THE RIGHT OF BOOM
How Smart MSPs Handle The Risk Of A Cyberattack Coming From One Of Their Tech Vendors
Without a doubt , cybercriminals have MSPs in their crosshairs . But a bigger fish they ’ d like to fry are the vendors who service them .
Last year , the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — composed of the leading cybersecurity teams for the US , UK , Australia , Canada , and New Zealand — issued an urgent warning to MSPs about being a high-priority target for cybercriminals .
Obviously , targeting MSPs allows criminals to quickly deploy scalable , high-volume attacks across multiple companies . While MSPs will continue to be a hot target , the vendors that service MSPs with tools that are widely installed on millions of devices would be a much bigger win .
Given that most MSPs use an average of 17 software tools to service their customers , it goes without saying they have to be very careful about what vendors they choose to ensure they aren ’ t compromised and harmed by association through no fault of their own .
How To Really Know What Vendors Have A Handle On Security
While some vendors could brag of a “ zero breach ” status , many won ’ t because they understand that anyone can get breached at any time . It simply takes one rogue or careless employee to invite an attack . Further , cybercriminals are on a constant mission to use AI to invent new means for getting in .
In fact , according to an article on BlackFog , nine out of ten MSPs have suffered a successful cyberattack in the last 18 months — a scary and staggering statistic .
It ' s becoming more common that these cyberattacks are starting with the vendor , which is why it ’ s important to look at history and see how your vendors handle attacks and breaches . Just a few months ago , Krebs broke a story that ConnectWise was warning their MSP base about a phishing attack vulnerability in their system that would allow hackers to take remote control over user systems . This warning came just a few weeks after quietly patching a similar vulnerability they discovered on the inside of ConnectWise .
At the Right of Boom conference , Brandon Wales , who is the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , brought up the Kaseya attack that happened two years ago . He said , “ They [ Kaseya ] did everything right .” He continued , “ Within a few hours , they were in touch with us ; their CEO Fred Voccola was speaking with our people . They were a good partner as soon as they realized they had a problem .”
In an example of how a breach was not communicated well , LastPass suffered a breach in August 2022 that compromised its development environment and source code . The company claimed that customer data and encrypted password vaults were not accessed .
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