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Welcome to the MSP Radio newsletter, catching you up on some stories you might have missed!
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The 2020 MSP Threat Report
From Wednesday, March 25th's episode: New data from Perch Security in their 2020 MSP Threat Report.
- Ransoms are up, rising from $10,000 last year to a range of $100,000 to $1M this year.
- Ransomware as a service is making more efficient cyberattacks.
- The most common initial attack vectors include credential stuffing from Remote Desktop Protocol or VNC, vulnerabilities in web applications and spear phishing
- Criminals are leveraging the Buffalo Jump tactic, where an MSP is breached and more than one managed organization is compromised with malware.
Why do we care?
Can we start with everything as a service being crazy? Why does everything need an as a service.
The business for criminals is good. It’s getting more efficient and they are making more money. That’s my takeaway, saying this is getting worse, not better.
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Data & advice during the public health crisis
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Data on the current market state and blunt advice for managing a technology services business in the current environment.
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Broadband Roundup and Slack updated
From Friday March 27th's episode: Reports are now more detailed about the state of connectivity, and its impact on individuals and businesses during the outbreak.
First sets of data is starting to emerge about the state of internet speeds, as last week speeds declined 4.9% from last week, per Ookla, the broadband testing services. Median speeds are down 38% in San Jose and 24% in New York, per Broadband now.
Telefonica, a Spanish telco, is reporting that in just two days they achieved all of their traffic growth for the year, and in the US AT&T is reporting a 27% increase in traffic over last month, and Verizon a 22% increase in traffic on its wireless and fiber services, with WiFi calls doubling from their normal volume.
At the same time, the discrepancy in access to online services is becoming more relevant. As reported in the Markup, Microsoft research indicates that roughly 163 million Americans do not have access to fast, reliable broadband access. In some rural communities, only two out of every three people have access to broadband, per a study from the Pew Research Center. Economic status also is a significant factor, as poor families are five times less likely to have access to high speed internet, and low income students, first generation college students, and students of color are more likely to have access to only a single device.
Finally, 5G isn’t necessarily the answer. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project, which is the global organization that develops telecommunications standards has delayed the upcoming release of new 5G standards by three months due to the pandemic. Delays in the 5G ecosystem are expected beyond that.
Why do we care?
Is the internet a utility? Will it need to be regulated? This lockdown shows how vital connectivity is, our dependency on it, and those disconnections in availability.
I’m struck by two principles in the Contract for the Web. Principle 1, for governments, is a focus on “Ensure everyone can connect to the Internet”, and Principle 4, for companies, is “to make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone.”
Both a weakness in our societal structure, and an opportunity, is to solve this problem. Technology is proving to be incredibly empowering right now, but it’s not available for all. The short term investment now in converting businesses to work from home reveals the long term opportunity in solving this problem. This is one of those times when doing the right thing and doing the thing that opens up profit align.
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Windows Zero Day Vulnerabilities
From Tuesday, March 24th's episode: Microsoft has announced that there are a pair of zero day vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited. The flaws are both in the Windows Adobe Type Manager Library, and are exploited by getting the targets to open documents or view them in the Windows preview pane. This is in all supported versions of Windows, including Windows 10.
Microsoft is working on fixes, and there are a few workarounds, including disabling the preview pane and details pane in Windows Explorer.
Why do we care?
The core value of network management is not only still there but more important then ever with everyone working from home. Get your fixes into the field.
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