MSP technology news headlines for the week of Oct. 26, 2026
ConnectWise is bringing agentic endpoint investigation directly into PSA workflows with new AI agents, while Cisco is expanding partner incentives and opening more of its AI and cloud management capabilities to the channel. Elsewhere, TD SYNNEX is building a clearer path for partners to take AI from SMB discovery to deployment, and new security updates from Dell, Fortinet, Cato and ESET show vendors racing to help service providers manage AI, identity and cyber resilience with more automation and control.
If you’re ready for more of this week’s MSP news and partner program updates, scroll on down!
ConnectWise makes endpoint investigation part of the PSA ticket with new AI agents
ConnectWise made its RMM, Voice, Teams and Email AI agents generally available, with the RMM agent diagnosing endpoint issues and staging vetted fixes inside PSA tickets for technician approval.
Key quote from the press release:
“The next phase of AI in managed services will be measured by the work it moves forward, not just the answers it generates. With these agents, we’re bringing that next step to our partners, connecting better service intake with intelligence and governed action deeper in IT operations. This is how we make AI real for MSPs: less repetitive work, more capacity to serve customers and technicians in control of changes to the environments they manage.” — Manny Rivelo, CEO, ConnectWise
Cisco expands partner incentives and opens Cisco IQ to partners
Cisco added ecosystem deal registration, higher adoption and growth incentives, partner access to Cisco IQ and new Cloud Control capabilities for managed and professional services.
Key quote from the press release:
“Our partners are where Cisco meets the customer, and the AI era is asking more of all of us. Customers need partners with the agility to move first and fast. By combining the strength of the Cisco 360 Partner Program with Cisco IQ and Cisco Cloud Control, we’re giving every type of partner new ways to deliver that and be rewarded for it, from the advisor who shapes a decision to the partner who delivers and supports it.” — Tim Coogan, SVP, global partner sales, Cisco
Ingram Micro automates SMB quoting and ordering in Xvantage
SMB Quick Buy will let eligible U.S. partners configure, quote and order validated Cisco and Meraki SMB solutions inside Xvantage beginning in November.
Key quote from the press release:
“Our research shows that MSPs using intelligence to improve efficiency will win more business. Leading MSPs are developing their talent, strengthening strategic partnerships, and finding new ways to increase customer value and recurring revenue without adding costs at the same rate. That same focus drives the innovation, insights, and business outcomes we deliver through Ingram Micro and Xvantage, including SMB Quick Buy.” — Eric Kohl, global vice president, security and networking, Ingram Micro
Arrow adds managed storage services for NetApp Keystone
Arrow launched a managed lifecycle layer for NetApp Keystone that lets channel partners deliver consumption-based storage with monitoring, optimization, cyber resilience and data protection services.
Key quote from the press release:
“Channel partners are increasingly looking for ways to expand recurring revenue, deepen customer relationships, and deliver measurable business outcomes. This managed storage services offering is designed specifically to address those needs while helping simplify delivery, accelerate adoption, and unlock new growth opportunities.” — Mike Martin, general manager of global services, Arrow enterprise computing solutions
TD SYNNEX builds an SMB path from AI discovery to deployment
TD Synnex expanded Destination AI with SMB-specific planning and lab experiences, a StreamOne AI Skills Marketplace and partner training for repeatable AI deployments.
Key quote from the press release:
“The conversation around AI is no longer about possibility. It’s about execution. To drive AI adoption among SMBs, the focus needs to shift beyond productivity use cases like improving emails, documents and presentations and toward solutions that address core business needs and processes. The initial AI Skills available through Destination AI™ for SMBs focus on high-impact business domains including sales, marketing, customer support, operations and knowledge management, helping partners connect AI investments to measurable business outcomes. As adoption grows, we will continue expanding the skills, domains and use cases available through the Destination AI™ framework.” — Sergio Farache, chief strategy and technology officer, TD Synnex
More TD SYNNEX headlines
➡️ TD Synnex brings Cisco self-service commerce to partner storefronts
Dell expands recovery across AI, identity and infrastructure
Dell added AI security and recovery services, PowerProtect recovery for Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, identity MDR and planned quantum-ready storage capabilities.
Key quote from the press release:
“Organizations are managing more complexity, more exposure and faster-moving threats than they were even just a few months ago. Organizations are trying to protect their AI environments, identity systems and infrastructure with tools and strategies that were designed for yesterday’s threats. Dell has the portfolio, the services and the operational expertise to help organizations strengthen cyber resilience and close the gaps between where threats are headed and where most strategies stand today.” — Simon Jelley, vice president, cyber resilience, Dell Technologies
Fortinet turns FortiGate into an inline AI security control point
The cloud-delivered FortiGuard Inline AI Security Service inspects prompts, model responses, MCP traffic and agent activity through existing FortiGate deployments.
Key quote from the press release:
“Organizations need AI security that can scale with how quickly AI is being adopted across the enterprise. By extending advanced AI inspection and guardrails through FortiGate, we are making AI security available through the infrastructure customers already use. FortiAIGate provides the foundation for this broader strategy, giving customers flexibility in how they deploy and consume AI security based on their cost, performance, privacy, and sovereignty requirements.” — Michael Xie, founder, president and CTO, Fortinet
More Fortinet headlines
➡️ Fortinet extends SASE protection to small branches without on-site firewalls
Huntress finds attackers using MDM to reinstall rogue RMM tools
Huntress documented incidents in which social engineering enrolled devices in attacker-controlled Hexnode or Rippling tenants that were then used to deploy rogue remote management tools.
Key findings from the report include:
- Attackers used business-themed lures to enroll devices in legitimate MDM platforms rather than exploiting a product vulnerability.
- An attacker-controlled MDM tenant provided persistent privileged access that could reinstall ScreenConnect after an MSP removed it.
- Defenders should correlate unexpected MDM enrollment, management agents, RMM services and outbound relay connections.
Island launches OceanView for single-pane oversight of Island firewalls
Island firmware Version 4.1 adds OceanView fleet monitoring and Cross Connect, giving integrators and multi-location businesses centralized visibility and more granular communication across segmented networks.
Key quote from the press release:
“Integrators have been asking for this, and we listened. The team has built something elegant here—a way to spot issues as they occur and resolve before the customer is affected.” — Tom Gallo, chief revenue officer, Island
Microsoft responds to eMudhra certificate authority key compromise
Microsoft has issued out-of-band protections for Windows and Edge after private keys tied to eight eMudhra subordinate certificate authorities were compromised.
Key facts from the announcement include:
- The incident affected private keys associated with eight eMudhra G3B/G3C subordinate certificate authorities, including six TLS CAs and two code-signing CAs.
- Microsoft said the incident involved eMudhra and did not represent a compromise of Microsoft systems.
- On Oct. 20, Microsoft published an out-of-band Windows update that blocks the eight compromised CA keys through the Disallowed Certificate Trust List.
- Microsoft also pushed an emergency CRLSet update to Edge and WebView2 to block the affected TLS CA keys.
Cato adds endpoint controls for desktop AI apps and local agents
Cato AI Endpoint discovers and governs browser AI, desktop applications, local agents, MCP servers and skills while operating alongside existing SSE, VPN and EDR tools.
Key quote from the press release:
“AI has outgrown the browser, but most security products have not. AI interactions increasingly happen directly on the host, through native AI applications, local agents, and coding agents – often beyond the line of sight of point solutions. Cato AI Endpoint closes this critical blind spot with deep, host-level inspection of AI interactions, giving organizations a complete line of sight across browsers, native applications, and AI agents. By unifying discovery, deep inspection, context, and enforcement, Cato enables organizations to see, understand, and secure AI activity wherever it happens.” — Ofir Agasi, chief product officer, Cato Networks
Delinea report finds confidence in access controls outpaces governance effectiveness
Delinea’s 2026 Application Access Governance Report found organizations are highly confident in their access controls, even as recurring audit findings, excess permissions and limited oversight of AI agents expose persistent governance gaps.
Key findings from the report include:
- 95% of organizations say they are confident their application access controls would withstand an external audit.
- 51% report the same or similar access findings recurring in consecutive years or findings remaining open for three or more years.
- 52% of organizations do not continuously monitor and remediate excess access.
ESET introduces a specialized model for predictive security operations
ESET NeoCortex powers LiveCortex inside ESET Protect to correlate telemetry, reconstruct incident context and estimate likely attack progression under human oversight.
Key quote from the press release:
“AI is accelerating both cyberattacks and cyberdefenses. With ESET NeoCortex, we are applying our AI investment to develop specialized foundational cybersecurity intelligence that remains under our control and strengthens, rather than replaces, human expertise. This is an important step toward a new generation of predictive, AI-powered security operations leveraging world-model architecture.” — Juraj Malcho, CTO, ESET
Bitdefender launches GravityZone Exposure Management to help security teams reduce critical risks
The new offering combines vulnerability discovery, external attack surface management, attack-path analysis and dynamic hardening to help lean security teams prioritize and remediate the exposures most likely to be exploited.
Key quote from the press release:
“As the attack surface expands, AI and automated scanning have made it incredibly easy for adversaries to find an unpatched server or over-privileged user that gives them a foothold inside an environment. GravityZone Exposure Management gives lean teams control of their attack surface. It learns normal activity for each user and dynamically adapts hardening as behavior and threats evolve, and with added AI visibility, it does the same for AI agents.” — Andrei Florescu, president and general manager, Bitdefender Business Solutions Group
Matt Whitlock is ChannelPro’s tech editor, bringing more than 25 years of technology industry experience and a practical perspective on the tools and trends shaping the IT channel. A seasoned editor, podcast host and event moderator, he covers hardware, cybersecurity and emerging technologies with a focus on what they mean for IT service providers. Through product reviews, analysis and industry conversations, he helps MSPs and MSSPs separate useful innovation from marketing hype, with a little humor along the way.
Images: Cisco; TD SYNNEX; Huntress; Island; Delinea
