Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

For the fifth consecutive year, CRN has recognized Alex Ruslyakov as a Channel Chief. The honor for 2026 highlights Ruslyakov’s continued commitment to helping managed service providers (MSPs) deliver modern cyber protection successfully year after year. The annual CRN Channel Chiefs list spotlights the most influential leaders across the IT channel, celebrating those who champion collaboration, drive innovation and empower their partners and customers to achieve shared success.

In January 2026, the AV-TEST Institute published results from a rigorous advanced threat protection (ATP) test that examined how effectively current security products defend Windows systems against sophisticated malware attacks. As attackers increasingly leverage legitimate features and subtle techniques to penetrate defenses, this test provides insight into which solutions can truly recognize and mitigate these threats.

Your disaster recovery plan might look bulletproof on paper, but there’s only one way to know if it works: Test it. Failover testing validates whether your backup systems can actually handle the load when production goes down. Most IT teams find gaps during their first test, like misconfigured settings, outdated documentation, or dependencies that nobody remembered to document.

We’ve done it — Jira Granular Backup is now live in GitProtect! And that’s not all. The GitProtect 2.1.0 release also introduces backup & restore for Azure DevOps Artifacts, expands protection coverage for GitHub Projects by draft issues, and brings a whole set of improvements across the platform. Let’s break down what’s new and why it matters for DevOps and Jira Admins.

VMware offers a wide range of products, and understanding their different use cases may be overwhelming. In this blog post, we cover the differences between three commonly used technologies in VMware environments: It’s important to note that any ESXi vs. vSphere vs. vCenter comparison should start with a caveat: these technologies are complementary rather than substitutes for one another. NAKIVO for VMware vSphere Backup Complete data protection for VMware vSphere VMs and instant recovery options.

Data Privacy Day, observed each year on January 28, should serve as an important reminder that safeguarding sensitive information is no longer optional. Unfortunately, some consumers and organizations could use the reminder. Data privacy isn’t just a practice for fending off cyberattacks, although that element is important. It is also a critical part of building trust, meeting regulatory requirements and maintaining business continuity.

Your Azure SQL database contains business-critical data that drives operations, analytics, and customer experiences. Losing this data, even temporarily, can impede revenue, damage customer relationships, and create compliance problems. Learning how to back up an Azure SQL database is essential for business continuity.