October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the channel is buzzing with fresh updates to keep defenses sharp. This week’s roundup brings a mix of new training tools, security services, partnerships, and industry moves—all aimed at helping MSPs and their clients stay one step ahead of evolving threats. From immersive employee training and proactive security testing to strategic collaborations and eye-opening threat intel, these stories show how cybersecurity awareness is more than a once-a-year theme—it’s an everyday priority. Plus, check out the four-MSP merger and the latest people moves.
Happy reading!
Products & Solutions
ESET’s Free Cybersecurity Awareness Training Now Features an Immersive Storyline
Cybersecurity company ESET released a new version of its free Basic Cybersecurity Awareness Training, coinciding with October’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The revamped Basic course introduces an immersive storyline, interactive modules, and refreshed content designed to empower employees to be the first line of defense.
The updated Basic course places employees in the role of a cyber investigator at NetDetect, a fictional cybersecurity team tasked with helping organizations recover from breaches and fortify defenses. “Instead of static videos, learners are placed inside a storyline where they investigate a cyber breach, apply best practices, and test their knowledge along the way. It’s designed to make security concepts stick, which is critical in reducing real-world threats,” said Clark Collett, senior instructional designer at ESET North America, in a press statement.
ESET also launched a Cybersecurity Awareness Kit, which includes access to the free ESET Cybersecurity Awareness Training, ESET’s 2025 H1 Threat Report, and a free 30-day business trial of ESET’s full-featured security solution.
For companies that need to track course completions or require training that meets HIPAA, PCI, SOX, GDPR, CCPA, and cyber insurance compliance requirements, ESET offers a Premium Cybersecurity Awareness Training course called “Digital Shadows: Cryptic Chronicles.”
Sophos Launches Security Advisory Services
Sophos, a provider of security solutions, launched Sophos Advisory Services. Included in the suite of services are: External Penetration Testing, Internal Penetration Testing, Wireless Network Penetration Testing, and Web Application Security Assessment.
“Adversaries are increasingly skilled at exploiting the smallest cracks in an organization’s security program. With Sophos Advisory Services, we give customers a proactive advantage—helping them find and fix weaknesses before attackers can exploit them. Backed by real-time insights from Sophos X-Ops threat intelligence, our experts enable organizations to strengthen resilience, meet compliance requirements, and build lasting trust with stakeholders,” said Jake Dorval, senior director, Sophos Advisory Services.
Dedicated testers with vast cross-discipline security expertise spanning security research, threat intelligence, law enforcement, military, and other backgrounds who joined Sophos through the recent acquisition of Secureworks deliver the Advisory Services.
Sophos Advisory Services are the latest addition to Sophos’ security services portfolio that also includes Sophos Emergency Incident Response. Converging incident response expertise from Sophos and Secureworks in a single, hourly-billing offering, Sophos Emergency Incident Response provides rapid identification and neutralization of active threats and is available to any organization experiencing a live incident.
Distribution & Marketplaces
Huntress Chooses Sherweb as First Distribution Partner
Cybersecurity vendor Huntress has announced its first-ever distributor partnership with Sherweb. Through this partnership, all Huntress products will be available to MSPs in North America, Ireland, and the U.K. via the Sherweb Marketplace. According to Huntress, Sherweb will act as an extension of the Huntress go-to-market team.
“For the last decade, we’ve been in the trenches with the MSP community, working together to protect the businesses that keep the global economy running,” said Kyle Hanslovan, Huntress CEO and co-founder, in a press statement. “When it came time to expand our reach, we weren’t looking for just any partner—we were looking for a badass ally who values relationships over transactions and knows MSPs deserve more than cookie-cutter solutions. Sherweb’s culture, commitment to quality, and partner-first mindset make them the perfect fit. Together, we’re not just scaling globally—we’re leveling the playing field, making enterprise-grade cybersecurity accessible to every MSP, and giving hackers a run for their money.”
Huntress products will be available on the Sherweb Marketplace coming soon
Industry
IT Nation’s PitchIT Program Announces Finalists
IT Nation, a ConnectWise global community of peers, thought leaders, and experts, announced the top three finalists for its annual PitchIT competition: ThreatCaptain, a sales enablement platform; Mizo, an AI service desk agent; and Strategy Overview, vCIO/QBR automation software. PitchIT Accelerator Program participants go through 16-weeks of business development training, mentorship coaching, and co-marketing efforts with IT Nation. Each also advanced through an internal pitch competition and Battle Royale to earn their spot among the top contenders.
During the competition, leading experts from the MSP sector stepped in as cameo coaches, providing valuable insights and feedback to the participating companies. The judges evaluated each solution on its innovation, value proposition, go-to-market strategy, industry impact, and potential for success to select the finalists.
“PitchIT continues to be one of the most impactful ways we discover and elevate emerging innovators in the MSP and TSP ecosystem,” said ConnectWise CEO Manny Rivelo, in a press statement. “Each year, we see companies come through this program that go on to shape the industry and strengthen the community we serve. This year’s finalists represent the next wave of solutions driving growth and transformation for MSPs and their SMB customers, and that’s exactly the kind of innovation ConnectWise is proud to champion.”
ThreatCaptain, Mizo, and Strategy Overview will each be paired with a coach and pitch their solutions live at IT Nation Connect, taking place November 5–7 in Orlando.
Events
ASCII Group Announces 2026 Conference Dates and Locations
The ASCII Group, a community of MSPs across North America, announced the 2026 schedule for its ASCII Edge conference series, which will bring together more than 1,500 MSPs, technology providers, and industry leaders in eight cities across the U.S. and Canada. Each two-day event delivers business-focused sessions, actionable strategies, and networking opportunities designed to help MSPs compete effectively and build stronger businesses.
The ASCII Edge 2026 dates and locations are:
- Costa Mesa, CA – February 25-26
- Dallas, TX – March 25-26
- Newark, NJ – April 22-23
- Seattle, WA – May 27-28
- Washington, D.C. – July 22-23
- Toronto, ON – August 26-27
- Chicago, IL – September 23-24
- San Antonio, TX – October 21-22
The full lineup of speakers, including the keynote, will be announced later this fall.
M&A – MSPs
Four California-based IT service providers—BizTek Solutions, ActiveIT Solutions, SystemGo IT, and KME Systems—have merged their companies under one brand: KME. The new leadership team is: Derek Anderson, former president and CEO of BizTek Solutions, is GM Inland Empire; Mark Essayian, former president of KME Systems, is GM Orange County; David Shay, former CEO of ActiveIT Solutions, is regional sales director; and Chris Cook, former CEO of SystemGo IT, is director of operations.
People
inforcer, a provider of Microsoft-focused multitenant management for MSPs, appointed Jason Ulacio as SVP of business development. Prior to joining inforcer, Ulacio spent nine years working within business development at Microsoft, as senior business development manager for Microsoft Security. He played a pivotal role in driving Intune and SMB security adoption through product and go-to-market partnerships … Global distributor TD SYNNEX named David Jordan EVP and CFO. Previously, he held the role of SVP, Americas CFO and head of investor relations. Jordan replaces Marshall Witt, who is leaving the company to assume a role outside the organization …
Microsoft hired Cisco channel leader Alexandra Zagury to drive AI go to market. At Cisco, Zagury was vice president of global partner operations and platform experience … Former Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola joined Simpro Group, a multibillion-dollar, AI-first operating platform for the commercial and residential trades, as chairman and CEO … Cloud marketplace Pax8 appointed Tom Gavin as the new chief marketing and communications officer. Gavin has held senior roles at organizations including the White House, Salesforce, Coupa, Workato, and the ONE Campaign. He will report to Nick Heddy, president and chief commerce officer at Pax8.
By the Numbers
Alarming Finds from the Infoblox 2025 Threat Landscape Report
Infoblox’s latest report, studying the DNS threat landscape from June ’24 to July ’25, found 100.8 million newly observed domains over the last year, with 25% of those classified as malicious. Of those threat-related domains, 95% were only observed in a single customer environment. These malicious domains include phishing pages, malware deployment, online fraud scams, and more. “DNS can be used for any kind of attack [because] the attacker controls the infrastructure,” says Cliff Wright, senior manager of threat intelligence, “but that also means that if you block the infrastructure, then the attacks can be stopped.”
Another increasingly predominant threat is the rise of malicious AI, specifically pertaining to LLMs and generative AI. While AI is transforming cybersecurity and making MSPs more efficient, it is also making threat actors more efficient, lowering the barriers to convincing content and enhancing the effectiveness of social engineering techniques. Deep fake videos and voice cloning are making fraud attempts and scams more believable. And becoming more frequent, attackers are using LLMs to obfuscate code—LLM algorithms can flip the malware classifying model from malicious to benign in 88% of cases. This means that the same type of code can be reused or reshaped, and traditional detection tools won’t pick it up.
To stay abreast of these threats, a proactive approach and focus on cybersecurity is becoming more important than ever.
—Staff writer Sarah Jordan contributed reporting to this roundup.