Operational Ransomware: When Uptime Becomes the Real Crown Jewel
Ransomware is increasingly about stopping a business from functioning, not just stealing or encrypting files. The sectors feeling this most acutely are healthcare, manufacturing, managed service providers, and critical services where every minute of downtime carries a real human or economic cost. When “just” data loss isn’t the point In today’s big-game ransomware operations, the […]
Turn Compliance Into a Core MSP Offering, Not an Add-On
Compliance Is the New Growth Engine For years, most MSPs treated compliance like an annoying side quest: something you help with begrudgingly when a client’s cyber insurer or auditor sends over a questionnaire. That model is breaking down. Buyers are no longer satisfied with “we keep things patched” as an answer when their board, regulator, […]
The 2026 MSP: AI Threats, Business Risk, and the New Model for Growth
Managed services are heading into one of the most important transitions in their history. AI‑driven attacks are accelerating, cyber insurance is tightening, regulators are raising expectations, and clients are less interested in tickets closed than in risk reduced and revenue protected. For MSPs, 2026 is not just another planning cycle; it is a structural reset […]
Adding AI to Everything is Making Compliance a Nightmare for MSPs
Have you noticed how AI is being worked into everything…often without adding any value beyond the marketing headlines? (That was rhetorical, because of course you’ve noticed.) If you’ve been around IT for more than a few years, it might bring back not-so-fond memories of the IoT wave. Back when everything from cameras to light bulbs […]
From Cost Center to Capture Strategy: How Compliance Wins Defense Contracts
For years, “compliance” has been treated like an unavoidable tax on doing business with the Pentagon. Today, with CMMC 2.0 tied directly to award eligibility, it has quietly become one of the strongest competitive levers defense contractors and their MSP partners can pull. According to recent research, only about 1% of defense contractors report being […]
MSPs: Are You Prepared to Be AI Compliance Officers?
The integration of artificial intelligence into business operations has brought sweeping changes, creating opportunities and compliance challenges. As organizations scramble to harness AI’s potential, a corresponding demand has emerged for specialized oversight that bridges legal, technical, and ethical gaps. This demand is fueling the rise of a new professional: the AI Compliance Officer. Their task […]
MSP as Compliance Coach: Educating Clients to Prevent Regulatory Mistakes Before They Happen
Managed service providers are more than just technical troubleshooters — they’re essential compliance coaches, guiding clients through complex requirements and helping them avoid costly mistakes before they happen. Here’s how smart MSPs can position themselves as compliance coaches, using technology and education to drive measurable client success (and how tools like Blacksmith make that journey […]
It Takes More Than Policies — Building a Resilient Compliance Culture
Most organizations have compliance policies. Yet with compliance and risk constantly changing these days, policies alone don’t create a culture that can withstand regulatory scrutiny, reputation shocks, or evolving threats. To deliver true business resilience, compliance must be lived by every team, championed daily by leadership, and woven into the operational fabric of every department. […]
The Rise of DragonForce — How Ransomware Cartels Reshape Cybercrime
DragonForce has quickly transformed from the shadows of obscurity into one of the most watched ransomware cartels of 2025, marking a significant evolution in both the scale and style of cyber extortion. First identified by security researchers in 2023, DragonForce initially operated as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) enterprise, rapidly gaining notoriety in 2024 with high-profile attacks […]
Nine States Team Up for Data Privacy — A New Era of Cross-State Enforcement
With the absence of a comprehensive federal data privacy law in the U.S., states have been stepping up individually to protect their residents’ information. Now, nine states have formed a collaborative regulatory force, sharing resources and enforcement strategies to address the challenges posed by digital data crossing jurisdictional lines. This historic partnership aims to harmonize […]