MSPs need both ‘complete’ visibility as well as strong controls for blocking unsanctioned shadow AI and entering sensitive data into AI tools, KIPIO co-founder and CEO Emily Hock tells CRN.
Amid the continuing AI adoption rush, the usage of LLM-powered tools in unsanctioned or insecure ways poses an increasing risk for MSPs and their clients, according to KIPIO co-founder and CEO Emily Hock.
“For MSPs today, their clients are adopting new tools and deploying new agents every single day, and there’s no place for them to have visibility over every single AI surface,” Hock told CRN.
[Related: 13 Cool New MSP Tools For AI, Security And IT Operations]
At the same time, many MSPs have “no control over what types of information employees can put in or what other external systems they can connect it to,” she said. “And so now you’re seeing not only people putting in sensitive information, but also deploying agents that can be manipulated and go rogue.”
Founded in 2025, KIPIO offers an AI operations and security platform aimed at helping MSPs secure and govern the usage of AI tools on behalf of customers. The platform provides MSPs with “complete visibility into their clients’ AI usage”—across browsers, desktops and AI agents, Hock said.
KIPIO has now also added real-time enforcement functionality to block unsanctioned shadow AI as well as entering or uploading sensitive data, she said. In addition, the platform can prevent users from logging in with personal credentials, Hock said.
Crucially, KIPIO is focused on providing MSPs with insight and analytics related to AI, “so they can actually provide AI as a managed service that brings them recurring revenue,” said KIPIO co-founder and CTO Sarin Regmi.
Ultimately, “our whole goal was to build this foundational layer that was rooted in security and governance—but also taking into account that MSPs weren’t just going to be this security provider—as it relates to AI for their customers—but also help them drive adoption,” Hock told CRN. “We’ll give you the guardrails to do it safely—so that you, as a company, can actually adopt AI faster and unlock more gains from it.”
For Gladstone, Oregon-based Covenant Technology Solutions, exploring partnerships with emerging security vendors such as KIPIO is a key focus amid the AI rush in 2026, according to CEO Timothy Choquette. The solution provider is also working to get promising security startups connected with other MSPs, as well, Choquette told CRN.
“We’re really leaning into them, learning about them, teaching them, helping them down the course, getting them introduced to all these other MSPs,” he said.
