Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Pax8 Beyond 2026 made one thing clear: the managed services industry has entered a new phase. For years, managed service providers (MSPs) drove growth by adding more tools, more technicians and more services. Today, that model is cracking. AI, automation and rising customer expectations are reshaping how MSPs operate and how they create value. Technology alone is no longer the differentiator.

New Zealanders are feeling the pain of more frequent and effective cyberattacks. While knowing how to avoid attacks is important, it’s not enough to prevent damage. Consumers, businesses and service providers all need to do more to ensure safe email communications. Numbers tell the story.

Analyst firm Omdia has recognized Acronis as a Champion in the Omdia Cybersecurity MSP Ecosystems Leadership Matrix 2026. This distinction is the highest placement in one of the industry’s most closely watched evaluations of cybersecurity vendors serving managed service providers (MSPs). The recognition highlights Acronis’ continued investment in cybersecurity innovation, partner profitability and MSP-focused platform development.

The days when compliance was just a documentation exercise are long gone. Now, it’s a critical priority for a wide variety of organizations. But compliance is more of a result than a goal. The goal is achieving resilience. Cybersecurity and data protection regulations are rapidly evolving far beyond traditional compliance checklists. Global frameworks and regulations such as NIS 2, DORA, GDPR, HIPAA, SOX and NIST 2.0 are placing greater emphasis on operational resilience.

Author: Umair Ahmed, Product Marketing Manager, Security AI phishing, BEC and social engineering have made user behavior part of the attack path. Acronis Security Awareness Training helps MSPs reduce human risk at scale. Many client breaches do not begin with a dramatic failure.

AI is already incorporated into most of your clients’ workflows. Employees are using chatbots and other built-in GenAI tools to draft emails, analyze data and automate work. The challenge? Much of that activity is happening outside your formal security controls, and that creates a new risk layer. For managed service providers (MSPs), the question is no longer whether to secure AI adoption for their clients, but how to evaluate the right AI security solution.

Payment diversion fraud is a rapidly growing and potentially expensive threat to Australian businesses. Attacks exploit weaknesses in payment verification processes to trick organisations into transferring funds to criminal-controlled accounts. According to Australia's National Anti-Scam Centre, Australians lost A$166.8 million to payment redirection scams in 2025, up nearly 10% compared to 2024.

Author: Alexander Ivanyuk, Senior Director, Technology Generative AI changes how people work with information. A user can ask a question, upload a document, summarize a ticket, draft an email or ask an AI assistant to help with a workflow. That is useful because the interaction feels natural. But the same natural-language interface also creates a new security problem: instructions and data can become mixed together.

AI is everywhere in Australian schools. Students are using AI-powered tools to support learning, teachers are leveraging AI to improve productivity and lesson planning, and school administrators are exploring new ways to simplify operations. But while AI holds a lot of promise, it also introduces new cybersecurity challenges. Australian schools increasingly find themselves balancing innovation with the need to protect students and staff.

OEM expectations have shifted. High performance is no longer enough, and systems must stay resilient for years or even decades across complex environments. Evolving cyberthreats and stricter regulations are increasing complexity. With legacy systems lasting longer and frameworks like the EU Cyber Resilience Act and IEC 62443 raising the bar, prevention alone no longer cuts it. Recovery readiness ensures fast, predictable restoration with minimal disruption.

This report examines the disaster recovery (DR) readiness across the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud platform, managing thousands of DR deployments across dozens of data centers worldwide. The analysis focuses on Q1 2026 (January – March) and reveals a clear gap between having DR configured and being truly ready for a disaster.