thanks for the quick response, but that Net-SSH2 package is different than the backend package I'm utilizing via Net::SFTP::Foreign. The package I'm using is here
Net::SFTP::Foreign::Backend::Net_SSH2
You're correct in that it was a typo, sorry about that. And if I was using the Net_SSH2 package, it would be $password instead of $passphrase. I've attempted to use the Net_SSH2 package before but it doesn't really work on Windows (getpwuid errors) and I need to make sure this code is cross platform.