Press Releases
CYBER-ARK SOFTWARE SAFEGUARDS APPLICATION-TO-APPLICATION PASSWORDS
Information Security Provider's Latest Enhancement of Password Vault Secures and Manages Application-to-Application Passwords, Helps to Ensure Compliance
Dedham, Mass.-January 9, 2006 - Cyber-Ark® Software Inc., the information security software company that develops and markets digital vaults for securing and managing highly-sensitive information within and across global enterprise networks, today announced the release of its support for application to application passwords. The Enterprise Password Vault™ solution for securing, sharing and managing administrative passwords has now been enhanced to support the management of application to application passwords, otherwise known as service account passwords.
Password Vault provides a "safe haven" where all privileged users' passwords can be securely archived, transferred, shared and managed by authorized users, such as IT staff and administrators. It creates a centralized credential management infrastructure to secure administrative and service account passwords. The Central Password Manager module enables organizations to change passwords automatically on remote machines and store the new passwords in the Vault, without human intervention and in accordance with organizational policies. The added capability to manage service accounts allows the software to remove hard-coded passwords from all scripts and code, encrypt stored passwords and control all access to credentials by application or support staff. These enhanced Administrative ID management capabilities further enable corporations to comply with the latest regulatory requirements.
"Service account passwords are an often overlooked security concern," said Udi Mokady, Cyber-Ark President and COO. "If a high-level password falls into the wrong hands, it can have devastating results on a company's reputation and financial standing. Moreover, managing these passwords has become a logistical nightmare for IT departments. The Password Vault provides the most effective way to manage and protect sensitive passwords. This latest version speaks to the needs of IT departments for considerable ease of use and flexibility."
The challenge of securing, managing and sharing service accounts within the enterprise is a major issue for IT departments and application managers. The service account passwords that enable applications to communicate with each other must also be managed as they present one of the most vulnerable backdoors for any enterprise organization.
Service account passwords are often hard coded within applications, so resetting them becomes a complex process involving changes to application code, compilation and in some cases a long process of transferring the code from development to QA to production. To alleviate these headaches and the associated downtime, passwords often remain unchanged. Even worse, administrators have had no mechanism to disable passwords once they're given out. This means former employees, MSP staff, offshore developers and others may have access to the company's most valuable assets.
Cyber-Ark's Vaulting Technology provides an effective way to safeguard these passwords. This software encompasses a very secure repository for passwords and password objects, as well as a central password manager. The password manager forces users to comply with stringent password policies. Instead of the system administrator manually assigning passwords and tracking these in a spreadsheet, the password manager generates a password that automatically changes or expires. For example, a developer may be given a password authorizing him to access the server for 60 minutes, or for one-time use. Passwords on target systems are changed on a predefined basis. This is ideal for users who may need to get to the server for a specific purpose but should not be given permanent access.
The software also includes password object administration, dual controls (specifying that access to highly sensitive passwords requires confirmation by two authorized users), plus utilities to integrate authentication support for any Radius compatible authentication server, such as Vasco, Safeword, ActivePack, RSA SecurID or Alladin OTP.
Cyber-Ark's patented Vaulting solutions allow organizations to protect and share information both over the Internet between discrete enterprises and manage critical information within a single network. The company's technology is used to secure the most valuable assets of some of the largest military, banking, manufacturing, airline and governmental enterprises in the world. Password Vault is an extension of this technology specifically built for administrative passwords. Cyber-Ark's Password Vault offering provides a 'Safe Haven' within the enterprise where all administrative passwords can be archived, managed and shared.
About Cyber-Ark
Cyber-Ark Software is an Information Security company that develops and markets digital vaults for securing and managing sensitive information within and across global enterprise networks. Based on it's patented Vaulting Technology™, Cyber-Ark's digital vault products include: The Inter-Business Vault®, a secure infrastructure for cross-enterprise data exchange of highly-sensitive information; The Sensitive Document Vault™, which allows enterprises to secure, store and manage highly-sensitive documents; and the Enterprise Password Vault, which provides solutions for secure storage and management of administrative, emergency and service account passwords. Today Cyber-Ark enjoys strong customer relationships with more than 150 Global 1000 companies around the world.
Founded by a group of leading military security experts and computer engineers, Cyber-Ark Software is privately held and backed by some of the world's most successful venture capitalists, including Jerusalem Venture Partners, Seed Capital Partners (a SOFTBANK Affiliate), JP Morgan/Chase Partners and Vertex Management.
The Company is located in Dedham, Mass. and on the World Wide Web at www.cyber-ark.com
Cyber-Ark, Network Vault, Inter-Business Vault, and Vaulting Technology are trademarks of Cyber-Ark Software Ltd. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved
Cyber-Ark Software Press Contact:
Richard April
Vice President of Marketing
781-251-0670
richard.april@cyber-ark.com
Jason Ouellette
PAN Communications
978-474-1900
cyber-ark@pancomm.com
