Password Management

Self Service Password Reset, Synchronization & Automation

Single Sign-On Solutions

Password management continues to be a critical issue for IT security and user support, accounting for the highest volume of calls to IT help desks. Organizations must manage user accounts and passwords for a hetergeneous mix of mission-critical systems, each with its own unique native security system, including desktop computers, networks, enterprise directories, databases, packaged applications and custom-built or legacy systems.

Password management consists of:

• Defining corporate password policies, such as min./max. length, strength (mixed case, numbers, special characters), reuse, reusing dictionary words, expiration, etc.
• Establishing criteria for varying systems, to ensure consistency across systems and compatability with native system security requirements
• Integration with target systems to enable initial password creation and resets
• Monitoring and enforcing password policies, such as notifying users when passwords are about to expire
• Providing a mechanism for users or help desk personnel to securely reset forgotten/expired passwords, either on a single system, from a pick list, or across all systems
• Monitoring password statistics (resets, failures, etc.)

Password self-service improves a company's bottom line by reducing costs and improving productivity. Relying on help desk personnel and multiple system administrators to manually reset passwords is not only inconvenient and costly, it can also be very time-consuming, since it may take hours or even days to reset a user's password on various systems.

Courion's Password Management Solution

PasswordCourier® is Courion's password provisioning solution for organizations wishing to deploy self-service password reset and synchronization for users, as well as to enforce secure password policies.

Self-service password reset

Courion, a recognized leader and pioneer in the field, was the first to deliver a comprehensive self-service password management product that enables users to securely reset their own passwords on multiple target systems without help desk involvement.

Transparent synchronization

Courion was also the first to deliver transparent synchronization which allows users to use a password on multiple systems and applications. Transparent synchronization enhances security because it greatly reduces the temptation to resort to unsafe practices, such as writing down and saving passwords in insecure locations.

Convenience

Courion's password management solutions allow users to reset their password using their interface of choice, where it be as a browser, Windows log-on screen, or telephone/voice recognition system. Users can reset forgotten or expired passwords 24x7, rather than wait until the help desk is available.

Security

Courion's industrial-strength password features include logging and auditing all password-related transactions, alerts and notifications to users and IT administration to confirm actions or warn of suspicious activity, using encrypted and hashed formats to preserve password privacy, and the scalability to accommodate large numbers of simultaneous password reset requests, without buckling under the load and potentially compromising security.

Courion also offers enterprise single sign-on capabilities to provide fast, automated logons to Web, Windows, and host-based applications, and Privileged password management, the ability to centralize administrative passwords to enforce policy as to when passwords are updated and who has access to them.

PasswordCourier is the industry standard for secure, self-service password management, featuring multiple access options, robust service desk integration, and the ability to enforce consistent password policies for any system, application, or Web portal. PasswordCourier, Courion's password management software solution, enables organizations to deploy self-service password reset and password synchronization across a wide variety of enterprise systems.

Single Sign-On SSO

Enterprise Single Sign-On (ESSO) solutions deliver on the promise of fast and simplified access by allowing users to sign on to multiple applications using a single set of log-on credentials. For those organizations that elect not to use transparent synchronization, Courion's Enterprise Suite works with many leading ESSO solutions, including Citrix Password Manager™ , Imprivata OneSign™, Encentuate® TCI, Healthcast eXactACCESS™ and more.

Access Assurance Solution

All of Courion's Access Assurance solutions leverage a common technology platform which provides common services and connectors to customers' existing IT environment. This component - based approach is superior to competitive solutions because it allows Courion solutions to quickly integrate with and leverage a customer's existing directories, databases and help desk systems. It also permits customers to choose which applications they want to implement first, without having to implement a "heavy" infrastructure. This architecture enables customers to easily add new managed systems and new technologies as their business needs change, and as they acquire additional organizations or bring in new applications. Our component- based model also assists Courion in delivering additional capabilities quickly and efficiently − including new features and expanded platform coverage.

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