, allowing them to target service accounts and non-human identities that are often poorly monitored. Huntress has reported the issue to Microsoft. MSSPs face employee retention problem driven by invisible work, says Guardz: MSSPs are facing a significant employee retention challenge driven by what the report calls “invisible work” – security analysts spending hours on manual data correlation and reporting that customers never see. Guardz, in announcing a new agentic reporting capability, said the problem is burning out analysts who feel their work lacks visible impact. The new tool uses an AI agent to automatically turn blocked threats and client risk data into formatted reports that MSPs can present to SMB customers. ManageEngine launches developer marketplace: ManageEngine has launched a developer marketplace for integrations, extensions, and AI agents across its IT management platforms. The marketplace is designed to allow partner-developers, independent software vendors, and customers to build and distribute add-ons. GAM Tech ranks No. 97 on 2026 MSP 501, No. 1 in Western Canada: GAM Tech has climbed to No. 97 globally on the 2026 MSP 501 and ranks No. 1 in Western Canada, according to the company. The MSP 501 list recognizes managed service providers based on metrics including recurring revenue, profit margin, and operational efficiency. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Tuesday, July 21, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. TD SYNNEX has appointed Chris Fabes as President of Canada, filling the role left by Mitchell Martin who retired earlier this year after more than thirty-six years with the company. In a statement, TD SYNNEX said Fabes brings more than two decades of IT channel leadership across vendor, distributor, and customer perspectives. He most recently led a multi-year strategic growth initiative at SHI across Canada, and before that served as Canadian channel chief at Lenovo, where he helped triple channel revenue to more than one point two billion dollars in three years. TD SYNNEX North America president Reyna Thompson said Fabes’ end-to-end understanding of the Canadian technology market makes him well positioned to lead the Canada business into its next chapter. The appointment comes at a time when TD SYNNEX has been expanding its vendor relationships in Canada, including recent global distribution deals with Fortinet and HPE. Canadian partners will be watching how Fabes shapes the distributor’s local strategy, particularly around AI, cybersecurity, and cloud marketplace growth. A new Huntress report published Monday warns that threat actors have been running massive password spray attacks against Microsoft Azure Command Line Interface accounts, making more than eighty-one million attempts between June 12 and June 26, 2026. According to Huntress, attackers are exploiting a loophole in Azure CLI that does not support multifactor authentication, allowing them to target service accounts and non-human identities that are often poorly monitored. The company said most affected accounts were from large enterprises with complex cloud footprints, and that MSPs managing customer Azure environments are particularly exposed because these CLI accounts often fall outside normal identity monitoring workflows. Huntress has reported the issue to Microsoft. The research underscores a growing tension in identity security: as organizations lock down human-facing accounts with MFA, attackers are shifting to non-human identities and service accounts that lack the same protections. Canadian MSPs with hybrid Azure and Microsoft 365 clients should be reviewing whether their RMM and identity tools are catching CLI-level authentication anomalies. MSSPs are facing a significant employee retention challenge, but salary is not the primary driver. According to a ChannelE2E feature published today, the main issue is what the report calls “invisible work” – security analysts spending hours on manual data correlation, reporting, and threat context that customers never see. Guardz, in announcing a new agentic reporting capability, said the problem is burning out analysts who feel their work lacks visible impact. The new tool uses an AI agent to automatically turn blocked threats, security activity, and client risk data into formatted reports that MSPs can present to SMB customers. Guardz is positioning the feature as a way to reduce the manual reporting burden while simultaneously demonstrating security value to clients. For Canadian MSPs, the issue is worth noting because talent retention in security operations is already tight, and any tool that reduces invisible overhead while improving client communication is likely to get attention from understaffed SOC teams. In Brief – ManageEngine launches a developer marketplace for integrations, extensions, and AI agents. GAM Tech ranks number ninety-seven globally on the two thousand twenty-six MSP five hundred one and number one in Western Canada. Later today on In The Channel, my conversation with Mark Sutor of Access Group and the Trust X Alliance on the Global Leadership Summit, the TXA AI agent, and the idea of distributor-as-platform is available now. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Send us Fan MailAdam Slutskin, Co-Founder and Co-Owner of CyberFox, detailed his company's evolution from an executive team of ConnectWise alumni to a security powerhouse serving roughly 4,000 MSPs. Following previous foundational integrations of Password Boss and AutoElevate, CyberFox closed the acquisition of Timus, a strategic move that introduces Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and secure-access capabilities to its product lineup. CyberFox's overarching product framework centers on building an interoperable, layered security “onion” composed of complementary, set-and-forget defenses designed to deliver immediate ROI and absolute price stability.Adam also analyzed the changing economics of the core global MSP population, currently estimated at 80,000 to 100,000 firms. As the market matures, MSPs are shifting from single-vendor suites to multi-vendor environments while navigating structural milestones. To maintain healthy profitability and satisfy insurance or compliance demands, providers must target an average revenue generation of approximately $300 per end-user by layering on MSSP-grade capabilities and formal compliance attestations. Looking ahead, this economic pressure is further compounded by AI, which represents both an escalating threat vector and an essential defensive weapon. While widespread uncertainty remains regarding how to best monetize AI services within the channel, CyberFox is positioning its unified stack to defend against machine-speed attackers while shielding MSPs from the engineering complexities of building in-house AI infrastructure.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Microsoft July 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 570 flaws, 3 zero-days: Microsoft released its July 2026 Patch Tuesday update addressing 570 vulnerabilities including 3 zero-days, according to BleepingComputer. The zero-day status means MSPs should prioritize these patches immediately for client environments. With 570 total fixes to stage, test, and deploy, Canadian partners managing regulated clients in healthcare, finance, and provincial government face a compressed vulnerability response window this week. Citrix Platform Flex opens a new services opportunity: Citrix is introducing Platform Flex, a persona-based pricing model that gives partners room to build consulting, workforce assessment, and migration services around how customers actually use the platform. According to ChannelE2E, the shift lets partners attach higher-margin services to each deployment by right-sizing workloads to user personas. The new model is particularly relevant in the Canadian mid-market, where virtual desktop and app delivery standardization has been strong but differentiation has been thin. AI compliance is becoming an operational blind spot for MSPs: AI compliance should not be treated as a policy exercise that happens once and then sits on a shelf. According to Terry Irons on ChannelE2E, the value for MSPs is operationalizing compliance around AI data handling, model access, and prompt logging. Canadian MSPs already navigating Law 25 and PIPEDA amendments will recognize the pattern: the regulation exists, but the recurring revenue opportunity lies in helping customers stay inside the lines as the technology changes. CMMC third-party audits paused but the opportunity isn’t: The Department of Defense has pressed pause on third-party audits for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, but the compliance requirements themselves remain in place for defense contractors. According to ChannelE2E, that gap creates an opening for MSPs and MSSPs to expand compliance services. Canadian partners serving cross-border contractors or aerospace supply chain clients should expect renewed advisory conversations. Progress confirms ShareFile zero-day behind Storage Zone shutdown: Progress confirmed a ShareFile zero-day flaw was behind the Storage Zone shutdown, BleepingComputer reports. Partners managing client file-sharing infrastructure should assess exposure and confirm whether affected Storage Zone configurations are in their environments. MSSP Alert Top 250 application opens for 2026: The MSSP Alert Top 250 MSSP list application process is open for 2026. ChannelE2E offers guidance on what judges look for and which mistakes could hurt a ranking. Changes in the Channel tracks leadership moves for July 6-10: ChannelE2E tracked leadership changes and shakeups across the channel for the week of July 6-10. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Wednesday, July 15, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Microsoft released its July 2026 Patch Tuesday update addressing 570 vulnerabilities across the portfolio, including 3 zero-days. According to BleepingComputer, the zero-day patches should be prioritized immediately for client environments. The scale of the release means MSPs need to stage patch deployment carefully. With 570 fixes to validate and deploy, technicians are managing a large surface area without disrupting business operations. Canadian partners managing regulated clients in healthcare, finance, and provincial government should expect compressed vulnerability response windows this week. Law 25, PIPEDA, and sector-specific frameworks all embed expectations around timely critical patch management, and a July drop of this magnitude tests those service level commitments. Microsoft is positioning the release as part of its regular cycle, but the zero-day status means this is not a routine Tuesday. Partners should be communicating with clients now about maintenance windows and priority sequencing for on-premises and hybrid infrastructure. Citrix is introducing Platform Flex, a persona-based pricing model that moves away from one-size-fits-all licensing and gives partners room to build consulting, workforce assessment, and migration services around how customers actually use the platform. According to ChannelE2E, the shift lets partners attach higher-margin services to each deployment by right-sizing workloads to user personas rather than simply renewing seat counts. The new model is particularly relevant in the Canadian mid-market, where virtual desktop and app delivery standardization has been strong but differentiation has been thin. Platform Flex creates a natural entry point for partners to conduct usage assessments, recommend persona transitions, and bundle ongoing optimization services. It also gives partners a way to defend margins against pure license resale by making the consulting layer part of the renewal conversation. Citrix is positioning Platform Flex as a way to reduce customer shelfware, but the partner angle is that it turns every renewal cycle into a services engagement. AI compliance should not be treated as a policy exercise that happens once and then sits on a shelf. According to Terry Irons on ChannelE2E, the value for MSPs is operationalizing compliance around AI data handling, model access, and prompt logging. As customers deploy more AI tools, the governance gap between experimentation and controlled scale is widening, and MSPs that treat AI governance as a document creation exercise risk missing the continuous monitoring requirement. Canadian MSPs already navigating Law 25 and PIPEDA amendments will recognize the pattern: the regulation exists, but the recurring revenue opportunity lies in helping customers stay inside the lines as the technology changes. The piece suggests that MSPs who build AI compliance into their existing security operations center workflows, rather than treating it as a separate consulting project, will capture more of that spend. The shift from one-time policy to ongoing operational control is the same transition the channel has already made with security, and AI is now following that path. In Brief – CMMC third-party audits are paused but the channel opportunity isn’t. Progress confirms a ShareFile zero-day flaw behind the Storage Zone shutdown. MSSP Alert Top 250 application opens for 2026 ranking. Changes in the Channel tracks leadership moves for the week of July 6-10. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we close out our HPE Discover 2026 coverage with vice president of North America channel and partner ecosystem Jeremiah Jenson, talking about the 30-day quote validity, Canadian partner influence, and the push for data center networking growth. And if you haven’t heard it yet, yesterday’s episode featured Curtis Dery from Xerox IT Solutions on HPE financing, GreenLake wins, and why AI is a digital goldmine for the channel. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Michael Chernew, PhD, professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, joins Josh Israel, MD, and Sean Cavanaugh to discuss the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and its role in the Medicare program, including Medicare Advantage (MA) and the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Dr. Chernew, who served as MedPAC chair from 2020-2026, shares how MedPAC provides evidence-based recommendations to Congress on payment policies, access and quality of care in Medicare. They examine Medicare solvency, cost-effectiveness concerns in both MA and MSSP, as well as larger challenges to improving the healthcare system for patients and physicians.

well it finally happened! Jenn and I had a quickie on Now Watch This! i have been listening to podcasts for years and my favorites have always been the podcasts where the hosts are good friends. While i love having my buddies on, since Luck has been gone i've missed the consistency of recording with the same partner every episode. i've got plenty of candidates to cover but when i thought about what i wanted on my show i started thinking of my favotite pods, Jafn, YMH, 2 bears, Bad friends, MSSP, and my OG fave smodcast they are all pods with their best friend on. So i turned to my true life long best friend my wife Jen. Noone gets me like her, makes me laugh like her, calms me like her and stresses me like her, so i know she'll be great on here. I hope you guys like our 1st couple cast

Health Affairs Publishing's Rob Lott speaks to Adam Markovitz of the University of Michigan about his recent paper exploring the growing role of third-party firms in Medicare ACOs, highlighting how they have contributed to wider participation and more geographically dispersed networks while raising questions about how these structures relate to shared savings outcomes.Order the June 2026 issue of Health Affairs.Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: HPE Discover 2026 kicks off: HPE Discover 2026 opens today at The Venetian in Las Vegas with the Partner Growth Summit, the partner-exclusive day that precedes the main conference. The General Session – “The Power of One” – is led by HPE channel head Simon Ewington and focuses on HPE’s unified partner strategy under the HPE Partner Ready Vantage program, spanning networking, cloud, and AI. This is the first Partner Growth Summit since HPE’s $14 billion Juniper Networks acquisition closed, and HPE is presenting partners with a fully unified portfolio story for the first time. ChannelBuzz.ca is on the ground all week: Tuesday’s Buzz will feature a full Partner Growth Summit recap, and In The Channel this week features a multi-part series with Jeremiah Jenson, HPE’s vice president of North America channel and partner ecosystem, covering the Discover announcements in depth. Cato Networks launches integration hub: Cato Networks has launched a new Technology Partner Program and a Platform Integration Hub, debuting with more than 100 out-of-the-box integrations with third-party security, cloud, and networking solutions. The SASE provider says the program is designed to simplify how partners and customers connect Cato’s platform with existing enterprise technology stacks. The move is significant for Canadian MSPs and MSSPs: a robust integration catalog reduces the custom API work that often slows deployment and increases delivery costs, making it easier to position Cato alongside the broader tools in a customer’s security environment. Checkmarx flags CISO compliance pressures: A new 2026 Future of Application Security Report from Checkmarx, based on a survey of more than 2,000 developers and CISOs, found that 95 per cent of CISOs report being pressured to suppress or delay compliance-related security issues when business deadlines loom. The research also highlights how AI-generated code is expanding the attack surface faster than many security teams can manage. For Canadian MSSPs, the data reinforces the value of independent, third-party security oversight – and the case for structured application security as a managed service. Dataminr and TD SYNNEX partner on AI cyber defense: Dataminr has signed a strategic distribution agreement with TD SYNNEX, making Dataminr for Cyber Defense available to more than 35,000 North American resellers. The platform combines external risk signals with internal telemetry to help security teams prioritize threats in real time. For Canadian partners already working with TD SYNNEX, the deal adds an AI-driven threat intelligence offering to the distributor’s security portfolio at a time when customers are asking for earlier warning around cyber risk. inforcer launches Microsoft 365 TDR platform: inforcer has launched inforcer Threat Detection and Response, a new platform that gives MSPs a single environment to manage detection, incident response, and reporting across the full Microsoft 365 estate – including Entra, Defender, Purview, Teams, and SharePoint. According to the company, the platform’s advantage is its existing policy and configuration context for each tenant, which it says allows the detection engine to separate real threats from alert noise. The product launched in early access at Pax8 Beyond last week. ConnectSecure introduces Patch 360: ConnectSecure has launched Patch 360, a patch management solution designed specifically for MSPs. According to the company, the platform gives MSPs more control over patch prioritization, testing, and approval workflows, and is designed to reduce deployment risk while accelerating patching across operating systems and third-party applications. NetRise launches Discovery Partner Program: Software supply chain security firm NetRise has launched the Discovery Partner Program for VARs, MSSPs, distributors, and systems integrators. The program provides partners access to the NetRise Platform, which analyzes compiled software artifacts – including binaries, firmware, and containers – to identify components and risks that may not appear in source-code scans or vendor-provided SBOMs. NetRise is positioning the program as a way for partners to address growing customer demand for independent software supply chain verification. Read Full Transcript This episode of The Buzz is brought to you by HPE Discover 2026. HPE Discover runs June 15 to 18 at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Discover what’s next at hpe.com/discover. Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Monday, June 15th, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. The biggest event on HPE’s calendar opens today at The Venetian Convention and Expo Center in Las Vegas, and ChannelBuzz.ca is on the ground for the full week. But before the main conference opens to the broader audience tomorrow, today belongs exclusively to the channel. The HPE Partner Growth Summit – the partner-only day that kicks off Discover week – is underway as you’re hearing this. The centrepiece is the General Session called “The Power of One,” led by HPE channel head Simon Ewington alongside a lineup of HPE senior executives. The name captures the message HPE is sending its partner ecosystem heading into the back half of 2026: one comprehensive portfolio, one unified program under HPE Partner Ready Vantage, and one integrated experience across networking, cloud, and AI. The afternoon breakout agenda is dense – covering GreenLake and hybrid cloud, Aruba networking with AI, monetizing accelerated compute and agentic workloads, and HPE’s evolving service provider story. It’s also worth noting the context: this is the first Partner Growth Summit since HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks cleared regulatory review and officially closed. Partners are getting their first look at a fully unified networking and compute story from a company that can now tell it cleanly. We’re bringing you the announcements as they happen all week.  In just a couple of hours on In The Channel, I’ll help you get ready for Discover, as I preview the event with the help of none other than Jeremiah Jenson, HPE’s vice president of North American channel and partner ecosystem.  Tomorrow on The Buzz, we’ll have all the news from Partner Growth Summit, and tomorrow’s In The Channel will also feature Jenson, as we take a deeper dive into the HPE’s partner programs and where he sees the biggest opportunities for the channel right now. Be sure to stick with us all week as we bring you full coverage from Vegas. Cato Networks is expanding its ecosystem with the launch of a new Technology Partner Program and a Platform Integration Hub. The SASE provider says the hub debuts with more than 100 integrations out of the box, offering streamlined connectivity with third-party security, cloud, and networking solutions. According to Cato, the program is designed to simplify how partners and customers integrate its platform with existing enterprise technology stacks, reducing friction and speeding up deployments. A vendor-led integration effort at this scale matters for the channel. As enterprise environments grow more layered and complex, MSPs rely on platforms that connect cleanly to an existing stack rather than requiring months of custom API work. Out-of-the-box integrations mean less time troubleshooting compatibility and more time delivering security outcomes to clients. It’s worth noting that Cato’s channel chief said earlier this year that seven out of ten deals the company closes are already partner-led. A stronger integration story could deepen that dependence on the channel by making it easier for MSPs and MSSPs to position Cato alongside the other tools in a customer’s security stack. A report released last week by application security vendor Checkmarx is putting hard numbers on a dynamic that security-focused channel partners have likely been seeing for some time. The 2026 Future of Application Security Report, based on a survey of more than 2,000 developers and CISOs, found that 95 per cent of CISOs say they have been pressured to suppress or delay compliance-related security issues when business deadlines loom. Compounding the problem: the adoption of AI-generated code is accelerating, which Checkmarx says is multiplying the attack surface in production environments faster than many security teams can manage. The business case for external, independent security oversight has rarely been clearer. When internal security leaders are being overruled on vulnerability management, an MSP or MSSP operating as a neutral third party – accountable to security outcomes rather than product launch timelines – steps into a genuine gap. The data also validates the case for application security as a structured managed service. As AI-generated code becomes standard in the development pipeline, organizations that can’t close that gap internally will need to find a partner who can. In Brief – Dataminr and TD SYNNEX have signed a distribution agreement that makes Dataminr for Cyber Defense available to more than 35,000 North American resellers through TD SYNNEX’s channel network.  Security vendor inforcer has launched inforcer Threat Detection and Response, a new platform designed to give MSPs a single environment to manage detection, incident response, and reporting for Microsoft 365.  ConnectSecure has introduced Patch 360, a patch management solution built specifically for MSPs that the company says reduces deployment risk while accelerating patching across operating systems and third-party applications.  NetRise has launched the Discovery Partner Program, targeting VARs, MSSPs, distributors, and systems integrators with software supply chain security capabilities built around compiled binary analysis rather than source code or vendor-provided SBOMs.  Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

In this May 2026 episode, MSSP intern Saadhya Bahudodda interviews Greg Rapport, founder and Executive Director of Age Out Angels. Greg shares his journey from a writing services career to leading a nonprofit focused on helping youth in foster care transition to independence. He discusses the importance of mentorship, innovative educational programs, and trauma-informed care in supporting these young individuals. The conversation highlights the challenges faced by youth aging out of the foster care system and the organization's efforts to provide practical solutions for financial well-being and educational success. Greg also emphasizes the need for systemic improvements and the significance of Foster Care Awareness Month.

Support the D.A.W.G.Z. @ patreon.com/MSsecretpod Support Nate and the Bros @ https://www.patreon.com/pitm Go See Matt Live @ mattmccusker.com/dates Go See Shane Live @ shanemgillis.com Go See Lemaire Lee Live @ https://lemairelee.fun/ Go See Shawn Gardini Live if you want  @  https://www.shawngardini.com/live hello. Hope you're all having a good week. Shang is out Cali way for the netflix fest / roast (everyone tune in this wknd!!!!). We wish our brother luck on his journey. In his absence we got a solo-solar cast for you this week. Cusk talks RAH aka the sun. We talk Mercury and Venus on the paytch. Please enjoy. God Bless. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/DRENCHED and use code DRENCHED and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Exclusive $25-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/MSSP. Promo Code MSSP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this April 2026 episode, MSSP intern Saadhya Bahudodda interviews Lee Marshall, founder and CEO of Kids to Love, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the immediate needs of youth in foster care while creating long-term pathways to stability. Drawing on her lived experience of being born into foster care and her career in television journalism, Lee shares how both her personal and professional journeys led her to this work. She highlights programming including scholarships, workforce preparation through the K-Tech Initiative, trauma-informed mental health services, and transitional housing. For this invaluable work, the organization won the 2025 Aging Out Award for the Mid-Large Organization Category. Throughout the conversation, Lee emphasizes the need for community collaboration and innovative, wraparound programming to ensure that youth aging out of foster care have the resources and stability needed to thrive.

At RSAC Conference 2026, the expo floor runs on one word: AI. But Lisa Liu, Corporate Marketing and Communications Manager at Stellar Cyber, has been watching the confusion this creates in real time. Visitors at the Stellar Cyber booth are asking the same question: does AI in cybersecurity mean a tool that fights AI-powered attackers, a tool that is AI-based, or something else entirely? Lisa Liu's take is direct -- if your messaging can't answer that question, the noise is winning. Stellar Cyber has been building toward a human-augmented, autonomous SOC for years -- long before "agentic" became the conference password. The logic driving that mission is not about market positioning. It is about what happens when AI makes a mistake at scale. One error in judgment can echo a thousandfold. Human oversight is not a limitation on the platform -- it is the architecture. The goal is not to put a human on the sidelines as a safety check. The goal is to make every analyst perform at a higher level, so a junior analyst works at the capability of a senior analyst. Lisa Liu draws on the Waymo analogy familiar to anyone walking the streets of San Francisco this week: autonomous vehicles went from having a safety driver present to running solo. But when a power outage knocked out every Waymo unit simultaneously, the city needed humans to step in immediately. The same principle applies to security operations. Agentic AI is changing the analyst's role -- replacing alert fatigue and log chasing with higher-order problem solving -- but human involvement in the process is not going away. For SOC teams asking how to get there, Lisa Liu is clear: success is not a rip-and-replace project. Success is minimal personnel disruption and maximum operational efficiency -- repositioning existing tools to work smarter without exposing the organization to weeks of vulnerability during a rebuild. Stellar Cyber's platform integrates with existing SIEMs and tools, adds coverage across network, endpoint, identity, and cloud environments, and offers hundreds of pre-built integrations with more being added continuously. For managed security service providers serving clients across different industries and risk profiles, that kind of unified visibility is what makes the business model scale. The outcomes are specific. One Stellar Cyber customer reported that analysts were 83% more accurate in their threat environment analysis. Lisa Liu frames that number carefully: analysts are not measured by what they catch -- they are measured by what they miss. Any meaningful improvement in accuracy is not just a business metric. It changes how people feel about their work. This is a Brand Spotlight. A Brand Spotlight is a ~15 minute conversation designed to explore the guest, their company, and what makes their approach unique. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/creation#spotlight GUEST Lisa Liu, Corporate Marketing and Communications Manager, Stellar Cyberhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaaliu/ RESOURCES Stellar Cyber: https://stellarcyber.ai Are you interested in telling your story? ▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full ▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight ▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlight KEYWORDS Lisa Liu, Stellar Cyber, Sean Martin, RSAC Conference 2026, human-augmented SOC, autonomous SOC, AI-native security operations, Multi-Layer AI, MSSP security platform, SOC analyst efficiency, alert triage, agentic AI cybersecurity, brand spotlight, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

31% of businesses that had backup solutions still failed to restore their data during a ransomware attack according to At-Bay's analysis of 186 real insurance claims. And if you think your business is safe because someone "set up backups," you need to watch this. Meanwhile, there are 4.8 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally right now and 61% of midsize businesses have zero dedicated security staff on payroll. Bryan Hornung and Reginald Andre break down exactly how bad the staffing gap has gotten (ISC2's 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study shows the pipeline shrank from 31% growth in 2022 to just 12% in 2024), why your IT person is being set up to fail, and how much a single mid-level security analyst actually costs vs. what an MSSP can deliver at the same price. Then they go straight at the backup crisis: the 25-point confidence gap between what IT teams believe about recovery and what At-Bay, Sophos, and Spiceworks data actually show. Ransomware attackers are targeting your backup repositories first before they trigger the main attack. The average business is down 24 days after a ransomware hit, with average recovery costs of $1.53 million. For a business under 500 employees, that can be existential. This episode is for every business owner who has ever said "we have backups" or "IT handles security" and hasn't verified either of those statements. Support the show: buymeacoffee.com/securitysquawk

Every vendor at RSAC Conference 2026 will have an autonomous SOC story. Subo Guha, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Stellar Cyber, has been building the real thing for over a decade -- and he has one question every buyer should ask at every booth: can your platform explain why it reached its verdict? Stellar Cyber's autonomous SOC provides a full case summary for every true positive, showing the forensic evidence chain, threat intelligence correlations, and specific observables that led to the conclusion. SOC analysts can review, challenge, or override -- and that feedback loop is how the system improves. The threat landscape has shifted in ways that validate Stellar Cyber's original architecture. LLM-generated attacks have collapsed the time to launch a sophisticated phishing campaign from weeks to minutes. Stellar Cyber was built to serve the mid-market and the MSSPs that protect it -- organizations that face identical threats to enterprises but without enterprise resources. A unified, multi-tenant platform means MSSPs onboard new customers in minutes. An open data ingestion engine works with whatever tools are already in place -- no EDR lock-in, no rip-and-replace. At the center of the platform is a correlation engine that transforms thousands of individual alerts into a manageable set of high-confidence cases. An identity compromise driving lateral movement across dozens of alerts becomes one case with a clear recommended action. Subo describes this as the difference between drowning in noise and focusing on decisions that actually require human judgment -- and it is the foundation the autonomous SOC layer is built on. Subo is direct about what the hype gets wrong: the claim that organizations can dramatically cut SOC headcount because AI has it covered is not happening. The realistic version of autonomous SOC is a force multiplier -- digital agents handle the continuous, high-volume triage work that consumes analyst hours, freeing humans for the cases that require context and institutional knowledge. A system that automates without explainability does not reduce risk. It relocates it. Stellar Cyber will be at booth S327 in the South Hall at RSAC Conference 2026, right at the bottom of the escalator. Live autonomous SOC demonstrations will be running throughout the event, with real-world results from customers already in production. The team also has a barista on site -- a detail Subo was particularly keen to mention for Marco Ciappelli. This is a Brand Spotlight. A Brand Spotlight is a ~15 minute conversation designed to explore the guest, their company, and what makes their approach unique. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/creation#spotlight GUEST Subo Guha, Senior Vice President of Product Management, Stellar Cyberhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/suboguha/ RESOURCES Learn more about Stellar Cyber: https://stellarcyber.ai RSAC Conference 2026 Coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/rsac-2026-conference-san-francisco-usa-cybersecurity-event-infosec-conference-coverage Are you interested in telling your story? ▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full ▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight ▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlight KEYWORDS Subo Guha, Stellar Cyber, Sean Martin, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, brand spotlight, autonomous SOC, Open XDR, MSSP security platform, AI-driven security operations, agentic AI cybersecurity, threat detection and response, RSAC Conference 2026, SOC analyst tools, multi-tenant security platform, LLM-generated attacks, security operations center, SIEM NDR unified platform Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are attackers really using AI to run end-to-end cyber campaigns? In this episode, Edward Wu (Founder and CEO, DropzoneAI) joins Ashish to separate the hype from reality when it comes to AI-driven attacks .Edward explains how attackers are currently using open-source LLMs for reconnaissance and spear-phishing , and why the major commercial models now explicitly prohibit users from generating exploits without vetting . On the defense side, Edward shares how AI agents have successfully automated over 160 years' worth of alert investigations in the real world proving that 100% software-delivered SOC triage is already here .We also debunk the myth of AI "hallucinations," explaining why most errors are actually just poor context management . If you're building a security operations center or working with an MSSP, this episode will teach you how to shift from manual alert fatigue to leveraging AI for threat hunting.Guest Socials -⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edward's Linkedin Podcast Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CloudSecPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you want to watch videos of this LIVE STREAMED episode and past episodes - Check out our other Cloud Security Social Channels:-⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cloud Security Podcast- Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cloud Security Newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you are interested in AI Security, you can check out our sister podcast -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AI Security Podcast⁠Questions asked:(00:00) Introduction(02:50) Who is Edward Wu? (Founder of Dropzone AI) (04:50) The Reality of AI Cyber Attacks Today (Recon vs. End-to-End) (07:20) Why Commercial LLMs Are Blocking Exploit Generation (11:50) How MSSPs are Evolving with AI Triage (18:20) The Asymmetric Capacity Gap: Why Humans Can't Keep Up (22:30) Automating 160 Years of Alert Investigations (23:50) Why AI Hallucinations are Actually Context Management Failures (26:00) Build vs. Buy: The Data Network Effect for AI Agents (29:20) The New Workflow for SOC Analysts & Threat Hunters(31:30) Defining "Threategy": Scope, Authorization, and Context (35:50) How to Detect Prompt Injection (Treat it like an Insider Threat) (38:30) Dropzone AI Announcements at RSACResources spoken about during the episode:- Dropzone Diner RSAC 2026- If you want to learn more about Dropzone- you can do that here!

Episode 502 features Stacey's conversation with Brian Machut (Alliant Health) on how widespread Medicare fee-for-service fraud is inflating costs and undermining ACO shared savings in MSSP and ACO REACH. ACOs uncovered major urinary catheter fraud in 2023 tied to codes A4352/A4353, totaling about $3.5B, with some beneficiaries billed for items never received (including a case shared by Dr. Tara Lagu).  CMS created a "SAHS" (significant, anomalous, highly suspect) process to remove certain suspect costs, but benchmark effects can unevenly impact ACOs; catheter fraud is still projected at $3–$3.5B in 2025. The episode also highlights rapidly growing "skin substitute" spending projected at $13–$15B in 2025; CMS did not classify 2024 skin substitute costs as SAHS, leaving them in ACO performance calculations.  Machut explains this fraud and missed CMS trend projections can reduce provider earnings, discourage participation in value-based care, and potentially drive cost shifting into higher commercial rates—affecting plan sponsors such as self-insured employers. === LINKS ===

Ekco, one of Europe's leading security-first managed security service providers (MSSP), has announced the acquisition of Cork-based Datalogix. Ekco, founded and headquartered in Dublin, is continuing its ambitious acquisition trail, following a busy year in 2025 with three strategic acquisitions. Datalogix is a Cork-headquartered operational technology (OT) business with over 20 years' experience delivering proactive OT services to enterprise customers across Ireland, the UK, and the US. It provides secure OT infrastructure design, implementation, and support services that automate industrial processes for companies in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, general manufacturing, and critical national infrastructure sectors. The company's team will join Ekco's workforce of more than 1,000 people globally across Ireland, UK, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and South Africa. Datalogix will form part of Ekco's security division, bringing the division's revenues to a €100 million share of Ekco's overall group revenues of €200 million. The acquisition will significantly expand Ekco's OT capabilities in the Irish, UK, and US markets, under the leadership of Ekco Ireland CEO Steve MacNicholas. It will enable Ekco to increasingly secure IT and OT convergence for customers amidst a growing OT threat landscape and a complex regulatory backdrop. As part of Ekco's rapid growth strategy, Datalogix marks the eighth company to be acquired by Ekco in the last two years. The acquisition follows the 2025 purchases of cybersecurity consultancy Predatech, and managed service providers (MSP) Solsoft and Adapt IT. It signifies another milestone in Ekco's ambition to build a security-first unified MSP platform across Europe. Datalogix is led by Managing Director Der Cremen and Chief Technical Officer Damian White, who will bring over 50 years' combined industry experience to Ekco. Steve MacNicholas, CEO of Ekco Ireland, said: "Having known Datalogix well for many years, we have always admired their highly specialised and client focused capabilities as trusted OT advisors in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, and critical national infrastructure markets. With Ekco's world class expertise in security-first managed services and cutting-edge technology, this partnership is a perfect match – and we are looking forward to growing and learning together." Der Cremen, Managing Director of Datalogix, added: "Joining Ekco enables us to increasingly invest in and develop our OT capabilities to bring enhanced resources and resilience to our customers, backed by Ekco's scale—while maintaining the responsiveness they value." Ronan Murray, EY M&A Partner, said: "EY were delighted to provide sell side M&A lead advisory and tax services to the shareholders of Datalogix on the company's sale to Ekco. Congratulations to the combined team." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

What does it take to turn the dream of an autonomous SOC into something organizations can actually deploy? Subo Guha, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Stellar Cyber, joins Sean Martin to share how the company's AI-driven security operations platform is making that vision a reality. Stellar Cyber serves SOC teams across more than 50 countries, with a primary focus on MSPs and MSSPs supporting the underserved mid-market, though marquee enterprise customers like Canon are also part of the portfolio.How can agentic AI change the way SOC teams handle alert overload? Guha describes what he calls a "digital army" of AI agents that work around the clock to automate alert triage and catch phishing attacks. The system filters 70 to 80 percent of incoming alerts, allowing analysts to focus on the 20 percent that matter most. With attackers using AI to launch faster and more frequent campaigns, Stellar Cyber takes a human-augmented approach, meaning the AI learns from analyst interactions and continuously guides the SOC team toward faster, more accurate remediation.Why does this matter for MSPs operating on thin margins? Guha explains that the autonomous SOC capability layered on top of Stellar Cyber's XDR platform allows MSSPs to serve more customers, reduce mean time to repair, and grow their tenant base without proportionally increasing staff. When MSSPs grow revenue, Stellar Cyber grows alongside them, creating a mutually beneficial model that ultimately means more organizations get protected.This is a Brand Highlight. A Brand Highlight is a ~5 minute introductory conversation designed to put a spotlight on the guest and their company. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/creation#highlightGUESTSubo Guha, Senior Vice President of Product Management, Stellar Cyber @LinkedInRESOURCESLearn more about Stellar Cyber: https://stellarcyber.aiAre you interested in telling your story?▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlightKEYWORDSSubo Guha, Stellar Cyber, Sean Martin, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, brand highlight, autonomous SOC, agentic AI, security operations, XDR, NDR, MSSP, MSP, alert triage, AI-driven security, Open XDR, Gartner Magic Quadrant, phishing detection, SOC automation Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What does it take to turn the dream of an autonomous SOC into something organizations can actually deploy? Subo Guha, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Stellar Cyber, joins Sean Martin to share how the company's AI-driven security operations platform is making that vision a reality. Stellar Cyber serves SOC teams across more than 50 countries, with a primary focus on MSPs and MSSPs supporting the underserved mid-market, though marquee enterprise customers like Canon are also part of the portfolio.How can agentic AI change the way SOC teams handle alert overload? Guha describes what he calls a "digital army" of AI agents that work around the clock to automate alert triage and catch phishing attacks. The system filters 70 to 80 percent of incoming alerts, allowing analysts to focus on the 20 percent that matter most. With attackers using AI to launch faster and more frequent campaigns, Stellar Cyber takes a human-augmented approach, meaning the AI learns from analyst interactions and continuously guides the SOC team toward faster, more accurate remediation.Why does this matter for MSPs operating on thin margins? Guha explains that the autonomous SOC capability layered on top of Stellar Cyber's XDR platform allows MSSPs to serve more customers, reduce mean time to repair, and grow their tenant base without proportionally increasing staff. When MSSPs grow revenue, Stellar Cyber grows alongside them, creating a mutually beneficial model that ultimately means more organizations get protected.This is a Brand Highlight. A Brand Highlight is a ~5 minute introductory conversation designed to put a spotlight on the guest and their company. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/creation#highlightGUESTSubo Guha, Senior Vice President of Product Management, Stellar Cyber @LinkedInRESOURCESLearn more about Stellar Cyber: https://stellarcyber.aiAre you interested in telling your story?▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlightKEYWORDSSubo Guha, Stellar Cyber, Sean Martin, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, brand highlight, autonomous SOC, agentic AI, security operations, XDR, NDR, MSSP, MSP, alert triage, AI-driven security, Open XDR, Gartner Magic Quadrant, phishing detection, SOC automation Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this special episode of The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast, a panel of cybersecurity experts discuss the irreversible changes AI has brought to the industry. This panel originally aired on January 20th, 2026.The panel attendees include:Christopher Luft (host) - Co-Founder / CCO, LimaCharlieMaxime Lamothe-Brassard - Founder / CEO, LimaCharlieEric Capuano - Co-Founder, Digital Defense InstituteJoshua Neil - Co-Founder, Alpha LevelKris Merritt - AdvisorDaniel Lees - Sr Staff Cloud Security Architect, GoogleLimaCharlie has watched the AI SOC conversation unfold and stayed quiet. Until now.Security vendors are racing to attach chatbots to legacy platforms and call it innovation. AI SOC startups have raised hundreds of millions to build better alert triage. Both approaches solve the same narrow problem: helping analysts click faster.Service providers managing hundreds or thousands of tenants face a different reality. Alert triage matters, but so does deployment, configuration, detection engineering, reporting, and onboarding. The tedious work that eats margin and slows growth spans the entire operation.What if AI could operate your entire security infrastructure with the same access as your best analyst?We built LimaCharlie for complete programmatic access from day one. we were building for AI operators before AI operators existed. On January 20th, we'll show you what happens when AI agents can do everything in a security platform, across every tenant, through natural language.No marketing theater. Just real conversations and a demonstration of AI-driven security operations where you stay in control.Learn more at https://limacharlie.io/

Send us a textIn this energizing and uplifting conversation, Joey Pinz sits down with cybersecurity rising star ChiChi Ubah, whose passion for learning, adventure, and personal growth lights up every moment of the dialogue. ChiChi shares her love for adrenaline-filled activities, her ambitions to learn to fly a small aircraft, and the mindset that fuels her ongoing pursuit of new experiences—including her PhD focused on AI-driven cybersecurity curriculum development.A dedicated advocate for women in cybersecurity, ChiChi discusses the life-changing support she's received from WiCyS, where mentorship, training, and certifications helped guide her path into cloud security. She reflects on the role of representation, allies, and community in creating opportunities for women in a male-dominated industry.The conversation also explores breaking old beliefs, embracing intentionality, and the everyday practice of consistency—whether pursuing certifications, maintaining health, or building a TikTok channel from 0 to 5,000 followers. ChiChi also opens up about motivation, legacy, and redefining success through freedom, impact, and personal evolution.This episode is packed with insight, heart, humor, and the fearless drive of someone committed to becoming better every day.

Send us a textIn this powerful and deeply insightful conversation, Joey Pinz sits down with national security leader Valerie Cofield to explore the past, present, and future of cybersecurity across government, critical infrastructure, and everyday life. With 26 years at the FBI, senior leadership at CISA, and her current mission at ICIT, Valerie brings unmatched clarity to the threats shaping our world—from nation-state attacks on rural water systems to AI-enabled scams targeting vulnerable populations.Valerie reflects on why critical infrastructure is now a primary battleground, how bipartisan policy work shaped U.S. cyber readiness, and why the private sector—not government—will be on the front lines of future conflicts. She also shares her personal journey as the daughter of South Korean immigrants, the gratitude that shaped her service, and the emotional weight of protecting the country that gave her family a second chance.Beyond cyber, Joey and Valerie discuss reading habits, mental health, misinformation, and the dangers social media poses to young people. Valerie also offers a heartfelt perspective on leadership, longevity, habits, exercise, and earning success through consistency—not perfection.

Send us a textIn this high-energy and entertaining episode, Joey Pinz sits down with cybersecurity founder and unabashed Italian-American storyteller Tony Pietrocola. From stomping grapes as a child to running an AI-driven security operations platform, Tony brings a rare blend of toughness, humor, and entrepreneurial clarity.They jump from wine, cooking, and massive NFL bodies to college football, concussions, and how elite athletes are built differently. Tony shares what makes college football the real American spectacle—and why private equity is about to reshape the sport.On the cybersecurity front, Tony breaks down the challenges MSPs face, why most still struggle with security, and how AgileBlue helps them build profitable, white-label practices without the overhead of running a SOC. He explains the three questions every MSP should ask a vendor, the rise of AI-assisted attacks, and why consolidation and greenfield opportunities are the biggest missed revenue streams.The conversation ends with health, habit, and personal transformation—discussing Joey's 130-lb weight loss, Tony's daily 5 a.m. workouts, and the childhood structure that forged their work ethic.

Send us a textIn this captivating and wide-ranging conversation, Joey Pinz welcomes cybersecurity executive, author, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu enthusiast Caroline Wong. What begins with jiu-jitsu quickly expands into a profound dialogue about humility, body awareness, emotional regulation, and the unexpected personal growth that comes from combat sports—especially as an adult beginner.Caroline opens up about her upcoming book on AI and cybersecurity, explaining how AI isn't just another shift—it's redefining the entire security landscape. She outlines how to evaluate real AI solutions, why transparency matters, and how LLMs make modern social engineering nearly indistinguishable from authentic communication.She also reflects on tech's wobbly job market, why global talent has reshaped the industry, and which cybersecurity markets AI will completely replace in the years ahead. The conversation deepens as Caroline shares her journey through sobriety, the discipline instilled by her Chinese immigrant parents, the challenges of raising resilient kids in a privileged world, and why joy, peace, and positive impact—not titles—define success.

Send us a textIn this heartfelt and globally enriched conversation, Joey Pinz sits down with storyteller, journalist, and events leader Kris Tanaka, whose life has been shaped by language, culture, and a deep commitment to human connection. Kris shares her remarkable journey studying Japanese from childhood, living a decade in Japan, and learning how language influences behavior, relationships, and even emotional expression.Together, they explore the nuances of communication, the cultural layers behind expressions that don't translate, and how travel expands empathy and perspective. Kris also speaks about her Hawaiian roots, the concept of ohana, and how growing up in a cultural melting pot shaped her worldview.In her role at CyberRisk Alliance, Kris explains why MSSP Alert Live succeeds: participation, purposeful networking, and the magic of spontaneous connections. She discusses what makes events thrive, how to maximize value from industry conferences, and why cybersecurity professionals inspire her daily.The conversation also dives into personal growth—pivoting careers, overcoming fear of change, redefining success, finding inspiration in everyday “magic,” and the emotional impact of helping others shine.

Send us a textIn this insightful episode of Joey Pinz Disciple Conversations, Joey sits down with industry veteran Raffaele Mautone, the visionary CEO behind Judy Security. With more than 25 years in cybersecurity, Raffaele reveals why traditional security models no longer work for MSPs—and how a simpler, partner-led approach is reshaping the future.Raffaele shares how the shift from point products to unified visibility is transforming how MSPs protect clients, reduce noise, and deliver measurable value. He explains Judy's “Blue Team” approach, instant provisioning, and real-time OpenXDR visibility—allowing MSPs to win more business without rip-and-replace tactics.They also explore AI's rapid acceleration, the fragmentation of global cyber standards, and why customers are desperate for clarity, not more tools. Raffaele's passion for reading, family, and his beloved Bernedoodles also highlight the human side of leadership in an increasingly complex world.The episode ends with a powerful reflection on personal focus, consistency, and showing up daily—no matter what the challenge brings.

Send us a textIn this powerful conversation, Joey Pinz sits down with cybersecurity leader and former Naval cryptologic specialist Wilfredo “Will” Santiago to explore the hidden world of modern cyber defense. From growing up in Washington State obsessed with Pokémon cards to serving in Naval intelligence and supporting special operations teams, Will shares how his early experiences, curiosity, and service shaped a career protecting organizations from today's most advanced digital threats.Will breaks down how signals intelligence, network analysis, and cryptology evolved into cybersecurity as we know it—and why the field feels like a high-stakes video game where the challenges never stop. He also dives into how AI is transforming both defense and cybercrime, why quantum compute will accelerate everything, and how MSPs can choose partners they can truly trust.Finally, Joey and Will explore the mindset required to thrive in high-pressure environments: routine, focus, and the ability to act even when you don't feel like it. This episode is packed with insight, humanity, and real-world wisdom.⭐ Top 3 Highlights•

Send us a textIn this thoughtful and deeply human conversation, Joey Pinz sits down with Sharon Florentine, Editorial Director at CyberRisk Alliance, to explore the intersection of creativity, leadership, community, and the ever-changing MSP landscape. Sharon shares her roots as a rhythm guitarist, her love of knitting, and the creative habits that keep her grounded before diving into the bigger questions facing today's MSPs.Sharon breaks down the three biggest challenges MSPs face—security, human capital, and sustainable growth—and explains how media, community, and honest storytelling can help leaders navigate them. She discusses how CyberRisk Alliance supports MSPs with trusted reporting, events, education, and authentic industry insight.The conversation also explores the evolution of publishing, the role of AI in editing, the importance of company values, and the subtle but powerful impact of workplace culture. Sharon also opens up about her personal journey quitting smoking and how consistency, clarity, and self-awareness shape both personal and professional success.This episode blends heart, humor, and hard-won wisdom—perfect for anyone building a business, a team, or a better version of themselves.

Send us a textIn this inspiring conversation, Joey Pinz speaks with cybersecurity advocate Brianna Steele, who brings a refreshing and deeply human perspective to one of the world's most technical professions. With a background in psychology and a passion for understanding human behavior, Brianna explains why attacker motivations, intentions, and emotional drivers are just as important as the tools they use.Brianna shares her journey from Arizona to the Washington, D.C. area, her involvement with Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS), and why representation and mentorship are pivotal for bringing more women into the field. She breaks down how behavioral analysis shapes her interest in SOC work and why understanding “why people hack” matters as much as how they do it.The conversation expands into AI as a study companion, fasting and lifestyle discipline, motivation rooted in love, and the importance of self-awareness when entering a high-pressure industry. Brianna's warmth and clarity make this an energizing episode for anyone exploring cybersecurity, career transition, or personal growth.

The year of 2025 was as historic as it gets for the world of comedy. From comics reaching new career heights to worldwide controversy and national headlines, it was a crazy year for comedy news.... and this video is a full recap of everything that happened. From Shane Gillis hosting the ESPYS to Tim Dillon on CNN and all the comedians in Riyhad, this is the Joke WRLD Comedy News year in review.Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/WOBdXTz0glY Please Subscribe & Follow Joke WRLD On:Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/jokewrld Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/joke.wrld/Tik Tok - https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdMus6EG

Support the D.A.W.G.Z. @ patreon.com/MSsecretpod Go See Matt Live @ mattmccusker.com/dates Go See Shane Live @ shanemgillis.com Go See Lemaire Lee Live @ https://lemairelee.fun/ hello0o0o0o0. Hope you've all had a good week. The D.A.W.G.Z. have reunited ... on Shang's bday no less. yayyyy. Hot cast ensued. What did you expect. TGIF. Please enjoy. God Bless. $35 off Carver Mat https://on.auraframes.com/MSSP Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/DRENCHED and use code DRENCHED and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Visit dosedaily.co/MSSP and use code MSSP to get 41% off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this December 2025 episode, MSSP intern Saadhya Bahudodda interviews Alyssa Dennison-Glasgow, regional program director at Olive Crest in Las Vegas. Alyssa discusses how her early experiences working in juvenile justice and child advocacy shaped her commitment to supporting youth and families and ultimately led her to Olive Crest. She highlights the organization's Teen and Young Adult Independent Living Program, which won the 2024 Aging Out Institute's Small Program award. This unique program provides housing, life-skills coaching, and savings-building opportunities for young people aging out of foster care. Throughout the conversation, Alyssa emphasizes the importance of external mentorship, consistent community partnerships, and individualized support, demonstrating that effective aging-out programs rely on strong, collaborative networks to help young people thrive.

Eric spent 30 years in cybersecurity. Built and sold an MSSP to private equity for hundreds of millions. Then he started Tenex and hit $43 million in revenue in ONE YEAR. This isn't theory. This is a founder who's done it multiple times breaking down exactly how AI-native companies are about to eat every services industry alive. If you're building anything that touches AI, services, or enterprise sales, this is the episode.Why You Should ListenWhy selling outcomes beats selling products every timeHow to close enterprise deals in 60 days instead of 12 monthsThe difference between AI-native and AI-bolted-on companiesWhy founder-led sales is non-negotiable in the early daysHow to build for IPO from day one without slowing downKeywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, AI startup growth, founder-led sales, zero to one startup, enterprise sales strategy, AI native company, managed services startup, cybersecurity startup, product market fit00:00:00 Intro00:10:29 Selling His Last Company for $100Ms00:15:10 The Origin Story of TENEX00:36:47 How They Hit $43M ARR in Year One00:43:27 The 30 Second Demo That Closes Enterprise Deals00:47:10 Why Selling Outcomes Beats Selling Products00:51:29 The Mechanics of Going From Zero to $40M ARR01:01:09 Go to Market and Founder Led Sales01:05:32 When He Knew He Had Product Market FitRetrySend me a message to let me know what you think!

Support the D.A.W.G.Z. @ patreon.com/MSsecretpod Support Kiss @ https://www.patreon.com/stuffisland WATCH 'Tires' on NETFLIX Go See Matt Live @ mattmccusker.com/dates Go See Shane Live @ shanemgillis.com Yes. Phil. Fambly cast at Casa de Gillis haha. Happy Thanksgiving everybody. We're thankful for all of you - Love you all very much. Please enjoy. God Bless. Visit dosedaily.co/MSSP and use code MSSP to get 41% off Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/DRENCHED and use code DRENCHED and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! $45 off Carver Mat https://on.auraframes.com/MSSP p.s. I think it's OK but sorry if it's a little choppy I was rushing to get it up before the holiday:) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman sit down with Mike Reiring of RSM at InfoSec World 2025 to explore how managed service providers are reshaping IT and identity operations. They dig into the differences between MSPs and MSSPs, how to choose the right partner, and how AI is transforming help desks, problem management, and security monitoring. The conversation closes with a fun dive into Mike's passion for photography and how creativity ties into continuous learning in tech.Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mreiring/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.comChapters00:00 Intro – Live from InfoSec World 202502:00 Meet Mike Reiring of RSM04:30 Evolution of Managed Service Providers06:30 Shared Accounts, Identity, and Security Maturity09:00 Vendor Gaps and Federated Access Challenges11:30 What Makes a Good MSP Partner13:00 The Cost and Effort of Changing Providers16:30 MSP vs MSSP – Key Differences18:30 Coordination Between Managed Providers21:30 Top 3 Questions to Ask Your MSP25:00 Identity Ownership: IT or Security?27:30 Licensing, Active Directory, and Hidden Accounts30:00 RFP Challenges and Procurement Pitfalls32:00 Measuring Risk and Reducing Identity Exposure34:30 Vendor Management and Shadow IT Risks35:00 How AI Is Transforming MSP and MSSP Operations38:30 AI, Problem Management, and the Future of Help Desks42:30 Photography, Creativity, and Continuous Learning48:00 Closing Thoughts and IDAC OutroKeywordsIDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Mike Reiring, RSM, InfoSec World 2025, Managed Service Provider, MSP, MSSP, AI in Cybersecurity, Help Desk, Identity Management, Managed Identity, Partner Transparency, IT Outsourcing, Risk Reduction, Problem Management, Active Directory, DaVinci Resolve, Photography in Tech, Identity Governance, Cybersecurity Podcast

In this episode, we use cybersecurity as a lens to expose a truth that every leader forgets: the biggest threats to your company are the ones you can't see—until they take you down.Scott's career mirrors the evolution of tech itself—from software stores in the '80s to early network integration, to building one of the original managed services models before “MSP” was even a phrase. His latest book, Visible Ops for Cybersecurity, reframes the discipline not as an IT function, but as a visibility function: if you can't see it, you can't secure it… and if you can't secure it, you can't scale it.We break down why ransomware is now franchised, why even the best companies get breached, why cyber insurance is becoming a false safety net, and why every founder—yes, even a team-of-one startup—needs a security-first mindset.This isn't fear-mongering. It's leadership.TL;DR* Assume breach. The #1 mistake founders make is believing they're “too small” to be a target.* Backups are not backups unless they're encrypted, immutable, and air-gapped.* Cyber insurance is not protection—44% of claims were denied in 2024.* Reinvention is mandatory. Tech evolves, threats evolve, your systems must evolve.* Visibility beats bravado. Most failures come from what leaders think is secure, not what actually is.Memorable lines* “Security by obscurity died the day ransomware became a franchise.”* “If the best cybersecurity companies get hacked, your only strategy is resilience.”* “Backups aren't safety—they're hope, unless they're air-gapped.”* “Reinvention isn't optional in tech—it's the price of staying alive.”* “Make the invisible visible, or the invisible will make the decision for you.”Key Ideas We Unpack1. Reinvention as a Survival SkillScott turned retail software into network integration, then into managed services, then into cybersecurity leadership.The pattern:Visibility → Competence → Reinvention.Most founders skip the first step and collapse at the third.2. The Modern Threat Landscape Is IndustrializedRansomware now has:* franchises* training* support hotlines* experts who “close the deal” when an amateur hacker gets stuckThis is organized crime with a customer-service department.3. Backups Are the New LifeboatsThreat actors sit inside systems for 60–365 days before triggering an attack.If your backups are not:* encrypted* immutable* air-gappedyou don't have backups—you have illusions.4. Cyber Insurance Is Becoming a Mirage44% of claims denied.Policies are unregulated.Exclusions keep growing.Insurance is no longer a plan—it's paperwork.5. The Startup Founder Version of CybersecurityIf you're a team of one, your mantra is simple:Be good to your future self.Design tools, workflows, and systems with a security-first mindset from day one.The cheapest hack is the one that never becomes possible.6. Visibility Is a Leadership HabitYou can't manage what you can't see.And almost everything that destroys a business—breaches, failures, slow decay, talent risk—starts in the invisible layer.GuestScott Aldridge — President & CEO of IP Services.Cybersecurity author, technologist, MSSP leader, and early pioneer of managed services.Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-alldridge-1a976/Website: https://ipservices.com/Why This MattersMost founders underestimate risk because they overestimate visibility.If you want a business that survives the next decade, the job is simple:Design for resilience.Assume breach.Back up reality, not hope.Reinvent before the market forces you to.And make the invisible visible—before someone else does.Call to ActionIf this conversation lit something up for you, don't just let it fade. Come join me inside the Second Life Leader community on Skool. That's where I share the frameworks, field reports, and real stories of reinvention that don't make it into the podcast. You'll connect with other professionals who are actively rebuilding and leading with clarity. The link is in the show notes—step inside and start building your Second Life today.https://secondlifeleader.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dougutberg.com

Tommy Pope sits down with Matt McCusker and Shawn Gardini. Matt has a new Netflix special out "A Humble Offering" Matt McCusker and Shane Gillis also have a podcast Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast. Shawn Gardini can be seen on MSSP and has a monthly show in Austin called Optimum Noctis Comedians Chris and Tommy Pope are making all kinds of Stuff on the paytch. Each week they talk about anything & everything under the sun. Tommy also chefs up some delicious meals. It's a blast, folks. Check out our second channel @LookatDish where Tommy Pope and Chris O'Connor cook elaborate meals with your favorite comedians As always, get your first month of BlueChew FREE Just use promo codeSTUFFISLAND at checkout and pay five bucks for shipping. That's it. Join BlueChew's mission to upgrade humanity one thrust at a time. Head to https://www.BlueChew.com Today, get Huel for FIFTEEN PERCENT OFF with this exclusive offer for New Customers only withcode insertcode at https://huel.com/stuffisland (Minimum $75 purchase). SUB TO PATREON: patreon.com/stuffisland Follow Chris on IG: https://www.instagram.com/achrisoconnor Follow Tommy on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tommyjpope #comedy #comedypodcast #comedians Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast we speak with Hannah Lloyd, Co-Founder and CRO of enhanced.io, about how MSPs can launch, sell and scale security offerings.With 10+ years of channel sales experience, Hannah leads global new business generation and account management to deliver innovative cybersecurity solutions to enhanced.io's MSP partners. As a GTIA EC member (2018) and Chair (2021), Hannah is actively involved in the MSP channel community. Support our show by sharing your favorite episodes with a friend, subscribe, give us a rating or leave a comment on your podcast platform. This podcast is brought to you by LimaCharlie, maker of the SecOps Cloud Platform, infrastructure for SecOps where everything is built API first. Scale with confidence as your business grows. Start today for free at limacharlie.io.

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Send us a textIn this episode of Joey Pinz Discipline Conversations, Joey sits down with Scott Fuhriman, cybersecurity veteran and leader at Inveri, live from the MSP Summit in Orlando.Scott shares his 25+ years of cybersecurity experience, explaining how Inveri's runtime integrity technology, born from NSA research, helps MSPs and MSSPs detect hidden in-memory attacks, rootkits, and advanced threats that traditional tools miss. He highlights why protecting this overlooked layer is crucial to preserving revenue, preventing churn, and maintaining customer trust.The conversation also touches on Scott's personal discipline journey — from starting as a young PC tech overwhelmed by information to building a career through self-study, mentorship, and consistency. He and Joey discuss how MSPs can choose the right vendors, strengthen their security stacks, and enable long-term resilience in a competitive market.

Send us a textIn this episode of Joey Pinz Discipline Conversations, Joey sits down with Jeff Hill of Stellar Cyber to explore how MSPs can strengthen their security posture, grow their businesses, and simplify operations. Recorded live at the MSP Summit in Orlando, Jeff shares candid insights on what keeps MSPs awake at night—from cybersecurity breaches to staffing challenges and competitive growth pressures.Jeff explains how Stellar Cyber's multi-tenancy, unified platform, and AI-driven automation help MSPs deliver enterprise-grade security without added complexity. He emphasizes the importance of choosing the right MSSP partners, understanding compliance and cyber insurance requirements, and leveraging open platforms that integrate seamlessly with existing tools.The conversation also highlights how MSPs can turn security into a revenue generator, not just a cost center, while positioning themselves for long-term success or acquisition. Jeff's core message is clear: simplify, stay open, and create value that differentiates your business.Tune in to learn how Stellar Cyber is helping MSPs find their “diamonds in the rough” and why now is an exciting time in the cybersecurity landscape. 

Join Josh Israel, MD and Sean Cavanaugh in their video debut as they discuss the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) results for 2024 released by CMS with Aledade CEO Farzad Mostashari, MD They explore how Aledade Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) earned more than $1 billion in total savings and continue to improve performance year over year, including substantially reducing hospitalizations. We also sit down with Sandeep Mann, MD, primary care physician and Aledade partner since 2015, to explore how his practice has thrived in value-based care. Watch the full episode Connect with us at acoshow@aledade.com or visit the Aledade Newsroom

Support the D.A.W.G.Z. @ patreon.com/MSsecretpod Support Joe @ https://www.patreon.com/tuesdays Support Nathan @ https://www.patreon.com/pitm Go See Matt Live @ mattmccusker.com/dates Go See Shane Live @ shanemgillis.com Go See Joe Live @ https://www.comedianjoelist.com/ Go to Optimum Noctis 1st and 3rd Tues of Every Month https://www.creekandcave.com/events/optimumnoctis hello. Hope you're all having a good start to your day. This week we got the great Joe List on the cast while the big kahuna is away. It's a hot one. Support Joes casts Tuesday's w/ Stories! and The Regz, and watch his specials on YouTube. Please enjoy. God Bless. Go to armra.com/MSSP or enter MSSP to get 30% off your first subscription order. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/DRENCHED and use code DRENCHED and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices