Managed Security Services

In the latest update following a widespread ransomware attack that hit managed service providers, Kaseya announced that its executive team would meet Monday to discuss bringing the software-as-a-service VSA remote monitoring and management tool back online. The company also said Monday would be the day it disclosed a timeline for the release of a patched on-premises VSA product.

According to a company update Saturday night, Kaseya only received a single report of a new infection Saturday from a client who left their VSA server on.

The flurry of ramsomware attacks starting Friday, targeting on-premises Kaseya VSA applications, are particularly frightening to managed service providers, because they strike at software at the center of the enterprise: the remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform.

Ransomware attacks leveraging a zero-day in the on-premises Kaseya VSA remote IT management product started Friday afternoon and struck dozens of managed service providers and thousands of those MSPs customers. As one cyber expert noted: "I don’t think I have seen a ransomware gang use a 0-Day in an attack before."

There is some dispute over the number of managed service providers under attack by the ransomware group, each of whom has many customers of its own.

Large businesses experienced significant damage from breaches in the first quarter of the year, including data losses and system outages, which in turn spurred investment in centralized security strategies and improved coordination with external partners.