NEWS
PAM Privileged Access Management
Ensuring Security and High Business Value With RBAC
In the era of digital transformation the tight privacy laws have imposed new levels of confidentiality on health care, insurance companies and financial institutions. As the number of their electronic systems increases along with the number of interfaces, identity management becomes a critical component in ensuring information security and access control. Access control plays an essential role in safeguarding both physical security and electronic information security. Role-based access control could be simply explained as the security process of assigning specific rules or policies to individual users, or groups of users, that are connecting to your network. It simplifies the process in assigning user’s access based on their job function.
Developing and using a role-based access control system in conjunction with an identity management solution makes it possible for organizations to ensure that accounts for new employees are always created with proper access rights. That means that there is a control defining which users have access to resources based on the role of the user. Access rights are grouped by role name, and access to resources is restricted to users who have been authorized to assume the associated role. For example, if a RBAC system is used in a hospital, each person that is allowed access to the hospital’s network has a predefined role (doctor, nurse, lab technician, administrator, etc.). If someone is defined as possessing the role of doctor, than that user can access only resources on the network that the role of doctor has been allowed access to.
Four steps for providing data security
There are four steps which are of a great importance for providing proper data security.
The first phase is to ensure that new employee access and accounts are created properly when the employee is on boarded.
Second phase refers to giving those access rights remaining accurate and up-to-date during each of the company’s employee’s tenures.
The third, and most essential step in this process, is revocation of access rights when individual employees leave the organization.
The fourth step is performing Information audits. The sooner you get used to them, the better. They are required to successfully manage the information and the access of rights. Our advice is to periodically review your roles, the employees assigned to them, and the access permitted for each. Once an audit of access rights is performed, it can be compared against the baseline template for each employee role initially established. If needed, the managers and systems owners could make for verification or revocation of the rights.
What are the benefits of RBAC?
Ideally, the RBAC system is clearly defined and agile, making the addition of new applications, roles and employees as efficient as possible. One of the greatest advantages of RBAC is the ability of giving you granular visibility, which is necessary to securely support your mobility in today’s digital environment. Another benefit of RBAC refers to maximized operational performance. Thus, companies could streamline and automate many transactions and business processes and provide users with the resources to perform their jobs better, faster and with greater personal responsibility. With RBAC system in place, organizations are better positioned to meet their own statutory and regulatory requirements for privacy and confidentiality, which is crucial for health care organizations and financial institutions.
Organizations should implement necessary security measures to provide that access to data, groups and applications are right for an employee during their tenure. They also should bear in mind that quite critical is the revocation of all account access when they depart. Failure to respond these criteria can lead to data theft and costly access to external applications.
For more information about other PATECCO solutions, check in the new e-guide:
Secure Digital Transformation with Identity and Access Management
Digital transformation comes down to using technology and data to drive innovation and better business outcomes. With regard to cyber security, digital transformation creates new requirements and new risks, as well. Cyber security therefore needs to be addressed through a comprehensive approach that allows users to benefit from these new services in total confidence, while ensuring effective IT risk management for the company.
Digital transition has its great influence on security at all stages of project implementation. The information system is much more open, data is unstructured and arriving in greater volumes. Users become more diverse and increased, along with the advance of new technologies. All these changes impose adopting comprehensive approaches.
The Role of Identity and Access Management in the Enterprise
Employees, partners and customers need fast provisioning, successful management of application and data privileges, and the ability to shut off access when it is no longer needed. One of the business solutions for these goals, is Identity and Access Management. It encompasses the entire enterprise, including all business units, individual locations, systems, access points, business partners and customers.
Organisations implement Identity and Access Management on per a system and application basis through the creation of user accounts and administering file permissions. IAM provides tools which are capable of enhancing the authentication systems by managing access to them more efficiently. This is where identity governance comes up to manage who has access to what, who should have access to what, and how that access is being used.
IAM architecture framework
IAM encompasses a broad range of enterprise tools and technologies within a distinct architecture supporting a set of interrelated processes. The IAM architecture framework consists of three core areas:
Directory services: they store identity and its attribute data configuration information, and policies. Directory technology provides an object-oriented, dynamically configurable repository with standards for access, security and information management. Directories are designed for fast response times to queries as the identity information is generally queried more often than it is updated.
Identity Provisioning and Administration: provides identity lifecycle management services, such as ID provisioning/de-provisioning, password management, approval-workflows.
Access Management: it refers to defining and evaluating security policies related to authentication, authorisation, auditing and privacy. The access management tools certainly have administration capabilities, but their main focus is on authorisation. Access management tools enforce access control policies across heterogeneous environments. It includes technologies to authenticate and provide seamless access to organisation’s application estate. Federation is an approach to authenticate users across multiple sites within organisation.
In general, IAM systems allow organisations to introduce substantial improvements to security controls, achieve efficiency and budget savings, maintain data quality and, importantly, meet obligations to industry and regulatory compliance requirements. 43.9% of the organizations indicate that IAM is strategic, according to Kuppingercole research. That means that Identity and Access Management is one of the top business goals that companies plan to achieve through digital transformation.
PATECCO recommends the organizations to clearly define their Digital Transformation and to communicate it, to implement a comprehensive IAM, beyond Provisioning, with a focus on Access Governance and Privilege Management, to extend their IAM to support customers and consumers and to be compliant with EU GDPR at all levels.
For more information about other PATECCO solutions, check in the new e-guide:
Business Challenges and Solutions for Password Management
Businesses face many password management challenges. Implementing a password management solution is necessary in many corporate environments because users have to authenticate to the network in a secure manner. Passwords are the most common authentication mechanism. From a deployment perspective, passwords are the simplest and cheapest authentication technique.
With this in mind, having a poor password management policy in an enterprise environment can compromise enterprise security and make the enterprise vulnerable to outside attack from malicious threats. In organizations with poor password management practices, one or more of the following issues is typically present:
- Weak and easily breakable passwords.
- Passwords that users are not required to change often enough, which means that attackers can compromise the passwords through force and cryptographic attacks.
- Passwords that have been written down, which can be easily compromised.
- Numerous calls to the Help desk for password resets, which can result in increased operational costs.
- Users who have too many passwords, which can result in password overload. With so many passwords for users to remember, they have difficulty managing passwords securely.
To meet these challenges, businesses should find an appropriate solution to address their password management requirements.
- Business Solutions for Password Management
Businesses can adopt various solutions to solve password management challenges. For example, users can change their passwords on each connected data directory by logging on to each directory interactively, and then changing the password natively in the connected data store. Although this is a typical solution, users can easily become confused and frustrated if they cannot remember which password they used for any of the connected data stores.
- Event-driven password management application
An event-driven password management application, such as the one in MIM 2016, is a more viable solution to these password management challenges. MIM 2016 users change their passwords from their desks in an authoritative connected data source. Then, a service in the authoritative connected source captures the password change requests and pushes the newly changed password to other configured connected data sources in real time. This solution is cost-effective and efficient because users do not have to manually change passwords for each connected data source to match the password of the authoritative connected data source. Also, when they initiate password changes, those changes are effective immediately.
- Automated Password Synchronization Solution
Automated password synchronization synchronizes passwords only between existing accounts on connected data sources that have management agents that support the password synchronization option. During automated password synchronization, a user makes a password change in an authoritative connected data source. The newly updated password is automatically captured from the authoritative data source during the password change process, and then distributed to configured, connected data sources in MIM 2016.
MIM 2016 uses the domain name to locate the management agent that services that domain, and then uses the user account information in the password change request to locate the corresponding object in the connector space. Then the tool uses the join information to determine which management agents should receive the password change request, and if they are enabled for password synchronization. Password synchronization is initiated, and then the updated password is sent to the configured data sources. The automated password synchronization solution for MIM 2016 addresses the password management needs of many enterprises in a real time!
For more information about other PATECCO solutions, check in the new e-guide:
7 Unique Benefits of PATECCO Managed Services
Managed services is a customized and tailored solution in which a third-party contractor provides information technology tasks for another organization. In a typical managed services arrangement, a managed service provider (MSP) takes over responsibility for the functionality of IT services and equipment in exchange for a monthly fee. This arrangement is beneficial because it transfers the burden of IT management, along with training and associated costs, to a service provider who helps the customer achieve desired results and keep up with rapidly changing demands.
The key to managed services is the proactive and preventative approach which helps prevent costly downtime. If issues arise, PATECCO, as a service provider, can help resolve them and restore service quickly, many times without the customer even being affected. Common aspects of managed IT services include the remote monitoring and management of a company’s IT environment, as well as end-user system management of servers, applications, desktops, and mobile devices.
Who Can Benefit from Managed Services?
Managed services are applicable for a variety of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, financial, retail, restaurant and hospitality, warehousing and distribution, education, government, and transportation.
Benefits of Managed Services
Managed IT services allow companies to proactively prevent and fix problems while they are minor and fixable. As the saying goes, prevention is the best medicine. In addition to solving problems before they can negatively impact your business, managed IT services are beneficial in other important ways such as:
1. Compliance
Many organizations are required to meet certain IT standards and compliance requirements. PATECCO understands the regulations and complexities related to compliance, so the Managed Services company can help you navigate compliance requirements and ensure you are meeting them.
2. Reduced Costs
Managed services can help reduce overall operating costs. In fact, it is estimated that successful managed services can help reduce IT cost by 25-45% and will increase operational efficiency by 45-65%.
3. More Time to Focus on Your Business
By allowing a managed service provider to maintain and monitor your technology, your in-house staff will have more time to focus on business goals and strategic projects that will further your core objectives.
4. Access to Advanced Technology
Technology is constantly changing, and it is difficult to keep up with the latest technology advancements. PATECCO stays up to date on new technology advancements, so it can ensure you’re staying ahead of the curve. Plus, the Managed services company has the resources and knowledge to implement new technology right away.
5. Predictable Costs
Planning a budget for technology costs can be difficult because unexpected costs can add up quickly. Managed services offer you predictable monthly costs that you can count on.
6. Peace of Mind
With managed services, you will have the peace of mind that your IT environment is secure. By monitoring your network 24x7x365, PATECCO knows immediately if a potential problem arises.
7. Reduced Risk
Security breaches can cause a lot of damage to organizations, plus technology and government regulations change at a rapid pace. With industry knowledge about compliance and security, PATECCO can help by managing a lot of this risk for you.
By including managed services in your IT strategy, you’ll ensure that important maintenance and security tasks get done. In addition to the urgency due to security threats, managed services help ensure that your network is secure, reliable, and fast — all without huge capital investments. PATECCO managed services can help you reign in your IT costs while optimizing your systems for performance and security.
For more information about other PATECCO solutions, check in the new e-guide:
6 Reasons to Implement Identity and Access Management Solution
Nowadays security issues are a prime concern because most identity methods are not so effective. The more technology is improving, the more new threats are coming and IAM is needed to significantly mitigate them. Due to the amount of information which is stored, used and transmitted, companies must define certain restrictions regarding who is allowed to access data. Providing a secure access is a serious challenge to IT professionals who must simultaneously meet the needs of different users across numerous, disparate applications.
Meeting these demands across a variety of on-premises and cloud applications requires the use of agile identity and access management solutions. Effective IAM solutions help enterprises provide secure and efficient access to technology resources across diverse systems. They also deliver a number of significant benefits which is a good reason to implement Identity and Access Management Solution in your business.
1. Ensure Automated Deprovisoning:
Modern IAM solutions provide additional tools to help control user access, especially when a user’s credentials become compromised. One such control is automated deprovisioning of accounts. All too often, when it’s time to close the books on an engagement, an account remains active until someone in IT manually removes the account from the directory services and revokes the user’s access to all applications. When left to a human, this is a time-consuming process that is easily overlooked or even forgotten altogether. When this happens, your company is put at great risk, as these orphaned accounts still maintain access to systems and data, making them extremely attractive to attackers. Automated deprovisioning eliminates this risk. With a single, automated workflow, all user accounts tied to a person can be deactivated as soon as he or she leaves the organization.
2. Bring fast access with SSO
When users receive access through a centralized platform, they benefit from the use of single sign-on (SSO) technology. It limits the number of interactions they have with security systems and increases the likelihood that their legitimate attempts to access resources will succeed.
3. Take back control by full identity lifecycle management
The right IAM solution provides secure, full identity lifecycle management. Not only will the solution take care of the provisioning and deprovisioning of user accounts, but it will also manage resource access for all of an organization’s users. By providing a database of roles determined by location, manager, department, or other variables, IT administrators can easily assign users the proper entitlements. Some of these solutions even make this process as easy as dragging and dropping a user into a group. So, from day one of an individual’s employment, only the resources to which the user has privileges can be accessed and nothing more. As those needs change, the IAM solution’s full lifecycle management capabilities help by adding or removing necessary entitlements.
4. Working from anywhere and everywhere
Many businesses are also turning to cloud services to handle everything from data storage to applications and even infrastructure to help save money and put resources into the hands of experienced professionals. And, while these trends help businesses save money, improve efficiency, and make workers happier, they present organizations with enormous security risks. Because more systems and hardware have moved outside your network, this also puts data outside of IT and perimeter security controls. In some companies, the only control that IT has over an employee’s computer is the remote control software that IT uses when users need help.
Unfortunately, businesses and IT departments have no choice but to embrace these trends, so it is more important than ever to have a solution in place that is able to give users access to the data and systems they need, in a manner that is secure enough to keep out attackers. That is why IAM is so crucial.
5. Provide an additional layer of security
Compliance regulations often require the restriction of administrative accounts or at least a record of who has access to what. However, security-focused organizations recognize the true risk that poorly managed administrative accounts present and opt for IAM solutions that address compliance by providing greater security
Companies focused on achieving compliance, simply aren’t doing enough to address today’s security threats. Modern IAM solutions, with features like continuous access certification and PAM, provide an additional layer of security that enable you to lock down your organization’s most valuable assets, keeping your network resources, your intellectual property, and your customers’ data safe.
6. Reduced security costs
Using a single IAM platform to manage all user access allows administrators to perform their work more efficiently. A security team may have some additional upfront work integrating new systems into an IAM platform but may then dedicate time to the management of that platform, saving time and money.
The threat landscape has changed. Attackers are targeting your users because they know if they can gain control of their accounts, they can eventually find confidential data. This reason is exactly why your organization needs to put as much effort into managing and controlling user accounts and their entitlements as you do with firewalls and intrusion prevention technologies. If your organization intends to go beyond compliance and into defence, IAM must be at the core of your security program.
For more information about other PATECCO solutions, check in the new e-guide:
7 Things To Know About Choosing a SIEM Solution
Today’s technology has accumulated with large-scale data produced by devices. All of them share massive volume of information, so organizations need an effective tool for control, monitoring and fighting against potential threat. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems play a key role at organizations in monitoring both real-time events and a mountain of long-term data to detect anomalous patterns of utilization and alert organizations whenever needed. The underlying principle of SIEM system is that the relevant information about the security of an enterprise is produced in diverse sources, and the data is correlated and viewed from one central location.
In simple words, SIEM is a combination of two different types of technologies:
– SIM (Security Information Management) that focuses on log collection and report generation
and
– SEM (Security Event Manager) that analyses events in real-time using event correlation and alerting mechanism
In details, SIM segment mainly emphasizes on the analysis of historical data intending to improve the long-term storage performance and efficiency of information security infrastructures. On the contrary, SEM area emphasizes on the aggregation of data into a manageable amount of information with the aid of which security incidents can be dealt with immediately.
SIEM Technology provides network security intelligence and real-time monitoring for network, devices, systems and applications. SIEM systems collect logs and other security-related documentation for analysis. Most of them work by deploying multiple collection agents in a hierarchical manner to gather security-related events from end-user devices, servers, network equipment – and even specialised security equipment like firewalls, antivirus or intrusion prevention systems. The collectors forward events to a centralised management console, which performs inspections and flags anomalies.
If your company is planning to choose a SIEM solution, there are a few things you should take into account about it:
#1. User Activity Monitoring
– SIEM solutions should have Out-of-the-box user activity monitoring and audit reporting feature
– Ensuring that the SIEM solution gives the “Complete audit trail”; Know which user performed the action, what was the result of the action, on what server it happened and from where the action was triggered.
#2. File Integrity Monitoring
– File Integrity Monitoring helps security professionals in monitoring business critical files and folders
– Ensure that the SIEM solution tracks and reports on all changes such as when files and folders are created, accessed, viewed, deleted, modified, renamed and much more.
– The SIEM solution should also send real-time alerts when unauthorised users access files and folders
#3. Log Forensics
– SIEM solutions should allow users to track down an intruder or the event activity using log search capability
– The log search capability should be very user-friendly, allowing IT administrators to search through the raw log data quickly
#4. Real Time Event Correlation
– Real-time event correlation is all about proactively dealing with threats. Correlation boosts network security by processing millions of events simultaneously to detect anomalous events on the network.
– Custom rule and alert-builder is a must for every SIEM solution.
#5. Log Retention
– SIEM solutions should automatically archive all log data from systems, devices and applications to a centralized repository.
– Ease of retrieving and analysing archived log data
#6. IT Compliance reports
– IT compliance is the core of every SIEM solution
– Ensure that the SIEM solution has out-of-the-box regulatory compliance reports such as SOX, HIPAA, etc.
– SIEM solutions should also have the capability to customise and build new compliance reports to comply with future regulatory acts
#7. Dashboards
– Dashboards drive SIEM solutions and help IT administrators take timely action and make the right decisions during network anomalies.
– Security data must be presented in a very user-friendly manner.
– The dashboard must be fully customisable so that IT administrators can configure the security information they wish to see.
Most enterprises find SIEM necessary because of several factors: Rise in data breaches due to external threats, attackers are smart and traditional security tools just don’t suffice, managing increasing volumes of log from multiple sources and meeting stringent compliance requirements. The business benefits of SIEM solutions are numerous, but the most essential ones relate to real-time monitoring (for operational efficiency and IT security purposes), cost saving, compliance, reporting and rapid ROI.
For more information about other PATECCO solutions, check in the new e-guide: