Author Archives: Thrive

Thrive recently opened its newest data center in Montreal, Canada. This addition to our growing global infrastructure underscores our commitment to providing top-tier managed IT services for Canadian companies. Thrive’s Canadian data center locations and high-performance fibre networks provide fast, reliable, and secure colocation and connectivity with onsite security services and remote real-time monitoring. Montreal’s strategic location and robust tech ecosystem make it an ideal hub for our latest investment in cutting-edge technology and operational excellence.

A Strategic Move for Businesses in Canada and Beyond

The opening of our Montreal data center represents more than just the expansion of Thrive’s footprint into Quebec. It’s a strategic investment in supporting Canadian businesses and international organizations with local presence, enhanced connectivity, and unparalleled service delivery. From ensuring compliance with regional regulations to providing low-latency access to essential services, this new facility is poised to empower customers to achieve their business goals with confidence.

Security: Protecting What Matters Most

Like Thrive’s other data centers, the Montreal facility is designed with security as a top priority. Employing best practices in on-site physical security, the data center features:

• Biometric access controls to ensure only authorized personnel can enter.
• Perimeter monitoring systems for continuous surveillance of the facility.
• 24×7 staffing by highly trained professionals to oversee operations and respond to any anomalies.

Thrive also incorporates advanced digital security solutions to safeguard customer data, providing peace of mind in an increasingly complex threat landscape. Thrive strives to empower customers with the tools and expertise needed to better protect their critical data, ensuring their most valuable assets remain secure.

Reliability: Powering Mission-Critical Infrastructure

Our Montreal data center is purpose-built to deliver maximum reliability and connectivity, ensuring uninterrupted operations for Canadian businesses that depend on their IT infrastructure. With advanced hardware, redundant systems, and proactive maintenance, Thrive guarantees the uptime and performance needed to support mission-critical applications and services.

Scalability: Flexible Solutions for a Growing Future

Thrive’s new data center offers unparalleled scalability, enabling organizations to adapt seamlessly as their business needs evolve. Whether expanding storage capacity, or accommodating new technological initiatives, our data center is equipped to handle the demands of growth with ease.

Emergency Backup: Resilience When It Matters Most

Emergencies are unpredictable, but preparedness isn’t. Our new facility features fully redundant power, networking, and environmental systems to ensure operations continue without disruption. Paired with industry-leading replication and recovery technology platforms, our data center protects critical systems and data from potential loss, helping businesses bounce back swiftly in the event of a breach.

Empowering Customers for a Safer Digital Future

By leveraging the capabilities of our Montreal data center, customers can strengthen their data protection strategies, reduce vulnerabilities, and enhance their overall security posture. Our goal is to empower businesses to take control of their digital assets with confidence and resilience.

Experience the Thrive Difference

At Thrive, we believe that innovation and reliability go hand in hand. Whether your organization is looking to enhance security, ensure business continuity, or scale for future growth, Thrive is your trusted partner every step of the way.
Contact Thrive today to learn more about how our Montreal data center or other locations can help your business thrive in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

The dark web remains a hub of cybercriminal activity, where stolen credentials, sensitive data, and malicious plans are exchanged daily. In fact, 65% of active criminals utilize dark web data for cyber attacks. For businesses, it’s not enough to secure networks internally—you must also monitor external threats. That’s where a dark web monitoring solution comes in. By proactively identifying risks in these hidden channels, security teams can detect potential threats early and take decisive action before they escalate into costly disruptions.

Why Early Detection Matters

Cybercriminals often leak compromised data or plan attacks on the dark web before the target is aware of a breach. For example, “Leaksmas”, was an event where over 50 million records of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) were leaked in the Dark Web on Christmas Eve 2023.

Waiting until an attack strikes can leave your organization scrambling to recover, leading to downtime, financial losses, and reputational damage. With early detection, you can:

• Prevent Disruption: Swiftly addressing stolen credentials or look-a-like domain names can stop cybercriminals from committing fraud or gaining access to sensitive data..
• Maintain Trust: Customers and partners expect you to keep their data safe. Proactive monitoring helps you uphold their confidence.
• Enhance Incident Response: Detecting threats early allows security teams to prioritize actions and respond effectively before attacks materialize.

Thrive’s Partnership with Symbol Security and Dark Owl

Through a strategic partnership with Symbol Security and leveraging the cutting-edge capabilities of Dark Owl, Thrive is delivering dark web monitoring tools specifically tailored for small and mid-market organizations. Why does this matter?

• Advanced Threat Visibility for SMBs: Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are often targeted due to perceived weaker defenses. Thrive’s collaboration ensures access to enterprise-grade dark web intelligence for resource-limited organizations.
• Affordable, Accessible Solutions: Cybersecurity tools can be costly, but Thrive and Symbol Security are democratizing access. With Thrive’s expertise and Symbol Security’s advanced monitoring, organizations without large IT teams can protect their assets effectively.
• Expert-Led Action Plans: Identifying threats is just the first step. Thrive’s cybersecurity experts provide guidance on how to respond, which could range from resetting accounts, blocking domains to prevent users from being phished, or even engaging your legal resources to take down doppelganger domains impersonating your business.

This collaboration levels the playing field, ensuring businesses of all sizes have the tools to stay secure in today’s hostile digital environment.

Real-World Scenarios: Why Dark Web Monitoring is Essential

Consider these real-world examples of what dark web monitoring can uncover:

• Stolen Credentials: Login details compromised in a third-party breach are often posted for sale. If these credentials are reused on a company’s sensitive internal systems by an employee, attackers can gain access through no fault of the company. Dark web monitoring can identify these stolen logins before they have a chance to be weaponized.
• Leaked Customer Data: Cybercriminals may share your customer’s personal records, including email addresses, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and more putting your reputation and compliance at risk.
• Impending Attacks: Intercepting discussions about potential attacks against your organization or industry give you the opportunity to prepare before the threat becomes a reality.

Monitoring these activities enables businesses to take preemptive measures, such as resetting compromised passwords, tightening access controls, or alerting impacted customers.

Want to understand how dark web monitoring works and why it’s critical for your business? Join Thrive’s upcoming webinar, in collaboration with Symbol Security and Dark Owl, to explore:

• How cybercriminals use the dark web to communicate and plan attacks.
• The benefits of early threat detection for small and mid-market organizations.
• Practical strategies to safeguard your digital assets proactively.

Register Now

Take the Next Step: Thrive is Here to Help

Dark web monitoring isn’t just for large enterprises—every business, regardless of size, deserves access to advanced cybersecurity tools. Thrive’s expertly tailored solutions empower small and mid-market organizations to detect threats early, act decisively, and maintain operational integrity.
Contact Thrive today to learn how our cybersecurity experts can help you stay one step ahead of cyber attackers and protect what matters most.

Leading Managed Service Provider Also Wins CyberSecured Award for Managed Detection and Response Services

Boston, MA, December 17, 2024 – Thrive, a global technology outsourcing provider for cybersecurity, Cloud, and IT managed services, today announced that its CEO, Rob Stephenson, has been named the 2024 MSP Titan of the Year. Rob was given the accolade in recognition of his leadership, innovation, and dedication to shaping the future of the MSP industry.

Over the past nine years, Stephenson has fearlessly guided Thrive through a time of immense growth. Under his leadership, the company has grown to now include more than 1,400 employees across the U.S., UK, Canada, and APAC regions; added service lines addressing new and evolving challenges in IT and cybersecurity; and developed a customer-first culture that is embraced at every level of the organization. Over the past two years alone, Stephenson has led the company through 11 acquisitions, executing against an aggressive growth strategy that has resulted in immense opportunities for both employees and clients.

“Thrive’s mission is to be the most respected managed security and IT services provider for the mid-market and sophisticated SMBs around the world,” said Stephenson. “This prestigious award validates Thrive’s position as the global leader for customers with complex technology requirements to partner with on their digital transformation journeys and has been duly earned by our 1,400 hardworking, client advocating employees.”

MSP Titans of the Industry Awards is an annual awards program that highlights trailblazers in the MSP industry that set new standards of excellence and innovations. Winners are selected from a competitive pool of candidates and are chosen based on their dedication, leadership, and successes, and Titan of the Year is the program’s biggest accolade. The awards program is run by MSP Success Magazine, a publication dedicated to helping CEOs and owners of managed IT services businesses build strong, profitable, growth-oriented businesses.

In addition to the MSP Titan of the Year award, Thrive’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services have been recognized as part of Security Today’s CyberSecured Awards, under the MSSP category. Thrive’s MDR solutions enable organizations to take a proactive approach to security by combining powerful Extended Detection and Response Services (XDR) with Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM), alongside Thrive’s 24x7x365 SOC to provide around the clock monitoring. This award adds to Thrive’s growing list of accolades in 2024, including being named the Top Supplier for Cloud and Managed Services by Telarus and Boston Business Journal’s Dealmaker of the Year as part of the BBJ’s Middle Market Leaders program.

To learn more about Thrive’s award-winning solutions and services, visit the website.

About Thrive

Thrive delivers global technology outsourcing for cybersecurity, Cloud, networking, and other complex IT requirements. Thrive’s NextGen platform enables customers to increase business efficiencies through standardization, scalability, and automation, delivering oversized technology returns on investment (ROI). They accomplish this with advisory services, vCISO, vCIO, consulting, project implementation, solution architects, and a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform. Thrive delivers exceptional high-touch service through its POD approach of subject matter experts and global 24x7x365 SOC, NOC, and centralized services teams. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Contacts

Amanda Maguire

thrive@v2comms.com

Build up your Data Governance and Privacy Protocols to help mitigate the risk of improper technology use

With the plethora of new technologies available to help boost business and personal productivity, it can be hard for IT leaders to control access and usage of these tools. But the potential risk is too great to simply open the doors to new tools. Usage policies need to be established that help employees know what is and is not allowed while setting out proper oversight and governance protocols.

Download our sample Acceptable Use policy template for a starting point as you look to create and implement robust, company-wide data governance policies and privacy protocols that make safeguarding sensitive information a priority. It’s vital to preemptively ensure that only authorized personnel have access to critical data and that stringent security measures are in place to prevent unauthorized access.

Disclaimer: This policy template is meant to provide general guidelines and should only be used as a reference. It is not a legal document. It may not take into account all relevant local, state, or federal laws. Thrive does not assume any legal liability that may arise from the use of this policy.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure rules officially went into effect in December 2023.^[1] Aimed at improving cybersecurity risk management at public companies, the rules intended to protect investors by enforcing operational and strategic transparency. Public companies must now disclose major cybersecurity incidents and provide annual updates on how they approach cybersecurity resilience and governance.

Download your copy of the 2024 Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Security Operations report to help you align your investment risk profile with the readiness and maturity of the myriad technology options out there. We feel you can gain insights into how you should prioritize security spending in the years ahead, while understanding the timelines for leading-edge technologies including Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Autonomous Penetration Testing as a Service, and Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture.

Download the Gartner report today!

Gartner, Hype Cycle for Security Operations, Jonathan Nunez and Andrew Davies, 29 July 2024
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark, and HYPE CYCLE is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Thrive is not just a company; it’s a testament to what happens when a community of passionate individuals comes together to unleash the full potential of technology and human collaboration. Our story is one of continuous evolution, innovation, and a steadfast commitment to technology excellence on our customers’ behalf.

Audax Private Equity, a leading investment firm, recently acquired Aspen Surgical, a surgical products business previously under Hillrom’s umbrella. This case study highlights how Thrive, a trusted technology partner, facilitated a seamless transition for Aspen Surgical’s IT infrastructure, enabling a successful carve-out and setting the stage for future growth and innovation.

Separation Struggles

Aspen Surgical tackled the challenge of untangling its IT infrastructure from its former parent company, Hillrom, which involved adding new servers, migrating data, and enhancing security. Audax and Aspen Surgical sought a partner to establish their new IT infrastructure and ensure timely completion before the transitional services agreement expired.

Thrive Chosen for Expertise in Mid-Market, PE-backed Ventures

Audax chose Thrive for its innovative approach and proven expertise in mid-market, PE-backed ventures, streamlining critical projects like mergers and acquisitions. “Thrive’s portfolio-wide reporting back to the fund is unique in the marketplace and ensures secure and scalable platforms. Additionally, its proactive cybersecurity approach mitigates post-acquisition risks and lays the groundwork for seamless add-on investments,” said Kevin Ellis, Vice President of Sales at Thrive. Audax also valued Thrive’s dedicated PE-focused teams and tailored support for fast-growth businesses.

Precision in Action: Planning and Execution

Collaborating closely with Aspen Surgical’s internal IT team, Thrive meticulously planned server and data migration, deployed new Office 365 tenants, and implemented robust security measures with an innovative ticketing system for quick response time, resolution and communication. This strategic approach ensured minimal downtime and disruption to operations, laying a secure foundation for future endeavors.

Seamless Deployment

Thrive prioritized security and scalability by implementing advanced endpoint security measures and robust backup and disaster recovery services. These efforts aimed to mitigate cybersecurity threats and minimize downtime risks. Solutions deployed include ThriveCloud, ServiceNow technology, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), 24x7x365 Security Operations Center, NextGen Endpoint Security (EDR), Vulnerability Scanning, End User Security Training, Phishing Simulation.

Our PE-experienced team possesses the technical and strategic skills to navigate rapid growth scenarios, providing unparalleled support focused on value creation, protection, and PE-specific engineering and account management. Throughout the carve-out process, Thrive ensured project completion within the confines of the transitional services agreement, emphasizing the importance of effective communication and comprehensive project management.

Realizing the Vision: Achieving Success with Thrive

With Thrive’s aid, Aspen Surgical smoothly transitioned to its new IT infrastructure, bolstered by NextGen services for scalability and resilience, while proactive cybersecurity measures ensured value protection post-acquisition. Leveraging Thrive’s services, including ThriveCloud, Aspen Surgical guarantees scalable solutions for future growth, with ongoing support ensuring a robust IT setup. With Thrive’s help, Audax and Aspen completed the carve-out on time and budget, facilitating rapid expansion and investments for Aspen Surgical’s future prosperity.

Revolutionizing Private Equity Transactions

Thrive’s unparalleled expertise in supporting PE transactions transcends individual carve-outs. By providing portfolio-wide reporting and innovative solutions tailored to PE firms’ unique needs, Thrive is poised to revolutionize how investment firms manage and optimize their technology investments, driving value and enabling strategic growth initiatives.

Thrive’s Value Creation and Protection Designed for PE

Acquisitions draw attention, making companies vulnerable to impersonation and phishing. Smaller to mid-market PE firms with technical debt are especially at risk due to outdated security. Immediate security analysis post-acquisition is crucial to mitigate threats promptly. Neglecting this can lead to significant financial losses, emphasizing the need for proactive cybersecurity measures to safeguard against attacks targeting newly acquired businesses.

Agile and Adaptive for PE Transactions

Thrive consistently conducts thorough IT operations reviews and security evaluations. In many cases involving PE firms, transactions come with technical debt and scalability challenges. Nonetheless, Thrive’s agility allows for swift adjustments to the current operational landscape, ensuring seamless support and adaptability to evolving needs.

“Our team was faced with a significant migration project and we sought out an experienced partner to help us make the process seamless and be available as an extension of our internal team for support when needed. Thrive ended up being the partner we were looking for – and more.” ~ Christopher Dukes, VP of Information Technology, Aspen Surgical

How can Thrive help your business?

Thrive is a leading provider of outsourced IT Infrastructure designed to drive business outcomes by helping you get the most out of your IT.

To learn more about our services and discuss how we can help you optimize the operations of your portfolio companies, please fill out the form below.

As portfolio companies harness digital technologies to drive growth and innovation, they become increasingly reliant on cloud computing and interconnected systems to streamline operations and enhance productivity. However, with these opportunities come inherent risks, including cyber threats such as data breaches, ransomware attacks, and insider threats, which can have profound implications for the financial performance and reputation of portfolio companies – and their private equity backers.

The convergence of cybersecurity and cloud security is particularly relevant for portfolio companies, as they operate within the broader ecosystem of their parent investment firms. Any cybersecurity breach or data compromise within a portfolio company can not only impact its own operations but also reverberate throughout the investment portfolio, affecting investor confidence, valuation, and long-term strategic objectives.

Be sure to establish Data Governance and Privacy Protocols before implementing GenAI

Business and IT leaders must approach the integration of Copilot and similar AI solutions with extreme caution and foresight. The allure of enhanced productivity and innovation must be balanced against the inherent risks posed by these powerful tools.

Download our sample AI policy template for a starting point as you look to create and implement robust, company-wide data governance policies and privacy protocols that make safeguarding sensitive information a priority. It’s vital to preemptively ensure that only authorized personnel have access to critical data and that stringent security measures are in place to prevent unauthorized access.

Disclaimer: This policy template is meant to provide general guidelines and should only be used as a reference. It is not a legal document. It may not take into account all relevant local, state, or federal laws. Thrive does not assume any legal liability that may arise from the use of this policy.