PASSPORTAL today announced the results of their comprehensive MSP Password Security Study and released a major update to its password management solution designed for MSPs.
· 98% of MSPs have excellent Security for Internal Networks and Systems.
· Over 80% of MSPs had little or no valid protection for storing Client Passwords.
· Principals had not considered the risks for Client Passwords from internal staff.
· Existing Off-the-shelf Client Password Management didn’t offer enough protection.
“We interviewed hundreds of MSPs and were shocked to learn that over 80% of them had little or no protection for storing Client Passwords” said Colin Knox, PASSPORTAL CEO, “They store Client Passwords on Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, homegrown database solutions and unprotected fields in their CRM or PSA system. With just one password security breach, a disgruntled employee can ruin an MSP’s reputation and put the business in jeopardy with serious legal issues.”
However, the Study also highlights how MSPs spend considerable resources protecting their internal networks and computer systems. Knox explained, “We wanted to understand why so many MSPs felt network security was important and yet they ignored Password Security.”
As the team at PASSPORTAL dug into the data, they found that the principals of these MSPs hadn’t considered the risk inside their organization such as the loss of a key technician or a disgruntled employee who might want to harm the company. Many of these technicians have become trusted employees of the company compared to the threat of an external Cyber thief to their network.
The final portion of the Study focused on why more MSPs didn’t use off-the shelf tools like PASSPORTAL to protect their client passwords. There were 4 key reasons cited:
· Too hard to get started.
· Cost inhibitive.
· Security methods were too general (all or nothing).
· Too complex to administer; admins have to set every permission manually.
Knox added that because of the study, the company was able to gain additional information on what its MSPs want. That being said, they have revamped the latest edition of PASSPORTAL MSP, its Password Management Solution for MSPs. “It’s a completely hosted, cloud solution that allows MSPs to manage their portfolio of client passwords with multiple levels of security, grouped users for assigning password access and data import wizards that make it easy to get started,” he said. “It runs on the web and is available from any mobile device.”
The most recent version of PASSPORTAL MSP includes:
· Granular Client Password Security; grouping passwords together in security folders.
· Security Groups to manage and assign password access by categories.
· Reassign passwords when a technician enters passwords on the wrong account.
· Powerful data import from CSV files or spreadsheets.
· Additional layer of encryption and data transfer.
· Per-user pricing, which lowers the cost of entry for smaller MSPs.
With this PASSPORTAL MSP release, solution providers can build containers of passwords and grant separate access for Level 1, 2 or 3 technicians similar to how they manage permissions on a shared network drive. All access is tracked and restricted to a need-to-know basis. For example, passwords for firewall and security appliances might be restricted to Level 3 technicians while system services like the credentials for antivirus and backups are available to all Levels. The benefit is that only the right technicians have access to critical Password types. Maintaining all of these permissions in a role-based support environment is simple because permissions are defined using role based templates to set up and track users.
Pricing for PASSPORTAL starts at $4 per month for MSPs; a free trial is available for a limited time.
