Monday Morning Impact – June 7

Study: 90% of Companies Vulnerable to Breaches Due to Cloud Misconfigurations

Aqua Security has published new research revealing that a significant majority of companies that move to multi-cloud environments are not properly configuring their cloud-based services.

According to new findings from Aqua’s “2021 Cloud Security Report: Cloud Configuration Risks Exposed”, these misconfigurations, for example, leaving bucket or blog storage open, can open companies up to critical security breaches.

“When you consider that a single cloud misconfiguration can expose organizations to severe cyber risk, such as data breaches, resource hijacking and denial of service attacks, the consequences of failing to address misconfiguration issues are all too real to ignore,” said Assaf Morag, Lead Data Analyst with Aqua’s Team Nautilus.

The research also notes that less than 1% of enterprise organizations fixed all detected issues while less than 8% of SMBs fixed all detected issues.

More than 50% of all organizations receive alerts about misconfigured services with all ports open to the world, but only 68% of these issues were fixed, taking 24 days on average.

“Cloud-native applications improve agility by giving more people access to define the environment, but we see many organizations move away from a centralized approach to security,” added Morag. “The traditional model of permitting only a small, highly skilled team of security practitioners to make all configuration changes has given way to a modern, decentralized approach. Development teams are making configuration decisions or applying services, and that can have dramatic implications for the security posture of an organization’s production environment.”

The report points to five common types of cloud setting misconfigurations: storage (bucket/blob) misconfigurations, identity and access management (IAM) misconfigurations, data encryption issues, exploitable services behind open ports, and container technology exploitation.

Channel Impact^®
The report underscores the need for channel partners to proactively assist customers in managing these issues.

Vonage Redesigns Partner Program and Portal

Vonage has introduced a redesigned partner program and portal as a part of the company’s “Accelerate” program platform.

The updated program is a tiered structure with escalating benefits as well as increased support for partners and their customers before, during and after deployment.  In addition to a streamlined partner onboarding procedure, the program also includes a new training platform that fosters partner growth through monthly live training sessions.

The updated portal is intended to be more intuitive and user friendly, with deeper self-service capabilities and support. Detailed analytics and reporting include account and contract level reports, payment history, key contact info, and contract renewal details.

“The way we work has fundamentally changed and now, more than ever, businesses rely on cloud communications to seamlessly connect employees, customers and partners across the globe to drive better engagement experiences and business outcomes,” said Vonage channel chief Jim Regan. “Vonage is committed to bringing those solutions to customers in partnership with our trusted partner community.”

Channel Impact^®
The enhanced capabilities, incentives and training platforms redefine the Vonage channel partner experience.

Tech Data Launches its Own Finance Company

Tech Data has announced the launch of “Tech Data Capital,” a captive finance company that offers payment solutions to help businesses acquire technology products.

“As technology continues to transform at a record pace, Tech Data Capital provides strategic, flexible finance solutions to enable our partners to close more business and add additional value for their end-users,” said Wayne Peters, vice president of financial solutions, Tech Data. “Our channel expertise, emphasis on the customer experience, and the backing of one of the largest IT distributors in the world makes Tech Data Capital an easy choice for businesses in need of financing options for technology procurement.”

Tech Data Capital is intended to offer a simplified approach to leasing and financing. A payment solution for any product in the Tech Data portfolio can be integrated into a sale with the assistance of Tech Data Capital. Transactions are funded for the full term upfront, eliminating credit risk for the channel partner, and providing greater customer value.

One of the first vendors to leverage Tech Data Capital is Schneider Electric with a subscription-based power supply solution called UPS as a Service. With this offering, customers bundle an APC Smart-UPS, Schneider Electric Monitoring and Dispatch service, and a network management card into a single solution and make low monthly payments to Tech Data Capital over the course of the maintenance term. This provides value to partners by increasing credit capacity and providing predictable refresh cycles. It also allows customers to preserve capital by eliminating a large cash outlay upfront as they keep up with the latest technology.

Channel Impact^®
Tech Data’s new captive finance company is intended to help businesses fund essential technology purchases and conserve capital with smart payment solutions.