When I joined PDQ in 2020 and started working with co-founders Shawn Anderson and Shane Corellian, there were three things made abundantly clear to me:
PDQ exists to give system administrators and IT professionals a win
Pretty Damn Quick (to get into PDQ products), Pretty Damn Quick (how the products work once you’re in them), and Pretty Damn Quick (how we support our customers) were critical ingredients to giving our customers a win
Our HOCI core values (Honesty, Ownership, Collaboration, Improvement) would inform the way that we worked, lived, and built together as a team and with our customers and community
Since then, we’ve launched products like PDQ Connect and acquired products like SimpleMDM, SmartDeploy, CODA, and most recently ISL Online, to give our customers the tools they need to succeed. We’re grateful for the feedback we receive every day on how we can make PDQ and our products better so that each of you can.
As mentioned in a previous PDQ blog post, back in August, we started seeing threat actors trying to use PDQ Connect through trials who would then attempt to misuse the product in ways that could put others at risk. We were not alone in being targeted as a quick scan of other leading tools suggests that this was a coordinated effort. We caught this early and quickly locked down trial functionality to stop those attempts. In the spirit of Honesty (see core values above), in our desire to provide a pretty damn quick and effective trial experience, we were taken advantage of.
The good news is that we’ve lived our core value of Improvement and made some changes that we believe will put us all on a much better path. These changes include:
Stricter account trial onboarding: We are now vetting new accounts more rigorously to ensure they align with legitimate use (including a basic identity verification process).
Continuous monitoring: We are increasingly monitoring for behavior that deviates from expected norms, allowing us to intervene quickly.
Rapid response & enforcement: Accounts identified as suspicious or abusive are promptly addressed.
Industry collaboration: Security is a team sport. We work with security partners, researchers, and peers to stay informed of emerging risks and adjust accordingly.
Transparency & communication: While we can't share every detail publicly, we promise to inform you if significant threats emerge that could affect you.
We’re confident that these measures, with more to come, mean that PDQ is much better equipped to deter these sorts of incidents in the future.
Thanks for your support and understanding as we navigate an increasingly complex world. We’re grateful for customers, partners, and a community that build with us and that play a critical role in helping us fulfill our stated mission of making device management simple, secure, and pretty damn quick!
