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CompTIA absorbs cybersecurity info-sharing group
Wed, 18th Mar 2020
FYI, this story is more than a year old

CompTIA, a trade association for the global information technology (IT) industry, announced today that it will assume the management and operation of the Technology Solution Provider Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (TSP-ISAO).

The announcement was made today during the welcoming address at CompTIA's virtual Communities - Councils Forum.

“There is great interest from managed service providers and other organisations to be part of an information-sharing body dedicated to cybersecurity, the global MSP community and its customers,” says TSP-ISAO executive director MJ Shoer.

The TSP-ISAO was established in August 2019 by ConnectWise, an automation software company, with the goal of advancing the cybersecurity resiliency of the global TSP industry.

“Getting companies to collaborate on cybersecurity is only going to make everyone stronger in this fight,” says ConnectWise chief executive officer Jason Magee.

“We believe the time is now right to hand off the day-to-day operations to CompTIA so the TSPA-ISAO can benefit from its resources and its global reach,” says Magee.

“Most importantly, CompTIA's standing as a vendor-neutral organisation open to anyone engaged in the business of technology makes it the ideal home for the TSP-ISAO, where companies from all corners of the industry can come together for the collective good.

CompTIA says although it will be taking over management, it will continue to lean on the support of ConnectWise to take the product into the future, and says ConnectWise will remain involved with the TSP-ISAO as a Founding Member.

“The TSP-ISAO is a critically important cybersecurity initiative that's made great strides in a short period of time thanks to the vision of Arnie Bellini and the leadership of ConnectWise,” says CompTIA president and chief executive officer Todd Thibodeaux.

“With the ongoing support of the ConnectWise team and the organizations that are already supporting this effort we intend to build on these early successes.

CompTIA says the TSP-ISAO serves as the focal point for dealing with all cyber-threats to TSPs including managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), and managed security services providers (MSSPs).

“Too many service and solution providers are still on their own defending against threats that are increasingly targeted and malicious, with the potential to seriously harm the industry's credibility,” says Shoer.

“We intend to help them buttress their defences with real-time threat information, analyses of potential impacts, coordinated response efforts, security best practices, and education for their staff and customers.

The transition to CompTIA is expected to last several months as the association melds the TSP-ISAO program into its existing cybersecurity initiatives and industry groups.