MSP technology news headlines for the week of August 24, 2026
TD SYNNEX is expanding PartnerFirst with new lifecycle data, integrations and a services marketplace, while Okta is bringing SSO to AI agents and Nutanix is adding new tools for production AI and service providers. Meanwhile, fresh research shows MSPs facing growing pressure around Microsoft 365 operations, Copilot governance and AI adoption, while security teams contend with active PaperCut exploitation, identity risks and uneven cyber resilience across industries.
If you’re ready for more of this week’s MSP news and partner program updates, scroll on down!
TD SYNNEX expands PartnerFirst with lifecycle data, integrations and services marketplace
PartnerFirst added customer lifecycle analysis, cloud subscription visibility, CRM and accounting connectors, AI assistants and a services marketplace in North America.
Key quote from the PartnerFirst press release:
“Partners don’t need more dashboards. They need better methods to help them identify opportunities sooner, act faster and grow profitably. The latest enhancements to PartnerFirst give partners greater visibility across the customer lifecycle, automate key workflows and turn data into action so they can scale their business with greater precision.” — Reyna Thompson, president, North America, TD SYNNEX
MSPs face a Microsoft 365 operations and AI governance gap
A survey of 193 MSP professionals found that Microsoft 365 administration remains heavily manual as client demand for AI governance accelerates.
Key findings from the report include:
- 40% of MSPs named AI and Copilot governance their fastest-growing client request.
- 47% reported an AI or Copilot-related data exposure or near miss in a client tenant during the past 12 months.
- 58% set up new client tenant security baselines manually or with custom scripts.
PerfTech announces Island Pro Mini router/firewall
The new midrange router/firewall brings 10G performance, security filtering, activity monitoring and subscription-free management features to demanding home and small business environments.
Key quote from the press release:
“The Pro Mini, a new mid-range router/firewall, brings everything resellers and customers love about the Island Pro…high-speed, rugged reliability, easy Smart Swap® install, but wrapped up in a smaller footprint.” — Tom Gallo, CRO, Island
Okta makes Agent SSO generally available in core plans
Agent SSO registers supported AI agents as identities, replaces stored credentials with short-lived tokens and applies centralized access policy through Cross App Access.
Key quote from the press release:
“Okta is an undisputed leader in SSO, and now we’re bringing SSO for your AI agents. AI agents are fast becoming a primary interface for how work gets done, but granting them access to enterprise systems shouldn’t require trading away security or visibility. With Agent SSO, we are helping to establish a fundamental security standard for the agentic enterprise. By treating every connected agent as a first-class identity and bundling this capability directly into our core SSO offering, Okta is making it effortless for enterprises to secure AI workflows from day one.” — Ric Smith, president of products and technology, Okta
Nutanix adds production AI tools and service provider resources
Nutanix made Enterprise AI 2.8 and Service Provider Central generally available and announced Kubernetes Platform 2.19 for production AI workloads.
Key quote from the press release:
“Enterprise AI should not require customers to rebuild the systems that already run their business. With our dual-native architecture, customers can bring AI to their existing applications and data while running each workload on the infrastructure best suited to it, with consistent operations and governance across VMs, containers and AI. This gives organizations a practical path to production without creating new silos or limiting future choice.” — Thomas Cornely, executive vice president, product management, Nutanix
BCN launches managed remote power recovery service
BCN RPM monitors connectivity and can automatically or remotely reboot routers, modems, firewalls, switches and access points.
Key quote from the press release:
“Managing dozens of remote locations means even a simple equipment reboot can require unnecessary time and expense. By integrating remote power monitoring into our managed connectivity service, BCN can restore service faster for clients while reducing onsite visits and eliminating operational blind spots.” — Chris Alberding, chief product officer, BCN
Apple upgrades Mac mini for on-device AI and business workloads
The new Mac mini adds M6 or M5 Pro processors, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and 2.5Gb Ethernet with availability beginning Sept. 22.
Key quote from the press release:
“Mac mini has always been our most versatile Mac. Whether it’s being used as a home computer, powering a professional studio, or as an always-on agentic device, it’s the little Mac that can do it all. Today, we’re taking this versatility even further. With a more powerful CPU and graphics, Neural Accelerators in the GPU, and higher memory bandwidth, Mac mini with M6 delivers a whole new level of AI performance. And with up to an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU, Mac mini with M5 Pro is an ultracompact powerhouse for complex pro workflows. We can’t wait to see all the incredible ways people will use it next.” — Johny Srouji, chief hardware officer, Apple
More Headlines from Apple
➡️ Apple introduces Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra
Glean launches global partner network for enterprise AI services
The program offers referral, commercial, services and solutions and technology pathways with deal registration, MDF and partner competencies.
Key quote from the press release:
“Partners are central to making enterprise AI work. The Glean Partner Network gives partners more ways to build real businesses with Glean and gives customers a clearer path to the expertise they need. As partners build their capabilities and deliver results, we will invest alongside them.” — Zubin Irani, VP of partnerships, Glean
CIQ launches self-service partner portal with deal protection
Approved partners can register and track deals and access current pricing, sales material and executed agreements in one portal.
Key quote from the press release:
“CIQ has built real momentum, and our partners are how we turn that momentum into scale. They reach accounts and regions we will never cover directly, and their customers are moving on AI infrastructure now. The portal arms partners to close that business with us, and it is the foundation for how we grow this channel worldwide.” — Bjorn Hovland, president, CIQ
Barracuda documents attacks abusing trusted remote access software
Barracuda Managed XDR incident data highlighted GlobalProtect scanning, risky firewall exposure and abuse of ScreenConnect for persistent endpoint access.
Key findings from the blog post include:
- The SOC detected two waves of inbound scanning against public GlobalProtect services.
- A firewall misconfiguration exposed SSL VPN, RDP and Telnet services to multiple scanning clusters.
- Analysts found unauthorized ScreenConnect clients configured for unattended access and communicating with suspicious domains.
GTIA finds SMBs are taking a measured approach to AI
GTIA surveyed 520 SMB and microbusiness decision-makers about AI deployment, governance and demand for outside assistance.
Key findings from the report include:
- 50% of SMB respondents were AI-invested and 40% were deploying AI tactically.
- 84% reported positive business effects from AI tools and platforms.
- 50% already work with an ITSP or strategic partner on AI and another 12% are considering outside assistance.
Huntress report warns PaperCut zero-day is under active exploitation
Huntress observed exploitation of a pre-authentication remote code execution chain affecting PaperCut NG and PaperCut MF and is urging organizations to apply emergency patches and remove public exposure.
Key findings from the blog post include:
- PaperCut said attackers are actively exploiting a pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability against PaperCut NG and PaperCut MF, with confirmed customer incidents.
- Huntress found evidence of exploitation in two customer environments, with observed activity focused on system discovery.
- Huntress reproduced a full pre-authentication remote code execution chain against a vanilla PaperCut NG 25.0.11.75758 server.
- PaperCut assigned CVE-2026-81578 to an improper access control vulnerability and CVE-2026-82078 to an unsafe dynamic class-loading vulnerability involved in the attack chain.
Semperis details two Active Directory privilege escalation flaws
ResetNightmare and KerberLoss exploit identity-name handling weaknesses that can enable authentication downgrade, denial of service or domain takeover.
Key quote from the press release:
“Active Directory remains the crown jewel of enterprise infrastructure, and for threat actors, the holy grail is clear: gain Domain Admin privileges. This level of privilege effectively grants full control over an organization’s environment. Identity protection therefore plays an integral part in enterprise security, and organizations invest great efforts in preventing threat actors from gaining access to administrators’ credentials.” — Shai Laron, security researcher, Semperis
Above Security and Forscie publish AI insider threat matrix
The free Synthetic Insider Threat Matrix maps 166 knowledge objects for investigating and describing AI-agent insider behavior.
Key quote from the press release:
“Synthetic insiders are a real and growing problem, and most of the industry doesn’t yet know what to do about it. We do, because our research team has been studying this behavior in live environments for months. Extending the Matrix, so the whole community has language for it, is exactly what security teams and the industry as a whole need right now.” — Aviv Nahum, co-founder and CEO, Above Security
Nucleus adds AI engine for exposure management
Nucleus Helix combines threat intelligence, passive exposure discovery and a natural-language agent for building exposure management workflows.
Key quote from the press release:
“We brought AI engineering and security expertise to a problem that has always taken hours of manual work. The result is Nucleus Helix: an engine that pairs the best of modern AI with fast, accurate, reliable execution, so teams remediate faster at enterprise-scale.” — Scott Kuffer, co-founder and chief product officer, Nucleus Security
Globalgig expands managed security across edge, endpoint, identity and AI
The available-now MSSP portfolio combines edge, endpoint, identity, AI and managed or co-managed SOC services under one operating model.
Key quote from the press release:
“Enterprises are done juggling a patchwork of security vendors and accepting the risk that comes with it. We already secure and operate their networks. Now we deliver that same model across the full attack surface, with one team accountable for results.” — Gina Nomellini, chief operations officer, Globalgig
ExtraHop announces 400 Gbps NDR sensor
The RevealX sensor analyzes full data center traffic at 400 Gbps and exposes structured network context to security agents through APIs and MCP.
Key quote from the press release:
“AI is compounding the volume of data moving across our infrastructure every day, and our security tooling has not kept pace with our data center. Complete visibility at this scale is no longer optional post-Mythos. AI-powered attacks move at record speed, and the AI-powered systems need to be able to tell the difference between a quiet network and a network they are only partially seeing.” — Chris Konrad, vice president global cyber, World Wide Technology
Parallels Desktop 27 expands professional Windows app support on Apple silicon
Parallels Desktop 27 adds OpenGL 4.3, local AI acceleration and new enterprise deployment and reporting capabilities for Apple silicon Macs.
Key quote from the press release:
“As customers continue to push the limits of what they do on Mac, they’re looking for virtualization that keeps pace with increasingly demanding applications and workflows. Parallels Desktop 27 enables customers to run more of the Windows applications they depend on while giving developers faster local AI performance and expanding what’s possible on Apple silicon.” — Elena Koryakina, chief product and technology officer, Parallels
Hack The Box finds AI agents concentrated among top cyber teams
A three-year benchmark found faster challenge completion and disproportionate AI-agent use among the top 25 cybersecurity teams.
Key findings from the report include:
- AI agents represented 2.7% of registered accounts but appeared on 17 of the top 25 teams.
- Median recorded time to solve fell from 26.1 hours in 2024 to 13.8 hours in 2026.
- Full-board completions increased from two teams in 2024 to 15 teams in 2026.
10ZiG and Leostream offer migration path from HP Anyware
The joint solution combines 10ZiG thin and zero clients with Leostream remote access software to support Windows IoT and Linux endpoint migrations from HP Anyware.
Key quote from the press release:
“Organizations are looking for a practical path beyond HP Anyware that doesn’t force them into another proprietary ecosystem. By partnering with Leostream, we’re giving customers the freedom to choose the protocols and infrastructure that best meet their needs while supporting both our Linux and Windows IoT endpoint platforms. Combined with our thin clients, repurposing software, and free management platform, organizations can modernize their remote workspaces while protecting existing investments.” — Kevin Greenway, CTO, 10ZiG Technology
Onyxia Cyber report exposes wide gaps in cyber resilience standards across sectors
Onyxia Cyber’s CISO research report found that resilience expectations vary sharply across critical infrastructure, healthcare, financial services, retail and technology, leaving many security leaders without a reliable benchmark for acceptable risk.
Key findings from the report include:
- Only 31.3% of critical infrastructure organizations target resolving critical vulnerabilities within three days, compared with 61.4% in financial services, 62% in retail and e-commerce and 69.0% in IT and technology.
- Healthcare and pharma organizations reported the highest phishing click-through rate at 5.53%, nearly double the 3.13% reported by financial services organizations.
- Financial services organizations reported the lowest rate of unmanaged devices at 1.76% and the lowest percentage of inactive privileged accounts at 1.05%.
- IT and technology organizations reported the highest phishing reporting expectations, with employees expected to report 78.8% of phishing emails, compared with 59.9% in critical infrastructure.
As ChannelPro’s online director and tech editor for over a decade, Matt Whitlock has spent years blending sharp tech insight with digital know-how. He brings more than 25 years’ experience working in the technology industry to his reviews, analysis, and general musings about all things gadget and gear.
Images: Augmentt, PerfTech, Okta, Glean, GTIA, Hack the Box, 10ZiG, Onyxia,
