Adobe Creative Cloud PDFs Source of New Threats to Office 365, Gmail

It’s not the most high-profile week for cloud computing news, but there is some activity channel partners need to review. The most significant development comes from a report that shows threat actors have found a way to exploit trust in Adobe Creative Cloud. Cloud managed service providers and managed security service providers must remain on the alert, and the defensive. There are certain precautions you can implement for customers. Read more about all of that below.

Plus, find out what Civo is doing to entice new companies to use the cloud. Learn what Google Cloud-only MSP SADA is doing to accommodate the cloud adoption journey. And find out how Arrow Electronics is helping channel partners adjust to those not-so-simple Microsoft New Commerce Experience changes.

Hackers Target Office 365, Gmail Users Through Adobe Creative Cloud

Cybersecurity company Avanan says threat actors are using Adobe Creative Cloud to attack Office 365 and Gmail users.

The hackers create an Adobe account and then import a PDF file into cloud storage. That file holds links to sites that harvest user credentials. When the hackers share the files through Adobe Creative Cloud, they look legit – “innocent,” Avanan says, because Adobe is a trusted sender worldwide – and they can bypass endpoint protection software. Hackers can also track recipients who open and click in the PDF, Avanan says. (Recipients may get drawn in by the titles that create a sense of urgency, the company warns.)

Avanan first discovered the exploit last month. One way to tell the purported Adobe Creative Cloud PDFs are less than innocent? “Notice the grammatical errors,” Avanan points out.

Cloud and security channel partners should step in with safeguards that use more artificial intelligence and that open PDFs in a sandbox where all links can be safely inspected.

Civo Entices Startups to Rely on Cloud with Cost-Control Promo

U.K.-based Civo, which bills itself as a Kubernetes-powered cloud-native service provider, has kicked off its Startup program. The initiative gives startups one year of free credit to keep cloud costs under control, Civo says.

The company aims to address the ongoing problem of how to prevent unpredictable cloud expenses. As channel partners know, cloud resources can easily eat up the IT budget. Civo says its internal survey of 1,000 cloud developers indicates that almost half (47%) had trouble determining how much they would pay each month. Another 45% said they got an unexpected bill from a cloud provider.

To combat the issue, Civo says it’s giving emerging businesses up to a year of free credit, plus training and mentorship, access to support and more.

Civo’s Mark Boost

“It’s time to put a stop to the surprise billing tactics employed by big cloud providers, and to support businesses by shaping the skills of the teams they have,” Civo CEO Mark Boost said in a press release. “We aim to help those in need circumvent these issues to access the cloud’s full potential.”

SADA Amps up the ‘POWER’

This week, Google Cloud-only managed services provider SADA debuted a swath of new capabilities dubbed SADA POWER.

The portfolio is more than a package of services. Rather, the lineup mirrors the customer journey when integrating Google Cloud, SADA says. To that end, there’s a planning component, followed by …