DANNY JENKINS has been a longtime advocate of “”zero trust”” when it comes to information security, and now the CEO of ThreatLocker is looking for MSP partners that feel the same.
With zero trust, everything that connects to the network must be verified—an “”approach that has always been very, very effective in large enterprises, but it’s never been effective in the managed services space,”” Jenkins (pictured above) says. “”It’s always been too complex, too difficult.””
Maitland, Fla.-based ThreatLocker, founded in 2017, does not require a heavy management burden, according to Jenkins. Initially targeted at the enterprise, ThreatLocker is now “”almost exclusively partner driven,”” he says. “”Throughout 2019, we grew exponentially in the MSP market.”” The company has about 700 MSPs on board today.
Jenkins contends that MSPs have tended to overinvest in detection, buying ever-more expensive solutions, “”hoping that the next threat is going to get detected.””
ThreatLocker adds a different layer of control. First, it only lets users run approved programs, such as Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, and Zoom. Next, it defines what an application can do. For instance, Jenkins says, a company might decide that “”Zoom can run, but it can’t call PowerShell.””
Jenkins stresses that MSPs “”have the same problems that the big enterprises do … but on a much more difficult scale. So they have a 100, 200, 300 different businesses making that problem up. And they’re all running different programs.””
With ThreatLocker’s dashboard, MSPs can see and manage all their clients in one place, create policy, and provide co-managed IT clients their own login. Billing is based on usage, and Jenkins says pricing is comparable to next-gen anti-virus or EDR solutions.
ThreatLocker adds more value to an MSP’s offerings because it enables them to deliver enterprise-level security, Jenkins says. “”If you want to be treated as a serious MSP, you have to show your clients how you’re stopping ransomware, how you’re stopping somebody [from] stealing their data.””
