Meet Keeper Security’s Eric Kalseth, Senior Director of Global MSP Sales

Interview by Tim Popovich

Tim Popovich

Chief Operating Officer

Eric Kalseth

Senior Director of Global MSP Sales

Welcome to the September 2026 MSP Minute!

As cyber threats continue to evolve, identity has become one of the most targeted attack surfaces for businesses of all sizes. For managed service providers, protecting client environments now extends far beyond securing networks and endpoints. It requires controlling who has access to critical systems, how credentials are managed, and how privileged accounts are protected. 

In this month’s Climb MSP Minute, we sat down with Eric Kalseth, Senior Director of Global MSP Sales at Keeper Security, to discuss the growing importance of identity security, the risks associated with poor credential management, and how MSPs can turn identity and privileged access management into both a stronger security practice and a recurring revenue opportunity. 

Keeper Security helps organizations safeguard passwords, credentials, secrets, and privileged access through a secure, centralized platform. For MSPs managing multiple client environments, Keeper provides the visibility and control needed to protect what Kalseth calls “the keys to many kingdoms.” 

Meet Eric Kalseth, Senior Director of Global MSP Sales

Eric Kalseth is Senior Director of Global MSP Sales at Keeper Security. At Keeper, Eric has helped transform the company’s MSP business into one of the industry’s fastest-growing cybersecurity partner programs. Under his leadership, the organization has expanded globally through strategic distribution partnerships, enhanced partner enablement, and innovative programs designed to help MSPs grow their businesses.

A passionate advocate for the MSP community, Eric champions an MSP-first approach that simplifies vendor engagement, strengthens collaboration, and creates lasting, mutual success for partners and vendors alike. 

Identity is the New Perimeter

For years, cybersecurity discussions have focused on protecting networks and infrastructure. Today, attackers are increasingly targeting user identities. 

According to Kalseth, MSPs face growing identity-related challenges, including password reuse, shared administrative accounts, unmanaged privileged credentials, and third-party access risks. 

“Identity has become the new perimeter,” Kalseth explained. 

As organizations adopt more cloud platforms, remote work models, and AI-powered tools, managing access becomes significantly more complex. MSPs must now account for both human users and the growing number of non-human identities created through automation and AI agents. 

This shift requires MSPs to view identity security as a foundational component of their cybersecurity strategy rather than an afterthought.  

Why Spreadsheets Create Security and Scaling Problems

Despite increased awareness around credential security, many organizations still rely on spreadsheets, shared documents, or informal processes to store passwords and credentials. 

While these approaches may seem manageable for a small number of users, Kalseth believes they quickly become a major liability as businesses grow. 

Storing passwords in unsecured documents increases the risk of unauthorized access while making it difficult to maintain control over who can view or modify credentials. More importantly, manual processes create operational inefficiencies that make scaling increasingly difficult. 

“What starts as a convenience really becomes not just an operational challenge, but a security liability,” Kalseth noted. 

By implementing centralized password and credential management, MSPs can improve both security and operational consistency across client environments. 

Building Security on a Strong Identity Foundation

Many security-focused MSPs are moving beyond basic password management and adopting broader identity security strategies. 

Kalseth emphasized that security should begin with clear answers to several critical questions: 

• Who has access? 
• Why do they have access? 
• How long should they have access? 
• Have they been properly verified? 

Password management serves as the foundation, but mature identity security programs also incorporate privileged access management (PAM), access reviews, credential auditing, and least-privilege principles. 

By reducing unnecessary access and increasing visibility into privileged accounts, MSPs can significantly lower cyber risk while giving customers greater confidence in their security posture. 

Turning Identity Security into a Recurring Revenue Opportunity

For MSPs looking to expand their managed service offerings, identity security represents a significant growth opportunity. 

Rather than selling password management as a standalone product, Kalseth recommends focusing on the broader outcomes of identity security.    

Services such as credential management, onboarding and offboarding workflows, access reviews, privileged access management, and compliance support can all be packaged into recurring service offerings. 

The emergence of AI creates even more possibilities. 

As organizations deploy AI tools and automated agents, new non-human identities are gaining access to sensitive data and systems. MSPs that help customers monitor and secure these identities can create valuable new services while addressing an emerging security challenge. 

“We don’t sell password management as a feature. We focus on identity security as the outcome,” Kalseth explained.  

Improving Security Without Increasing Complexity

One concern many MSPs face is adding new security solutions without creating additional operational burdens. 

Kalseth’s advice is simple: start small. 

Instead of attempting a large-scale rollout immediately, MSPs should focus on solving a specific problem for a single customer or user group. Once a repeatable process is established, it becomes easier to standardize and scale across additional client environments. 

“The goal isn’t to add another tool to your stack,” Kalseth said. “The goal is to create a repeatable security service that becomes easier every time you deploy it.” 

This practical approach allows MSPs to improve security outcomes while maintaining operational efficiency. 

Simplifying Compliance Readiness

Compliance requirements continue to grow across nearly every industry, creating new challenges for businesses and MSPs alike. 

Whether organizations are working toward NIST, HIPAA, CMMC, or other frameworks, many compliance standards share common requirements around strong authentication, credential protection, least-privilege access, and auditability. 

Keeper helps MSPs establish these controls while providing the visibility needed to support evolving compliance requirements. 

According to Kalseth, compliance is not simply about deploying a tool. “It’s about turning a security requirement into a repeatable process.” 

By helping customers implement and document identity security controls, MSPs can improve compliance readiness while creating additional consulting and managed service opportunities. 

Preparing for the Future of Identity Security

Looking ahead, Kalseth sees three major trends shaping the future of cybersecurity: 

• Identity as the primary security perimeter 
• Continued growth of privileged access management 
• The rapid expansion of AI-driven identities 

As employees increasingly use platforms like Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, and other AI tools, organizations need greater visibility into who and what has access to sensitive data. This includes both human users and the automated identities that power modern AI workflows. 

MSPs that proactively address these challenges will be better positioned to help clients navigate an increasingly complex identity and access landscape.    

One Action MSPs Should Take Today

When asked for one practical step MSPs can take immediately, Kalseth didn’t hesitate:

Conduct a credential inventory. 

MSPs should identify their most sensitive administrative credentials and ask basic but important questions: 

• Who currently has access? 
• How long have they had access? 
• Should they still have access? 
• When was access last reviewed? 

“You can’t protect what you can’t see,” Kalseth explained. 

By starting with high-risk credentials and gradually expanding visibility across customer environments, MSPs can build a stronger foundation for long-term identity security. 

Final Thoughts

As cybercriminals continue to target identities and credentials, MSPs must reassess how they approach security. 

Password management, privileged access controls and identity governance have become core components of a modern cybersecurity strategy. 

Keeper Security helps MSPs centralize credential management, reduce risk, improve compliance readiness, and build scalable security services that grow alongside their customers. 

For MSPs, building an identity security offering can strengthen client protection while creating new recurring service and revenue opportunities, identity security may be one of the most important areas to focus on in the years ahead. 

To learn more about Keeper Security,

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