Tis the season to be standing in line at the airport with millions of your new best friends. TSA said it expects to screen nearly 40 million travelers from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2—up 6.2% from 2023. We won’t let you miss out on any channel news if you’re stuck in line or sitting in traffic, though. Catch up here on new products, new partnerships, which vendor got FedRAMP authorization, who bought who, and more.
Enjoy the read!
Products
Barracuda Adds Malware Detection for Cloud-to-Cloud Backup
Barracuda unveiled Malware Detection for Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, which automatically scans backed-up data for any malicious files before restoration. It uses Barracuda’s proprietary Advanced Threat Protection, alerting you when it finds malware and excluding it from a data-restore job. The new feature is live now and included at no charge for Cloud-to-Cloud Backup users.
Bitwarden Launches Redesigned Browser Extension
Cybersecurity company Bitwarden redesigned its password manager browser extension with a modern interface for faster navigation, clearer organization, and smoother workflows. The improvements are designed to make it easier to manage passwords across platforms.
New features include streamlined search and autofill. The search field now activates immediately upon opening, and a new Fill button makes autofilling credentials more prominent and accessible.
In addition, the Launch Website button has been relocated to the main action bar for one-click access. A redesigned new dropdown simplifies adding different item types, an expanded notes field allows easier management of longer entries, and the Item view has been reorganized with clearer headings and updated labels for improved readability.
Finally, new vault filters save preferences between sessions.
The redesigned browser extension is now available for download across all major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and others.
Partnerships & Integrations
Bitdefender Launches Technology Alliance Partner Program
Bitdefender, a cybersecurity vendor, launched a new Technology Alliance Partner program to simplify and streamline building, testing, validating, and documenting interoperability between partner technologies and the Bitdefender GravityZone Platform, a unified security and risk analytics solution. The Technology Alliance Partner enables Bitdefender customers to enhance their security operations by seamlessly integrating best-of-breed technologies into their ecosystem and validates interoperating solutions for MSPs.
As part of its new Technology Alliance Partner program, Bitdefender works with technology partners to assess and qualify how their solutions could integrate with the GravityZone Platform, including through both public and non-public APIs. Once a potential integration is qualified, Bitdefender provides the partner with essential resources such as software development kits, software, documentation, and technical support to build, test, and validate the integration.
Stellar Cyber and ESET Partner on AI-driven XDR Solutions
ESET, a cybersecurity vendor, and Stellar Cyber, a provider of Open XDR technology, are expanding their strategic partnership, developing deeper integrations and advanced workflows to provide more visibility across the attack surface.
Stellar Cyber’s platform integrates data from ESET PROTECT, ESET Cloud Office Security, and ESET Threat Intelligence, providing full-spectrum visibility across endpoints, email, cloud, and network environments.
In addition, ESET’s globally sourced, real-time threat insights feed directly into Stellar Cyber’s platform, improving incident detection and response precision. The combined solutions also offer simplified deployment for MSPs/MSSPs.
Investments
Keepit Secures $50M in Funding
SaaS data protection provider Keepit announced a $50 million funding round, led by existing investor One Peak, and EIFO of Denmark. This funding round marks the company’s third equity investment in the past four years, bringing total funds raised to approximately $90 million.
With the latest investment, Keepit plans to accelerate global expansion, prioritizing the U.S., Europe, and other high-growth regions, while bolstering Keepit’s network of partners.
Keepit will also continue focusing on product innovation, including broader workload coverage and additional data management and intelligence capabilities.
M&A – Vendors
Compliance Scorecard, a compliance-as-a-service platform designed by MSPs for MSPs, acquired PrivacyMSP, a specialized consulting firm focused on compliance and governance. As part of the acquisition, PrivacyMSP founder Brian Blakley will join Compliance Scorecard as chief risk officer, heading up a new professional services division. The division will offer three services packages for MSPs: fully managed service, self-guided solutions with Compliance Scorecard’s tools and expertise, and co-managed compliance programs.
Cybersecurity vendor Arctic Wolf is acquiring Cylance, an AI-based endpoint protection platform, which is part of BlackBerry Limited. “Security has an operations and effectiveness problem and endpoint solutions alone have failed to live up to the outcomes they have promised for years,” said Nick Schneider, president and chief executive officer, Arctic Wolf, in a press statement. “By incorporating Cylance’s endpoint security capabilities into our open-XDR Aurora platform, we will be addressing a rampant need for a truly unified, effective security operations that delivers better outcomes for customers. We believe we will be able to rapidly eliminate alert fatigue, reduce total risk exposure, and help customers unlock further value with our warranty and insurability programs.”
M&A – MSPs
Private equity firm Evergreen, a holding company of managed IT services companies, acquired three U.K.-based MSP companies—ITBuilder, Certum and CIS Ltd. The MSPs will continue to operate independently as a part of Lyra Technology Group, Evergreen’s portfolio of managed IT services providers.
FedRAMP Compliance
Palo Alto Networks achieved FedRAMP’s highest authorization across its network, cloud and SOC platforms.
The authorized network security solutions include: Prisma Access (SSE), Prisma SASE, MSP for Prisma SASE, Prisma SD-WAN, Strata Cloud Manager, SaaS Security (CASB), Inline DLP, and WildFire. The SOC authorized solutions are Cortex XDR, Cortex Xpanse, Cortex XSOAR, and Cortex XSIAM. Plus Prisma Cloud received the highest authorization as well.
All authorized products can be found at the FedRAMP Marketplace.
People
Guardz, a cyberprotection company, appointed Esther Pinto CISO. Previously, she was CISO and head of information security at Anecdotes … TD SYNNEX named Kristie Grinnell as EVP and CIO, effective January 20, 2025. She succeeds Bonnie Smith, who will be retiring. Grinnell previously served as CIO for DXC Technology.
If you missed last week’s News Roundup, check it out here.
