SPECTRA | Kipling Secure
Businesses are increasingly relying on their MSPs to help them manage AI risk. SPECTRA is partnering with Kipling Secure to give those MSPs what a mature AI risk management program requires. Kipling Secure brings the AI governance platform purpose-built for MSPs. SPECTRA brings the assurance, through its Insurable AI certification and access to leading insurance brokers and carriers. But it all starts with the MSP, and with good security and governance.
The timing matters. A 2026 GTIA report found that 97% of SMBs have adopted AI, yet only 25% have integrated it strategically or allocated a budget for it. The businesses adopting AI fastest are often the least able to show how it is governed, and few have the in-house expertise to build an AI risk management program. So they are turning to the MSPs they already trust with their security.
Most businesses never chose to adopt AI. It shipped inside the email, productivity suites, browsers and line-of-business software they already use. The question is no longer whether AI is in use, but how it is governed.
For SMBs, the honest answer is often "it isn't." Staff paste confidential data into AI tools, connect them to internal systems without controls, and deploy AI agents, coding assistants and extensions that can access corporate data, invoke tools and act on the user’s behalf outside IT’s view. That shadow AI creates the exposures any AI risk program has to address: data leakage, prompt injection, AI-enabled fraud, unauthorized tool access and agentic actions that occur without appropriate oversight.
The common thread is that AI risk can't be managed if it can't be seen, controlled and proven. A mature AI risk management program needs good security and governance as the foundation, technology that enforces AI policy, and independent assurance that the program works.
The partnership brings together the three things a mature AI risk management program depends on.
|
Partner |
Role |
What it brings |
|
The MSP |
Foundation |
Provides the security and governance foundation for a successful AI risk management program, helping clients securely adopt, manage, and govern AI as their trusted risk partner. |
|
Kipling Secure |
Technology |
Discovers AI apps, agents and their connected tools, governs AI adoption, detects risky AI activity and policy violations, and powers AI detection & response services. |
|
SPECTRA |
Assurance |
Certifies MSPs by inspecting evidence rather than relying on self-attestation, and connects certified MSPs and their clients to an insurance program through its broker and carrier partners. |
Kipling Secure maps directly to the AI governance domain of SPECTRA's standard, which requires a catalog of AI in use, controls on shadow and personal AI, and data loss prevention covering AI tools. Controlling sanctioned versus unsanctioned AI is one of the first questions any AI risk program has to answer, and it is the entry point for nearly every MSP AI engagement. As AI moves from applications that answer questions to agents that can access data, invoke tools, and take actions, governance also has to extend beyond which AI is being used to what those agents are connected to and permitted to do.
SPECTRA's assurance has two parts. SPECTRA inspects and certifies MSPs against published standards, and its broker and insurer partners use that evidence to offer better insurance terms to certified MSPs and their clients. SPECTRA is not an insurer and does not provide insurance.
Clients are already asking their MSPs for help with AI risk, and shadow AI discovery is where that work begins. Every MSP in SPECTRA's pilot cohort used shadow AI discovery and data leakage assessments as the entry point for AI services, and several report that this motion is already generating new business. Kipling Secure gives MSPs a direct way to run that motion and keep it running as ongoing governance, not a one-time assessment.
It also changes who the MSP is talking to. AI risk is usually owned by the CFO who buys insurance, the COO who oversees AI-enabled processes, or a risk officer. An MSP that can show those leaders which AI is in use, what is blocked and how that maps to an independently certified standard is acting as a risk partner, not competing on a license renewal.
According to Rob Gundling, Founder and President of Cloud 9 Computing Group, a SPECTRA-Certified MSP and Kipling Secure partner, “We want our customers to benefit from AI while being deliberate about the information and access involved. We put ourselves through SPECTRA’s review for third-party validation of how we operate and the advice we give. Kipling Secure helps us see how AI is actually being used in our own business and our clients’ environments, and SPECTRA validates how we’re managing the risks. That gives us practical experience we can bring into our work with customers
"AI governance can't stop at a policy document. It has to be visible, enforceable and provable. Working with SPECTRA and Cloud 9, we're showing how an MSP can turn real AI usage, risk and controls into evidence that supports AI certification. That's an important step toward making AI risk something customers, MSPs and ultimately insurers can actually understand and manage."
Saurabh Sandhir, CEO, Kipling Secure
“We are excited to partner with Kipling Secure as they built a leading platform enabling MSPs to deliver AI governance across their small and mid-market customers. It efficiently and visibly addresses insurers’ concerns across various AI risks including data leaks, shadow AI, while offering auditable compliance frameworks and governance controls.”
Edouard von Herberstein, CEO, SPECTRA, on the Kipling partnership and insurable AI
SPECTRA and Kipling Secure will share how Cloud 9 is putting the partnership to work in an upcoming webinar. In the meantime, MSPs can read the full report, AI Risk, Insurability and the MSP Channel, for the framework, the liability perils it addresses and insights from the pilot cohort.
Read the report: Download the AI Risk, Insurability and the MSP Channel Report
Talk to SPECTRA: Looking to get certified and building AI services? Book a meeting
Talk to Kipling Secure: Interested in learning more about how Kipling Secure helps MSPs build their AI practice? Book a meeting
About SPECTRA
SPECTRA is the cyber and agentic AI risk management platform delivering certification of resilience to leading MSPs and the small and mid-market businesses they serve. SPECTRA partners with leading insurance brokers and carriers, who offer broader coverage and better terms for businesses whose cybersecurity and AI deployment are managed and governed to SPECTRA's certification standards. Learn more at spectracyber.com.
About Kipling Secure
About Kipling Secure: Kipling Secure is an AI Detection and Response (AIDR) platform built for MSPs and MSSPs. It gives service providers visibility into how AI is used across client environments, flags unauthorized and unmanaged AI apps & agents, applies governance guardrails and helps keep sensitive data out of AI interactions. Rather than blocking AI outright, Kipling Secure helps MSPs govern it, turning AI risk into a recurring managed service for their clients. Learn more at kiplingsecure.ai