Monday Morning Impact – April 17

Barracuda: Many Ransomware Victims Hit Multiple Times

Barracuda Networks, a Campbell, California-based cloud security company, has issued a report showing that 73% of surveyed organizations have been hit with at least one successful ransomware attack in 2022 — and 38% say they were hit twice or more. Forty-two percent of those hit three times or more paid the ransom to restore encrypted data, compared to 31% of victims of a single attack. They were also less likely to use a data backup system to help them recover.

There were significant variations in the industries targeted by ransomware. For example, 98% of consumer services and 85% of energy, oil/gas, and utility organizations experienced at least one ransomware attack. The energy, oil/gas, and utility industries were also the most likely (53%) to report two or more ransomware incidents.

The findings show that for 69% of organizations, the ransomware attack started with a malicious email, such as a phishing email designed to steal credentials that would allow the attackers to breach the network. Web applications and traffic are in second place and represent an area of growing risk.

Organizations with cyber insurance were more likely to be affected by ransomware — 77% of organizations with cyber insurance were hit with at least one successful ransomware attack, compared to 65% without cyber insurance.

“The number of organizations affected by ransomware in 2022 likely reflects the widespread availability of low cost, accessible attack tools through ransomware-as-a-service offerings,” said Barracuda CTO Fleming Shi. “The relatively high proportion of repeat victims suggests that security gaps are not fully addressed after the first incident.”

To support the company’s 2023 Ransomware Insights Report, Barracuda commissioned an independent market researcher to conduct a global survey of IT managers, senior IT security managers, and senior IT and IT security decision-makers. There were 1,350 survey participants from a broad range of industries, including agriculture, biotechnology, construction, energy, government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, wholesale, and others. Survey participants were from the U.S., Australia, India, and Europe. In Europe, respondents were from the United Kingdom, France, DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg), and the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden). The survey was fielded in December 2022.

Channel Impact^®
The channel can play an essential role in helping organizations to defend themselves against ransomware, through deep, multilayered security technologies that include advanced email protection and backup as well as threat hunting and extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities.

CompTIA: Tech Workforce Grows Despite Layoffs

Against the current backdrop of widespread layoffs, tech employment has added new jobs and grew in depth and breadth, according to research from CompTIA, a suburban Chicago-based trade association.

According to the organization’s annual “State of the Tech Workforce” report, net tech employment grew by 3.2% nationally in 2022, with the number of people employed in technology increasing by an estimated net new 286,400 workers. More than 9.1 million people work in tech jobs, spanning both technical and non-technical workers employed by tech companies and tech professionals who work in industries across the economy.

“In a year of even more uncertainty than usual, the tech labor market routinely defied expectations,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer for CompTIA. “The data continues to confirm the degree to which technology underpins so many facets of business activity across the economy and the breadth of employers reliant on technical and digital skills.”

All 50 states and the District of Columbia saw increases in tech employment in 2022. Texas led the nation in net tech employment growth, adding an estimated 45,331 jobs. California (+38,186), Florida (+22,029), New York (+18,487) and Washington (+17,962) rounded out the top five states for job gains.

CompTIA forecasts a 3% increase – more than 272,000 new jobs – in tech employment for 2023. Data scientists and analysts, cybersecurity analysts and engineers, web designers and UI/UX professionals, software developers and engineers, and software quality assurance and testers are projected to see the most growth this year.

CompTIA’s “State of the Tech Workforce” report includes data on employment, wages, business establishments, job postings, workforce diversity, and emerging technology metrics.

Channel Impact^®
The data underscore the opportunity in the tech industry, despite widely reported layoffs.

Veeam Introduces New Competency Program for Value-Added Resellers and Cloud & Service Provider Partners

Veeam Software has enhanced its ProPartner Network strategy with the launch of the company’s new Competency Program, which provides dedicated expertise and resources to support customers and partners using the recently launched Veeam Data Platform.

The Veeam Data Platform provides advanced data security, recovery, and hybrid cloud capabilities with Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) v12 as its foundation. Under the program, partners that have developed solutions can apply to have their use case specific offering audited by Veeam. Every go-to-market and technical competency achieved will be rewarded with a verified Veeam badge. This new data protection proficiency level will be highlighted by a premium placement on the Veeam ProPartner Directory on Veeam.com, a partner list facilitating the process for customers looking for a suitable IT business partner.

Current competencies for VARs include Ransomware and Disaster Recovery, Public Cloud Protection, Microsoft 365 Protection, and Container Protection.

Cloud & Service Provider competencies include Off-site Backup, Disaster Recovery as a Service, Backup as a Service (BaaS) for Microsoft 365, and Managed Service Provider Backup.

The newest competencies include Backup as a Service for AWS, and Backup as a Service for Microsoft Azure.

Channel Impact^®
The program offers enhanced solution-oriented training and go-to-market capability development intended to increase credibility and visibility in the local marketplace.