SecureAuth Announces Identity And Access Management Platform For SaaS Applications

SecureAuth Corporation today announced details of SecureAuth Cloud Access, a cloud-based platform that delivers single sign-on functionality and multi-factor authentication to SaaS applications within the enterprise. SecureAuth Cloud Access streamlines and simplifies identity and access management by giving enterprises a unified user interface for managing access to SaaS applications, thereby enabling IT administrators to more effectively track, monitor and control access to cloud-based applications from devices operating within their IT infrastructure. With support for over 8000 SaaS apps, SecureAuth Cloud Access also boasts the ability to customize parameters for the activation of multi-factor authentication. For example, customers can decide to configure multi-factor authentication in the event that a user attempts to authenticate from black-listed geographies or tries multiple authentications from such geographically disparate locations with a frequency that raises suspicions about the legitimacy of the authentication attempts. An expansion of its on-premise counterpart, SecureAuth IdP, SecureAuth Cloud Access delivers analytics on the adoption of SaaS applications, usage trends and password strength to bolster the security of SaaS applications within their environment. As such, SecureAuth Cloud Access responds to the proliferation of SaaS apps within enterprises and empowers organizations to more effectively manage SaaS identity access management in ways that align with security protocols and practices used for their on-premise applications.

Advertisement

IDdriven Launches Identity As a Service Solution Featuring Zone Based Access Control

Sacramento-based IDdriven launched with an Identity as a Service solution that delivers cloud-based identity and access management (IAM) services on Wednesday, February 17. In addition to role-based access control, IDdriven features zone-based access control that allows administrators to control access to workloads and applications based on the geographic location of a user. Moreover, IDdriven’s IAM platform allows organizations to automate updates to an employee’s access to applications, workloads and environments as they change roles within the organization. IDdriven’s ability to update the access privileges of employees as they get promoted or change roles enables organizations to avoid the problem wherein employees inherit access granted to them in previous roles that may not be required for their current position. Importantly, IDdriven delivers a self-service based IAM platform that allows organizations to implement identity and access management via a web-based interface in conjunction with the platform’s integration with Microsoft Active Directory. Hosted on Microsoft Azure, IDdriven is offered through a subscription-based pricing model that integrates with and enhances the capabilities of existing access management tools that a company may have. Co-founded by Arend Verweij, CEO, Remy de Vries, CTO, and Geurt van Wijk, COO, the company intends to simplify identity and access management by delivering a self-service IAM platform that differentiates by way of a simple, user friendly user interface, pricing that is easy to understand, granular access control capabilities and self-service provisioning and management functionality. IDdriven will be introduced to the industry in conjunction with the IDdriven Partner Network to accelerate the adoption of its innovative identity and access management solutions.

Kaseya Release 8 Adds Security And Compliance Functionality To Its Cloud Monitoring Platform

Kaseya recently announced the launch of Kaseya Release 8, which adds security and compliance features to its cloud monitoring platform. Kaseya 8 bolsters the ability of small to mid-size organizations to manage their IT infrastructure and applications by means of enhancements to Kaseya Remote Control that empower IT administrators to remotely perform work on servers and workstations. Moreover, Kaseya’s AuthAnvil product helps companies manage IT-related authentication protocols, including two factor authentication, single sign-on and password management functionality. AuthAnvil also enables users to customize the list of applications included within the purview of single sign-on applications as illustrated below:

Furthermore, Kaseya 8 claims enhanced centralized management functionality for Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint Online. In addition, the platform delivers service level tracking software to automate compliance with service level agreements in conjunction with the delivery of notifications that signal cases in which a SLA stands a danger of violation. Overall, Tuesday’s release pivots the product toward security and compliance functionality for SMBs by delivering out of the box functionality that can assist organizations monitor compliance with SLAs and assure the implementation of robust identity access management features. As told to Cloud Computing Today in a phone interview with Kaseya’s CEO, Yogesh Gupta, the company’s primary client base consists of SMBs sized at roughly 50 to 250 employees. The latest release delivers security and compliance solutions that can be readily implemented by companies that fit the profile of Kaseya’s customer base that are seeking to ensure the security of their IT infrastructures. That said, cloud security and compliance are hot topics for virtually any organization with a cloud deployment, so Kaseya will need to ensure its offering can meet the demands of its customers as they grow and undertake more complex cloud and application deployments.

Amazon Web Services Releases AWS Direct Connect and Enhanced Virtual Private Cloud Features

Late last week, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the release of three features especially designed for enterprise customers. Enterprise customers now have access to greater security and identity management functionality in addition to an array of features that enhance the AWS Virtual Private Cloud offering. AWS titled Thursday’s three clusters of features under the headings Identity Federation, AWS Direct Connect and Virtual Private Cloud Everywhere.

Identity Federation
AWS Identity Access Management (IAM) features enable customers to grant role-based access to users that limits their access to Amazon’s APIs and related resources. IAM not only enables control access of access to specific AWS resources, but can also specify constraints on the mode of access to AWS. For example, IAM permits conditions about access to AWS according to parameters such as the time of day, originating IP address or the use of SSL.

Identity Federation enhances IAM by allowing users to access AWS resources without requiring an individual IAM user identity. Organizations can now grant temporary access to guest users by way of access keys or session tokens that expire after a designated period of time.

AWS Direct Connect
AWS Direct Connect enables customers to securely access their Amazon Web Services resources by connecting to an Equinix data center that connects to the Amazon Web Services EC2 infrastructure. The direct link through Equinix allows customers to bypass a regular internet connection to their AWS resources and enjoy more predictable data transfer speeds, increased bandwidth and reduced bandwidth costs. AWS expects three major use cases for Amazon Direct Connect: (1) Data center replacement through migration of a data center to an AWS infrastructure; (2) High speed access to custom hosting facilities from an AWS console connected to those facilities via Equinix; and (3) High volume data transfers between a data center and Amazon Web Services.

Currently, AWS Direct Connect is available only through Equinix’s Ashburn, VA data center for connection to Amazon’s US-East Northern Virginia data center. AWS Direct Connect locations are planned for San Jose, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo and Singapore.

Virtual Private Cloud Everywhere
The AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) offering enables customers to provision a dedicated set of servers with complete control over the configuration of the virtual networking environment. The Virtual Private Cloud network has now graduated from Beta to General Availability mode. In addition, the VPC is available from more than one Availability Zone within a specific AWS Region.

Moreover, VPCs are now accessible from more than one VPN connection. Multiple VPN access to Virtual Private Clouds allows clients to create different “customer branches” or offices that access the Virtual Private Cloud through a customized set of VPN credentials.

Users can also create more than one VPC per region and view the status of each VPN access point through the AWS Management console, command line and EC2 API. Additional features include elastic IP addresses for EC2 instances in a VPC, full control of a VPC’s structure and a VPC wizard that facilitates set-up. Finally, VPC capability is now available in all five of Amazon Web Services’s regions: US East (Northern Virginia), US West (Northern California), EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Singapore), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo).

The recent deployment collectively amounts to a release that “qualifies as massive” according to Jeff Barr of Amazon Web Services. Virtual Private Clouds appeal to enterprise customers for obvious security and regulatory reasons involving a desire not to commingle data with servers leveraged by other customers. Identity Federation gives enterprises greater control over user access privileges to AWS. AWS Direct Connect responds to customer feedback about a desire to access AWS through means other than the public internet. Meanwhile, the enhancements to the Virtual Private Cloud enable greater redundancy and failover planning in addition to superior flexibility vis-à-vis VPC management and configuration.