Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have come to expect that their MSPs will provide cybersecurity services, and they’re willing to pay more for this protection. A recent study by Continuum/ConnectWise found that 93% of SMBs would switch to a new MSP if that company offered the “right” cybersecurity solution–and they would also be willing to pay an average of 25% more for it.

The willingness to trade a larger MSP invoice for protection from cyberattacks was remarkably consistent across SMBs of all sizes, from those with only 10 employees to those with 1,000 people on the payroll.

SMBs are under siege by increasingly frequent and sophisticated cyberattacks.

It’s no wonder SMBs are willing to shell out for better cyber protection. The Ponemon Institute’s 2019 Global State of Cybersecurity in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses report, commissioned by Keeper Security, found that it’s a matter of when and not if an SMB will be victimized by cybercrime. Sixty-six percent of SMBs reported having experienced a cyberattack in the previous 12 months, and 72% have been attacked within their respective company’s lifetime.

The respondents also reported that cyberattacks were becoming more targeted and sophisticated, and they provided data to back this up. Over the past year, 69% experienced cyberattacks that evaded their intrusion detection systems, and 82% were victimized by attacks that got past their anti-virus solutions.

Cybercriminals want passwords.

To understand how cybercriminals are getting past technical defenses, we need only look at the types of attacks they’re launching. Attacks that involve stealing login credentials were extremely common among SMBs during the past year: phishing/social engineering (57%), compromised or stolen devices (33%) and credential theft (30%).

Once cybercriminals have a working password, they need not worry about being flagged by antivirus software or other technical defenses. It’s the cyber equivalent of stealing the combination to a company’s safe.

SMBs understand the need to secure their employees’ passwords; 64% stated that the use of strong passwords was essential to their organizations’ security defense, and their top two pain points were employee passwords being stolen or compromised (70%) and weak passwords (61%). However, over half (54%) have no visibility into employee password practices, and 50% have no policy on employee password use. Even worse, only 32% of SMBs that do have a password policy strictly enforce it and require the use of a password manager.

MSPs can help their customers and grow their business with KeeperMSP.

SMBs desperately need to secure their employees’ passwords, but many of them don’t know where to begin, or they don’t feel they have the time or internal resources to do it. This is an enormous cybersecurity void that MSPs can fill by offering their customers password management as a service. That’s why Keeper Security–the leading provider of zero-knowledge security and encryption solutions for password management, dark web monitoring, digital file storage and messaging–has launched KeeperMSP.

Designed specifically for MSPs and their customers, KeeperMSP is a powerful, easy-to-use platform that lets MSPs protect their customers’ passwords and sensitive data–and their own–in secure, encrypted digital vaults. By enabling MSPs to independently provision, manage and monitor multiple customers from a central admin dashboard, KeeperMSP provides managed service providers with a way to solve their customers’ password management and security issues.

MSPs get total visibility into end users’ password habits, with robust reporting and auditing tools to enforce security and compliance requirements such as role-based access control (RBAC), 2FA, SIEM event reporting, and regulatory and industry compliance with HIPAA, DPA, FINRA, GDPR, and other standards.

KeeperMSP Partners receive a variety of benefits, including online and remote training for engineers and end users, new feature updates, inclusion in the KeeperMSP beta program, sales support and resources for joint marketing initiatives.

KeeperMSP is a great opportunity for MSPs to attract new customers, retain existing ones, generate incremental revenue and bolster their trusted advisor status–all while protecting themselves from cyberattacks. Sign up for your free trial of KeeperMSP and secure your customers’ passwords (and your own) today!

Michael Chester is Senior Director of Business Development for Keeper Security. Based out of Keeper’s Chicago headquarters, Michael is responsible for discovering, forming and cultivating strategic relationships for the company. 

Michael’s focus is on generating partnerships with mobile operators, solution providers, managed service providers, value-added resellers, distributors and industry leaders that help protect the digital identities of people and businesses globally.

He was previously with IBM, where he spearheaded M&A and strategic partnerships for IBM’s Cloud and Watson business units. Prior to IBM, Michael worked in management consulting, specializing on new market-entry strategy and foreign direct investment.

Michael has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth and graduated summa cum laude from University of Illinois with a B.S. in Advertising.

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