When Bryan Wallace joined Push Security as its vice president of global partnerships in January, his marching orders were clear: design a partner go-to-market strategy and execute on it.
Five months later, Wallace led the launch of the Push Security Advisor Network (PSAN), a program aimed at giving solution providers the tools needed to protect their clients from the rising tide of identity-based cyberthreats and a commitment by the Boston-based company to sell exclusively through the channel.
The company first
announced the new partner program last month. This week, Wallace released more details about what the program offers to – and requires from – Push’s partners. The first piece of business was letting the channel know that “Push Security is a partner-first, partner-only organization,” Wallace said. “We no longer sell product direct to end-users.”
“We realize that partners have the relationships, are dialed into customer priorities and pain points, and you folks understand where the tooling gaps are and how to introduce new and disruptive and valuable technologies to your clients,” Wallace said during a webinar. “In the five months that I've been here, we've really seen an incredible response from resellers.”
An Active Partner Ecosystem
A number already have closed multiple deals, he said, adding that “to be honest, it's happened a lot faster than any of us here thought it would.”
Push Security, which in April pulled in
$30 million in Series B financing, offers a lightweight browser agent that delivers visibility through the browser into all a user’s identities, applications, accounts, and authentication methods, detects threats, and blocks attacks or risky user behavior in the browser. The company was born in 2019, at a time when bad actors that had been targeting network and endpoint vulnerabilities began shifting their focus on identities as a way to gain access to corporate networks.
“Identity is the new security parameter and the numbers prove it,” Wallace said, pointing to studies that indicate more than 80% of data breaches stem from identity compromises and that the average breach costs an organization about $4 million. “Cybersecurity's really hit a turning point with that and it's centered on identity. Identity isn't just an attack factor, it's becoming the attack surface.”
Targeting Identities
From the perspective of the attacker, “it's an easier way to get a foothold in their victim's environment compared with exploiting things like zero-day vulnerabilities or programming different types of malware to evade EDR [endpoint detection and response] protections,” he said.
Once in, threat actors can steal data, abuse legitimate apps, deploy ransomware, or run social engineering scams. Security teams need new capabilities to protect their organizations against this threat, Wallace said.
'EDR for the Browser'
“The simplest way for me to really explain what Push does ... is that it's like an EDR for the browser,” he said. “We run as a browser extension in any browser, and that includes the new secure browsers that you're seeing that are hot on the market, like Island and Talon. By extending real-time detection and response capabilities right into users' browsers, Push instantly maps and monitors the entire identity attack surface while also proactively enforcing ... controls like MFA [multifactor authentication] and strong passwords.”
Push is now going to lean heavily on partners to expand the company’s presence among vendors with offerings for identity protection. Wallace said that the partner activity over the five month’s he’s been with the company “has really exploded [and] we've accelerated the plan to get a more formal structure and program in place.”
Two Tiers, Myriad Benefits
PSAN is a structured partner program and comes with two partner tiers: Pro and Elite. Partners in the Pro tier can sell Push products and services, and they get access to sales and technical training, deal registration, access to Push rewards, sales incentives, and access to free Push NFR (non-functional requirements) software.
The Elite tier is the next step-up for partners that meet the highest performance and expertise requirements. They get all the benefits that those in the Pro tier receive, plus advantages like Push-sourced sales leads to drive expansion, access to joint market-development funds and – to generate pipeline – access to Elite-specific Push rewards, sales incentives, and Push advisory boards. They also are given early access to roadmap information, new software, and Push executive sponsorship.
All partners enter into the Pro tier and are re-evaluated every 12 months, Wallace said. Minimum requirement for Pro tier partners include $120,000 in annual bookings, $50,000 in annual partner-sourced annual bookings, and one demand-generation event. For Elite partners, the numbers are $600,000, $250,000, and three events.
Push also requires that Pro and Elite partners maintain a minimum number of Push training accreditations, he said.
Pushing Business to Partners
For its part, Push also will help out its partners.
“Over time, Push sourced leads and deals – things that we find ourselves organically – will be funneled to Elite partners as a first pass,” Wallace said. “We've got a super-strong demand-gen engine, thanks in large part to [the threat intelligence] research team and the community that they've created.”
Everyone will benefit from the PSAN program, he said.
“Securing workspace identities is top of mind for every organization, and they're trying to figure out how to do it,” Wallace said. “We can address this together and fill a need that the large platform plays that you're currently working with can't.”
