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NEWS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
New Integrated Authentication and Configuration Solution Reduces Administrative Costs, Improves Security and Simplifies Compliance across Heterogeneous IT Environments
CONTACT:
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Ellen Libenson
Symark Software (800) 234-9072 |
Dan Borgasano/Myron
Lee
Schwartz Communications (415) 512-0770 |
Symark Software Introduces PowerADvantage®
to Extend Active Directory Functionality
to UNIX and Linux Systems
New Integrated Authentication and Configuration Solution Reduces Administrative Costs, Improves Security and Simplifies Compliance across Heterogeneous IT Environments
AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – September
17, 2007 – Symark Software, the
leading provider of information security
solutions for managing privileged account
access, today announced PowerADvantage,
a new integrated authentication and
configuration solution. PowerADvantage
extends Active Directory’s centralized
authentication, authorization, account
access, policy enforcement and infrastructure
management functionality to UNIX and
Linux systems. PowerADvantage reduces
administration costs, improves security
and supports compliance efforts by centrally
managing user identifications, authentication,
security policies and automatic deployment
of configuration settings across heterogeneous
UNIX and Linux environments.
“While Symark prides itself on being the industry’s leading provider of solutions for managing privileged access within heterogeneous IT environments, we are constantly working with our customers to improve their overall identity and access management programs,” said Robert H. Farber, chief operating officer at Symark Software. “PowerADvantage represents a tremendous opportunity for us by extending Active Directory’s excellent authentication, authorization and policy enforcement functionality to Linux and UNIX systems. Our extensive experience with Linux and UNIX security administration technology is incorporated into the product, which not only makes it a stronger offering, but is something other vendors do not bring to the table.”
How PowerADvantage Works
PowerADvantage implements an agent on UNIX and Linux machines that communicates with Active Directory’s domain controllers. During the installation of the PowerADvantage agent, the UNIX or Linux host is joined to the domain and the host is configured to route authentication requests through the PowerADvantage agent. This allows the PowerADvantage agent to communicate with the Active Directory domain controllers to process authentication requests and access the Group Policy Objects used for configuration management.
After installation, the computer object for each UNIX and Linux host can be moved to different organizational units in the Active Directory hierarchy, changing which set of Group Policy Objects apply to that host. The PowerADvantage Context of each host can also be changed, which will immediately change the login configuration for all Active Directory-based users logging in to that host. Both of these changes can be performed without re-booting the host or re-starting the PowerADvantage agent. Additionally, the PowerADvantage agent is configured by Group Policy, so any changes in the configuration of the agents can be performed through Group Policy without the need to visit each individual host.
“The IT environments at many of today’s global enterprises consist of literally hundreds or thousands of servers, all running a diverse mix of operating systems. This can create an administrative and security nightmare, increasing the need for more effective identity and access management solutions,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, information security at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Symark’s PowerADvantage addresses this concern by extending Active Directory’s robust feature set to various versions of UNIX and Linux systems. By integrating PowerADvantage with Symark’s PowerBroker—the company’s solution for controlling privileged account access—organizations will be equipped with a cost-effective, comprehensive identity and access management solution that incorporates the UNIX and Linux systems running within their IT infrastructure.”
PowerADvantage Key Features
PowerADvantage delivers a single, centralized management solution that reduces costs, administrative overhead and training requirements while helping organizations strengthen their corporate security policies, increasing productivity and simplifying compliance reporting requirements. Features of PowerADvantage include:
“While Symark prides itself on being the industry’s leading provider of solutions for managing privileged access within heterogeneous IT environments, we are constantly working with our customers to improve their overall identity and access management programs,” said Robert H. Farber, chief operating officer at Symark Software. “PowerADvantage represents a tremendous opportunity for us by extending Active Directory’s excellent authentication, authorization and policy enforcement functionality to Linux and UNIX systems. Our extensive experience with Linux and UNIX security administration technology is incorporated into the product, which not only makes it a stronger offering, but is something other vendors do not bring to the table.”
How PowerADvantage Works
PowerADvantage implements an agent on UNIX and Linux machines that communicates with Active Directory’s domain controllers. During the installation of the PowerADvantage agent, the UNIX or Linux host is joined to the domain and the host is configured to route authentication requests through the PowerADvantage agent. This allows the PowerADvantage agent to communicate with the Active Directory domain controllers to process authentication requests and access the Group Policy Objects used for configuration management.
After installation, the computer object for each UNIX and Linux host can be moved to different organizational units in the Active Directory hierarchy, changing which set of Group Policy Objects apply to that host. The PowerADvantage Context of each host can also be changed, which will immediately change the login configuration for all Active Directory-based users logging in to that host. Both of these changes can be performed without re-booting the host or re-starting the PowerADvantage agent. Additionally, the PowerADvantage agent is configured by Group Policy, so any changes in the configuration of the agents can be performed through Group Policy without the need to visit each individual host.
“The IT environments at many of today’s global enterprises consist of literally hundreds or thousands of servers, all running a diverse mix of operating systems. This can create an administrative and security nightmare, increasing the need for more effective identity and access management solutions,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, information security at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Symark’s PowerADvantage addresses this concern by extending Active Directory’s robust feature set to various versions of UNIX and Linux systems. By integrating PowerADvantage with Symark’s PowerBroker—the company’s solution for controlling privileged account access—organizations will be equipped with a cost-effective, comprehensive identity and access management solution that incorporates the UNIX and Linux systems running within their IT infrastructure.”
PowerADvantage Key Features
PowerADvantage delivers a single, centralized management solution that reduces costs, administrative overhead and training requirements while helping organizations strengthen their corporate security policies, increasing productivity and simplifying compliance reporting requirements. Features of PowerADvantage include:
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Cross-platform Unified Login—Users are provided with a single login and password for all UNIX, Linux and Windows machines, eliminating the need to establish separate access credentials for varying systems. This increases efficiency and boosts productivity for end users while reducing calls to the help desk related to misplaced passwords.
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Simple Installation Process—Administrators can deploy PowerADvantage in a matter of minutes without making any irreversible changes to the Active Directory schema. PowerADvantage’s simple agent installation process joins the host to Active Directory and implements the unified login function, eliminating any complex, time consuming configuration changes. Additionally, PowerADvantage’s intelligent import wizard streamlines and simplifies the importing and mapping of current UNIX and Linux user information directly into Active Directory.
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Comprehensive Centralized Storage—All user and group information is centrally stored within Active Directory, reducing infrastructure costs by eliminating redundant identity stores—including legacy directories, unsecured NIS servers and locally managed files. Storing information within Active Directory, along with integrated use of existing Windows administration tools, enables IT managers to utilize applications with familiar interfaces. This eliminates the need to license third-party synchronization products or to build and maintain in-house solutions. Operations, training and processes for provisioning, account maintenance and other administrative tasks are streamlined by standardizing on a single set of Active Directory-based tools.
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Integration with Symark’s PowerBroker—PowerADvantage is the only solution that extends Active Directory’s identity management, access control and group policy services to UNIX and Linux systems and integrates with Symark’s PowerBroker—the industry’s most comprehensive solution for authorization and access control within heterogeneous UNIX and Linux IT environments. The combination of PowerADvantage and PowerBroker enhances security and compliance efforts by facilitating efficient management of both end-user and administrator account access from Active Directory while controlling access and tasks performed using the root account.
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Automated Deployment of Configuration Settings—Using Group Policy, IT administrators can leverage Active Directory to establish secure, centrally-managed configuration services to UNIX and Linux hosts (as well as to the applications running on them). Using either custom-created administrative templates or those provided by PowerADvantage, administrators create configuration settings that are automatically stored in Active Directory. This facilitates the rapid automatic deployment and maintenance of configuration settings across a large number of hosts, greatly reducing administrative time and cost. Because these policies are reapplied to each host based on a pre-determined interval, any unapproved changes to the configuration items maintained by PowerADvantage will be reset back to the approved settings at the next policy refresh interval.
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Targeted Configuration Management—PowerADvantage’s configuration management capabilities leverage Active Directory’s organizational unit structure to deliver targeted configuration services to any number of individual hosts within the IT environment. This enables administrators to apply the configuration settings to selected hosts or applications. For example, the Web servers running an organization’s public Web site should be configured differently than the servers running the internal intranet. PowerADvantage facilitates the configuration of each group of servers differently. Additionally, customers can leverage Active Directory to establish a hierarchy of organizational units (with a specific host placed in the appropriate unit). The host will then inherit all the policies in this hierarchy and PowerADvantage will resolve any conflicting items in the policy and determine the proper group of settings to apply to the individual host.
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Detailed Compliance Reports—PowerADvantage helps ensure that all activities performed on UNIX and Linux systems are written to the proper Active Directory logs. It produces audit reports required by Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS and HIPAA, providing a comprehensive trail for auditors. This simplifies the compliance process and reduces overall audit costs, and it allows for the more rapid discovery of anomalies as part of a sound security posture.
Pricing & Availability
PowerADvantage will be available in
the first quarter of 2008. For pricing
and information about Symark’s early
access program, please contact Symark
at (800) 234-9072 or visit www.symark.com.
About Symark
Founded in 1985, Symark is the leading
provider of information security solutions
for managing privileged account access
within heterogeneous UNIX, Linux and
Windows environments. Symark PowerBroker®
enables granular delegation of administrative
privileges while restricting root account
access. Symark PowerPassword®, User
Management Edition provides user account
management along with login and password
security policies. Symark PowerKeeper®
provides storage and secure access of
administrative passwords for multiple
servers, applications and network devices.
All three products offer central administration
and detailed audit logs to help comply
with regulatory mandates. Symark offers
extensive expertise in enterprise computing
security, and its products are backed
by unmatched technical support. For
more information, visit www.symark.com.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symark and its products, please view the Symark web site at www.symark.com.
Symark, the Symark logo, PowerPassword, PowerBroker, and PowerKeeper are trademarks or registered trademarks, in the United States and certain other countries, of Symark Software. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully acknowledged.
