Why MSPs Must Go Passwordless Now | Danny Obaseki

This episode breaks down how passwordless authentication is transforming identity security for MSPs and SaaS environments.

Danny Obaseki of Kzero explains why biometrics are replacing passwords and how MSPs can reduce risk in an AI-driven threat landscape.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Talk Tech with Rob Scott.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello and welcome to the show. I'm your host, Rob Scott, and my next guest is Danny from K Zero. Danny, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Awesome, man.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

So, how has this week been here at IT Nation for you? It's been amazing. It's been uh amazing. Hopefully, we I can get home back to Canada tomorrow. There's been some uh some some issues at the airport, but it's been amazing. It's been amazing meeting partners, it's been amazing meeting prospects, and uh looking forward to uh following up following up with two folks.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Wonderful. For those in the audience that haven't heard of K Zero before, why don't you take a minute to tell them uh what K Zero is all about and what makes you guys special?

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Absolutely, absolutely. So K Zero is a passwordless, it's an all-in-one suite of uh authentication suite, if you will. So we've developed a passwordless authentication suite that leverages um facial recognition and fingerprint biometrics to authenticate users at breakneck uh speed, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

And what are some of the most common act applications for passwordless authentication?

SPEAKER_02 1:09

So we can you can leverage our platform on any and every application as long as they support SAML or uh OIDC. So ranging anywhere from your CRM apps, your file sharing apps, uh, email apps, and and the list goes on.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

So your service is embedded into SaaS products or used by MSPs to help secure their clients' uh solutions?

SPEAKER_02 1:34

We're used by MSPs to help secure their clients' uh solutions because uh identity is the new perimeter. So we're trying to uh protect identity uh and help move clients away from leveraging passwords because passwords were were invented in the in the 60s, which is obviously a long time ago, and uh they weren't built for today's sort of digital reality where there's SaaS everywhere where you can work from anywhere from my home to the Starbucks across the street. Uh so we need a better way to to authenticate users, and that uh includes leveraging biometrics to authenticate users as opposed to using a password which can be um phashed, which can be lost, which can be stolen, which is often reused. And and the list goes on in terms of a bad sort of uh security hygiene, uh, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

And and uh tell us a little bit more about K Zero as a company. How long have you guys in business? How many MSPs do you guys serve?

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Yeah. Yep. So we're we're a pretty young uh organization. We've been around for uh just over four years. Uh we actually started off. Our founders come from the government in Canada. They were knee deep in cryptography and authentication. So they decided to branch out, start their own thing, and uh started doing some authentication and cryptography projects with the government of Canada. And that was sort of the genesis of our product. And they said, hey, kind of a light bulb went off and said, hey, we can actually commercialize this solution. And that was the birth of K0's password-list solution, which is now uh an MFA and SSO, and um uh we actually also uh developed a biometric password manager uh as well for apps that don't support SAML and OIDC and uh obviously for for websites as well. And from uh we've currently onboarded uh since we we released our platform, we've currently onboarded uh just under 100 uh MSPs and looking to hopefully quadruple that over the next uh 12 months.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Wow, that's impressive. And and as you think about uh the the role of AI and the impact of AI on K0 and the opportunity it presents, how is AI factoring into your business?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah, so AI, I mean, we leverage AI on the back end from a development standpoint, uh, but unfortunately, the bad actors have access to AI, and we've seen with precision them use AI to try to attack uh uh folks like us, uh everyday folks that that leverage technology, and they're getting better and better at it. And that's why folks need to move to passwordless technology because uh once you click on a phishing link, for example, uh if if you have to input a password, then you're you're you're done. Whereas in our case, uh if you click on a phishing link, then you still you can't bypass uh a passwordless uh solution because it's basically password uh phishing resistant due to it us live leveraging biometrics.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

And for those that don't understand at a high level what biometrics is, why don't you take uh uh just a second to explain what is biometrics, what are the type of biometric authentication um uh capabilities that K0 offers. Yeah, and then maybe a little bit about what's coming in biometrics.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Yeah, so great question. So uh just from the ground up, biometrics is simply using um your something you are, which is um inherent to you. So using your your your your uh uh using facial recognition to authenticate, uh just to make sure Rob is Rob. Uh or using fingerprint, which is unique to you. You can't copy your fingerprint to authenticate. And we piggyback off of uh Apple's face ID, so whatever mobile something they have, whatever mobile uh device they have. So if you have an um uh an Apple device, we'll piggyback of a face ID. If you have an Android device, we'll piggyb off of the uh uh fingerprint recognition. So that's basically what we uh leverage and we've replaced using passwords to authentic or codes to authenticate users, because again, passwords were invented in the 60s, and then folks did a good job by layering on top of that 2FA, uh, but we've even outgrown that. Uh so we've gone from something you know, which is a password, to something you have, which is 2FA and using a phone, to something you are, which is uh at the top uh from a from a from an authentication standpoint, and again, which is uh biometrics.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

You know, one of the things that people are always afraid of is you know, someone calls the MSP and says, I'm Rob from Monger, and I need you to reset my password, and it's not Rob from Monger, it's some crook. Yeah, and the MSP, you know, maybe is a new technician or doesn't know Rob from Monger, and so he just does it without any, you know, authentication. Yeah, it sounds like you guys are helping MSPs avoid those types of risks as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

We we completely wipe that away because there is no password to reset. So if a user is leveraging K0, um they they all they will always authenticate themselves using their phone uh from a from a facial biometric standpoint or from a therapeutic biometric standpoint. And if they do happen to lose a phone, uh they can they can they can get a one-time password with uh K0.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Very interesting, very interesting. And as far as um the roadmap for K Zero, what are what are you guys uh looking to do next year in terms of features or other roadmap items? What what what can the the channel expect from K Zero next year?

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Yeah, so and that's part of the reason why we're so excited uh in being here at uh IT Nation and speaking with hundreds of uh MSPs and and sort of learning from them and using them to to push our roadmap uh uh and using them as as folks that to help us. So we're adding uh net new features uh basically on a monthly basis. So the password manager was something that came about when we realized that not all apps support passwordless technology. So that came out about a few months ago. We're adding a Chrome extension um within the next week. We're adding things like being able to share passwords in a secret manner uh as well. We're adding uh uh a pat a patent pending encryption to our uh platform that'll be able to recover um uh lost passwords, uh, if you will, to our password manager. So those are things that are coming. But our roadmap is entirely being driven by uh both our partners and some prospects, even depending on uh demand.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

If uh you were an MSP and you were thinking about the issues of authentication, security, and uh which tools to consider for the future, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_02 8:16

That's a great question. Um, I would consider uh sort of vetting from an uh identity standpoint, an authentication standpoint. We're basically there when it comes to uh passwordless. So I would vet passwordless uh technology, see what's around, see who has a multi-tenant solution, for example, see who integrates with uh your tech stack. So meeting you where you are, RMM tools, PSA tools, uh things of that nature, seeing who has a good partner program that'll help you articulate the benefits of passwordless technology to your clients, and then uh make a decision based based on that.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Look, I know my clients and their users are dying to get rid of 2FA. Yeah. 2FA is the biggest headache uh security has ever imposed on end users. Yeah. It's necessary. Yeah. I'm not saying absolutely it's a it's an it's a burden without a need. I'm just saying it's a burden. Yeah. And so passwordless is the future. Uh and uh I love it when uh new concepts come into the channel, that when you hear about it, they just resonate with you in a specific way. And passwordless authentication is the future. And you heard it here first from my good friend Danny from K Zero. Thank you for being on the show.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

You've been listening to Talk Tech with Rob Scott, brought to you by Monger. Monger is the first mover in providing contracts as a service solution specifically designed for IT managed service providers. Their task-enabled legal solution is based on industry-leading templates that are customized for each client and periodically updated to ensure that MSPs always have the latest protections and are legally compliant. For more information, visit monitor.com.com.