Kaspersky Lab, Gartner (IT), Avira and Malwarebytes made this week’s cut for top IT security stories to watch as the week develops.

As new IT cyber security threats such as malware, spam and viruses affect companies every day, nationwide managed services providers (MSPs) are faced with the task of providing services and solutions to assist these businesses.

It’s important, however, to stay up to date on new security issues as they arise; otherwise, an MSP could fall behind and put its customers at risk.

Here are four of the biggest IT security news stories to watch during the week of July 14.

1. Kaspersky Lab unveils unified product line
Antivirus software provider Kaspersky Lab last week launched a unified product line for home users.

Kaspersky said the new release features solutions that are designed to protect users against cyber threats on Android, Apple OS X and Windows devices.

“The overall impact is always to deliver premium PC security by providing essential, real-time protection from the most advanced malware attacks,” Kaspersky Consumer Product Marketing Manager Brett Schetzsle told MSPmentor. “Our customers understand that our products are working behind-the-scenes to ensure that they are always free to bank, shop, play and share without worry.”

2. Gartner: 2015 will be the year of the digital risk officer
Gartner revealed more than half of CEOs said they believe they will have a senior digital leader role in their staff by the end of next year.

The research firm’s “2014 CEO and Senior Executive Survey” also showed one-third of large enterprises engaging in digital business models and activities could have a digital risk officer (DRO) role or equivalent by 2017.

Other survey findings included:

“Digital risk officers will require a mix of business acumen and understanding with sufficient technical knowledge to assess and make recommendations for appropriately addressing digital business risk,” Gartner Vice President Paul Proctor said. “Many traditional security officers will change their titles to digital risk and security officers, but without material change in their scope, mandate and skills, they will not fulfill this role in its entirety.”

3. Avira opens new R&D lab
Avira has opened a new research and development (R&D) lab at its Burlingame, California-based headquarters.

The company said the new lab will focus on security issues that could affect MSPs two to five years down the line.

“Our team will design security software concepts for the future, present the prototypes to the executive management team for evaluation and then work with our product teams to develop the prototypes with the most potential into full consumer products and bring them to market,” Leon Crutchley, director of Avira’s R&D Digital Security Lab, said in a prepared statement.

Crutchley told MSPmentor the new lab could focus on privacy and transparency issues as well.

“A user’s identity has value, often higher than they realize, and so increasingly security also means privacy or at least transparency,” he said. “Understanding ways to create transparency for the user with regard to their identity is a key thing that interests the team.”

4. Malwarebytes raises $30 million
San Jose, Calif.-based endpoint security company Malwarebytes has raised $30 million in financing. Highland Capital Partners led the Series A funding round.

Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski said the financing could help his company expand globally.

“We’re proud to join the Highland Capital portfolio, and this round of financing will accelerate our global expansion plans,” Kleczynski said in a prepared statement. “It will allow us to continue building an even better company for protecting our devoted army of personal users and businesses all over the world.”

A company spokesperson told MSPmentor the Series A funds will also be used for several projects, including:

Malwarebytes supports more than 60 million quarterly active users, and Kleczynski said his company will continue to evolve as new cyber threats affect users worldwide.

“As the bad guys continue to advance, Malwarebytes will keep evolving,” he said.

What do you think will be the biggest IT security stories for MSPs this week? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].