Cork Cyber is expanding its automated vulnerability remediation capabilities for managed service providers (MSPs), reporting more than 50,000 remediation runs across approximately 250,000 devices since launching the technology in September.
The company says its platform can automatically resolve 64% of open software vulnerabilities, helping MSP partners reclaim approximately 5,100 technician hours that would otherwise be spent addressing routine security issues.
For Dan Candee, CEO of Cork Cyber, those results reflect a broader challenge facing MSPs: finding the resources to strengthen customer security while building new services around emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
“There’s no way an MSP today can staff and think about all of these things in the threat areas, plus build an AI program, plus build XYZ,” Candee told Channel Insider in a recent interview.
That operational pressure is driving Cork’s push beyond cyber risk monitoring and financial protection toward automated remediation, with the goal of helping MSPs address vulnerabilities faster without continually expanding their technical teams.
Third-party software vulnerabilities expose MSP security gaps
Candee believes third-party software vulnerabilities are among the most pressing security challenges facing MSPs, particularly as attackers increasingly target applications and configurations that traditional patch management processes overlook.
“The bad guys are no longer coming up to the front door, kicking it in and coming to steal the family jewels,” Candee said. “They’re coming in through the dryer vent. They’re crawling through the doggy door.”
The concern is supported by broader industry research. Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report found that exploited vulnerabilities accounted for 31% of breaches.
Cork’s own analysis of 26,219 endpoints in August found that approximately one in nine open software vulnerabilities had already been exploited in the wild.
For Candee, these findings reinforce the need to move beyond identifying security problems and toward resolving them automatically.
“We wanted to get out of the compliance monitoring, risk communication side of things, and into active remediation,” he said.
Automation could free MSP technicians for higher-value work
Since launching its automated software vulnerability remediation capabilities on September 2, Cork reports completing more than 50,000 remediation runs across approximately 250,000 devices.
The company says its technology can automatically resolve 64% of open software vulnerabilities, helping partners reclaim approximately 5,100 technician hours, or roughly $250,000 in labor capacity.
Cork also reports that critical vulnerabilities can be resolved within hours through its platform, compared with an estimated 1.5 to two months at the average MSP.
Candee sees the reclaimed technician time as an opportunity for MSPs to redirect their resources toward more valuable customer engagements rather than continually expanding headcount to manage routine security work.
“That’s about a quarter million dollars in labor redeployed to other work,” Candee said, noting that the calculation assumes a relatively conservative hourly labor cost.
The company has expanded its automation capabilities to cover more than 13,000 software titles, integrating remediation into the RMM platforms MSPs already use.
Why security fundamentals should guide MSP planning for 2027
Looking ahead to 2027, Candee cautioned against allowing the pressure to monetize AI to distract MSPs from their fundamental responsibilities to customers.
“Don’t try to monetize something you don’t fully understand. Just go be of service,” he said.
Instead, Candee wants providers to focus on strengthening security frameworks, establishing accountability and helping customers navigate emerging technologies without creating unnecessary complexity.
He also emphasized the importance of communicating cybersecurity priorities in language business owners can understand, particularly as smaller organizations struggle to keep pace with technological change.
For MSPs, that means ensuring security controls, automation and financial protection work together rather than operating as disconnected services.
“Partners don’t need to be building highways for their clients right now,” Candee said. “They just need to be repainting the roads, maybe adjusting those lines, and let people know when there’s a passing lane versus not.”
The broader message is that MSPs don’t necessarily need to reinvent their businesses for 2027. They need to make their existing security operations more effective while freeing up the resources to address what customers need next.
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