About
O’Ryan Johnson is a veteran news reporter. He covers the channel beat for CRN and hopes to hear from channel partners about how he can improve his coverage and write the stories they want to read. He can be reached at ojohnson@thechannelcompany.com.
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How The Best MSPs Harden Remote Office Networks, According to Pax8
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘Once a year take that next step and engage in actual penetration testing. Let someone else come in there and see if they can breach your system,’ says Craig Donovan, vice president of partner service at Pax8.
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Datto Founder McChord Says MSPs ‘Made This Possible’ On First Day Of Trading
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘I just want this community to know I haven’t forgotten what made this possible. Thank You’,’ Datto, Inc. founder and board member Austin McChord wrote to MSPs on Reddit.
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Datto Launches As ‘MSP’ on NYSE; Shares Trade At $27
by O’Ryan Johnson
The company tech guru Austin McChord built in a Connecticut basement debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, expecting to raise $594 million.
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CEO Robert Smith Has ‘Complete Trust And Support:’ Vista Equity Sources
by O’Ryan Johnson
The billionaire CEO and Vista Equity founder is under threat of indictment for the next 1,804 days if he strays from his seven-page agreement with federal prosecutors, even as his portfolio company Datto prepares to launch an IPO on Wednesday.
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Datto Board Member Steps Down Before $561M IPO
by Steven Burke
Vista Equity Partners Co-Founder and President Brian Sheth, who has served on the Datto board since the MSP platform provider was acquired by Vista three years ago, has given up his board seat.
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Datto’s Private Equity CEO Admits ‘Serious Crimes,’ But Avoids Prosecution
by O’Ryan Johnson
Under a deal with federal prosecutors, Vista Equity Partners CEO Robert Smith will pay $140 million and cooperate with law enforcement to avoid prosecution for what they call his ‘serious crimes.’
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‘Vista Controls Us’: 5 Warnings From Inside Datto’s IPO
by O’Ryan Johnson
Ahead of its IPO, Datto is setting the stage for a potential conflict between investors and its private equity owner forewarning that ‘its interests may conflict with ours or yours in the future.’
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SKOUT Adds Former RSA CEO Coviello As Senior Advisor
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘In retirement, I’ve focused on tough intellectual problems, and I don’t think there is a tougher one than bringing security to the masses of small businesses, and to do it through MSPs is a fascinating approach,’ says SKOUT Cybersecurity, senior advisor Art Coviello Jr.
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Datto IPO Set For $561M Target, CEO Says It Is ‘All In On The Channel’
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘Our journey forward is as a leader in an ecosystem comprised of global partners, employees and other vendors that created our success to date,’ Datto CEO Tim Weller wrote in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Tyler Technologies Reportedly Paid Ransomware, Like Many Other Victims, Expert Says
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘Contemporary cybercrime is no longer dominated by novices. Rather, career criminal enterprises employ the best strategies to ensure the victims are unable to recover from a ransomware incident without a secret key that only they hold,’ says Vitali Kremez, an ethical hacker and CEO of Advanced Intelligence LLC.
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BlackBerry, Cylance Partner Programs Unify In ‘A Really Huge Win For The Customer’
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘The go-to-market strategy is going to simplify everything ... I think that‘s a huge win. It’s a win for the manufacturer. It’s a huge win for the partner. But most importantly, it’s a really huge win for the customer,’ says Michael E. Crean, a BlackBerry partner, who is the president and CEO of the MSSP Solutions Granted Inc.
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Tech Data’s Sammy Kinlaw On Why He Left Lexmark, Opportunity At The Endpoint
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘I knew this was a job I could sink my teeth into. I knew they would give me the autonomy to grow and explore,’ says Sammy Kinlaw, new senior vice president of endpoint solutions for the Americas at Tech Data.
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Cybersecurity Firm Onapsis Raises $55 Million To ‘Significantly’ Scale
by O’Ryan Johnson
“This funding only builds on our continued strong momentum as we stay hyper-focused on being the standard for mission-critical application security and compliance across cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments,” the company’s CEO and founder Mariano Nunez, CEO and founder of Onapsis said in a statement.
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Feds Threaten Civil Penalties For Those Paying Ransomware Demands
by O’Ryan Johnson
‘(R)ansomware payments made to sanctioned persons or to comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions could be used to fund activities adverse to the national security and foreign policy objectives of the United States,’ a memo written by the U.S. Department of Treasury states.
