“Inventory all Cisco ASA devices and Patch Tuesday-impacted systems before EOD; flag any unpatched July KEV CVEs and CVE-2026-56164 exposure for emergency patching this week.”
August 11 Patch Tuesday Incoming — July's 4 Actively Exploited KEV CVEs Still Unpatched in Many Environments
Microsoft's July 2026 Patch Tuesday fixed 533 CVEs across 69 updates, with 4 confirmed actively exploited and added to the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The next Patch Tuesday is 11 August 2026 — one week away — and is expected to include the second half of an embargoed SharePoint RCE chain (CVE-2026-55040 being part one). MSPs should prioritise deploying July patches now if not already done, ahead of the August cycle.
Read more →Windows Preview Update KB5101684 Released — Fixes File Share Zone-Marking Bug Ahead of August Patch Tuesday
Microsoft's July 28 preview update (KB5101684) for Windows 11 carries no security CVEs but includes a notable fix that stopped internal file shares from being incorrectly treated as downloaded from the internet, which could cause unexpected security prompts or blocked execution. This preview serves as a four-week warning of changes that will become mandatory in the August 11 security update. MSPs can deploy now to test compatibility before the forced rollout.
Read more →CVE-2026-56164: Network Privilege Escalation Zero-Day — Low Complexity, No Prior Privileges Needed
CVE-2026-56164 is confirmed exploited in the wild and allows an attacker to elevate privileges over a network with no existing privileges and low attack complexity, meaning repeatable exploitation is achievable. Despite a relatively low CVSS v3 base score of 5.3, Microsoft rates it Important and CISA added it to the KEV catalog on 14 July 2026. The CISA remediation deadline of 28 July 2026 has passed; all organisations still running unpatched systems should treat this as an urgent remediation.
Read more →Cisco ASA SSH Subsystem RCE: Authenticated Attacker Can Execute Commands as Root
A vulnerability in the SSH subsystem of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software allows an authenticated remote attacker to execute operating system commands as root via crafted input during remote CLI execution over SSH. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) has a similar flaw in its web management interface. MSPs managing Cisco ASA or FMC environments should apply vendor patches and restrict SSH/management interface access to trusted IP ranges only.
Read more →MSPBots Reports 80% Reduction in Dispatcher Time and 23% Faster SLA Resolution for AI-Adopting MSPs
MSPBots, an AI-driven operational intelligence platform for MSPs, reports customers achieving up to 80% less dispatcher time, 23% faster SLA resolution, and 19% higher service margins through workflow optimisation and automation. The platform pulls real-time KPIs from 80+ integrations into unified dashboards and offers AI ticket triage, QA, and sentiment analysis. MSPs evaluating operational AI tools should assess MSPBots alongside ConnectWise Sidekick based on their existing PSA stack.
Read more →ConnectWise Sidekick Gains Traction for Helpdesk AI — Ticket Summaries, Response Drafts, and Triage
ConnectWise Sidekick, built into the ConnectWise ecosystem, is seeing growing MSP adoption for AI-assisted ticket triage, response generation, and documentation summarisation, reducing the time technicians spend reading ticket history before action. With labour representing 50–60% of MSP operating costs per Service Leadership Index benchmarks, AI-driven helpdesk efficiency is a direct margin lever. MSPs on ConnectWise Manage should evaluate Sidekick enablement as a near-term productivity improvement.
Read more →Over a Third of AU/NZ IT Solution Providers Now Generating Revenue From AI Products and Services
New research from GTIA (Global Technology Industry Association) shows more than one third of IT solution providers in Australia and New Zealand are generating up to 10% of their revenue through AI products and services. CRN Australia reports MSPs are actively uncovering AI use cases delivering productivity improvements and customer service enhancements across the channel. Australian MSPs not yet offering AI-related services risk falling behind competitors as buyer demand accelerates.
Read more →EDGE 2026 Cairns: M&A Trends and MSP Operational Excellence Front and Centre at Australian Channel Event
The EDGE 2026 Australian channel conference took place 26–29 July in Cairns, with M&A trends, cloud marketplace growth (projected to rise from US$45B to US$163B by 2030), and MSP operational excellence as headline themes. The event also covered evolving communication and presentation skills for modern MSP sales motions. MSPs who missed the event should watch for published session recaps via ARNnet.
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