For Security & Risk Professionals

Best Practices: Implementing Strong Authentication In Your Enterprise

Kill Two Birds With One Token

by Bill Nagel, July 23, 2009

The adoption of strong multifactor authentication (MFA) is on the rise. It's often the first port of call on the journey to a fuller identity and access management implementation; MFA directly addresses the password problem, which is a well-known and . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Identity And Access Management Adoption In Europe: 2008

by Bill Nagel, April 16, 2009

Interest in and adoption of identity and access management (IAM) technologies has been growing steadily over the past few years, fueled both by the desire to streamline processes relating to employee, contractor, partner, and customer access to company . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Identity And Access Management, Q4 2008

by Andras Cser, October 6, 2008

Identity and access management (IAM) continues to be a major topic of interest for security professionals. Between July 2007 and June 2008, Forrester's security and risk management team fielded 1,798 inquiries on a variety of topics — 291 of which were . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Market Overview: Strong Authentication For Enterprises In 2008

Securing The Doors To Your IT Environment

by Bill Nagel, July 16, 2008

Security professionals have long known that passwords are no longer sufficient to act as the sole means of gatekeeping access to enterprise network and data resources. Increasingly, they're putting that knowledge into action: More than half of the enterprises . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Forrester TechRadar™: Identity And Access Management, Q2 2008

Market Seeks Solutions That Support Business And IT Flexibility And Compliance

by Andras Cser, June 18, 2008

Identity and access management (IAM) continues to be a fragmented field of disjointed technologies with difficult and expensive implementation cycles and even more costly efforts in the wake of bad technology decisions. Products that give quick answers . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Single Sign-On: Dispelling The Myths, Finding The Fit  (416 KB PPT)

by Jonathan Penn, July 6, 2006

Few technology topics generate as much interest as single sign-on (SSO). Single sign-on is at once both popular and controversial; it's also a misunderstood topic. There are in fact several different types of single sign-on, each with its own unique characteristics . . .

Justifying E-SSO: Benefits Beyond The Help Desk

Identity Management And Security That Makes Users' Lives Easier

by Jonathan Penn, July 6, 2006

Investment in enterprise single sign-on (E-SSO) delivers much more than tactical help desk returns. Yes, E-SSO improves the user experience in accessing IT systems; but at the same time, it enforces security policies around authentication and facilitates . . .

Strong Authentication And Enterprise Single Sign-On Go Hand In Hand

by Jonathan Penn, September 21, 2005

Use of strong authentication for employees is proliferating, fueled by regulatory and partner security requirements, hackers' exploitation of password weaknesses, and government initiatives around homeland security. The implementation challenges of strong . . .

ActivCard Acquires Protocom: Good Move

Upgrade To Enterprise Single Sign-On Boosts ActivCard's Strong Authentication

by Jonathan Penn, August 1, 2005

The acquisition of a leading enterprise single sign-on (eSSO) vendor gives ActivCard the necessary technical grease to ease its strong authentication solutions into enterprises and government organizations. With eSSO, ActivCard gains a notable advantage . . .

Authentication Remains Mixed But Strengthening, And eSSO Picks Up

by Laura Koetzle, May 13, 2005

Recently, Forrester surveyed 200 technology decision-makers about their firms' plans for security in 2005. Firms continue to employ a mix of techniques for authenticating employees and customers. While 84% of our 147 respondents still think good password . . .

Security Comparison: Single Sign-On Versus Password Synchronization

by Jonathan Penn, September 9, 2004

If users have to manage too many passwords, they write them down or forget them. From this perspective, both password synchronization and enterprise single sign-on improve security by assisting people in managing their credentials. When directly comparing . . .

Single Sign-On Adoption: Standing Still

Bright Spots In Unexpected Industries

by Laura Koetzle, March 31, 2004

The percentage of large North American companies with single sign-on (SSO) implementations in production stagnated in 2003, barely edging upward from 18% in 2002 to 19% in 2003. However, SSO vendors shouldn't despair. In 2003, technology and telecom industry . . .

HP Acquires TruLogica

Adaptive Management Expands To Identity

by Jonathan Penn, March 29, 2004

HP's acquisition of user provisioning vendor TruLogica is a logical next step after its acquisition of a Web single sign-on product, and fits nicely into its adaptive management strategy.

Market Trends 2004: Enterprise Single Sign-On

by Steve Hunt, December 22, 2003

Enterprise SSO creates value and is almost always cost-effective in light of the business benefits of cost savings, improved user productivity and satisfaction, and streamlined authentication infrastructure. Vendors should implement it today.

Microsoft Passport Risk: Lessons for All

by Jonathan Penn, June 11, 2003

Companies weighing whether to honor, or continue honoring, Passport authentication must balance its shortcomings against the risks of potential account compromise such as financial loss or loss of customer trust.

Netegrity Partners With Business Layers for Provisioning Technology

February 5, 2003

The arrangement will allow Netegrity to offer its customers a mature provisioning technology, an attractive product road map for Web single sign-on/provisioning integration, and a single vendor from which to purchase the combined solution.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Liberty 1.0 Specifications: No Royalties for Now, but No Future Guarantees

by Randy Heffner, September 30, 2002

As with other emerging standards, users and vendors must be watchful of intellectual property rights with Liberty Alliance specifications — each new iteration of Liberty specifications must be checked for new claims that may have arisen.

Liberty 1.0 Specifications: Focused on Consumers, Business Usage Possible

by Randy Heffner, September 30, 2002

Liberty 1.0 plays best to B2C scenarios. It may be used in certain business scenarios but has no features designed for B2B. Early adopters of B2C I-SSO should investigate Liberty and vendor implementations emerging during the next six to 12 months.

Liberty 1.0 Specifications: Cautious Adoption and Vendor Opportunity

by Jonathan Penn, August 9, 2002

Giga expects Liberty to gain slow but steady acceptance over time. At this point, however, the approach to adoption should be a cautious one, since the specification is incomplete from a technical, security and business process standpoint.

Liberty and Passport Offer Single Sign-On, Not Security

by Jonathan Penn, April 11, 2002

Liberty and Passport provide single sign-on, which is primarily a user-oriented benefit. Organizations should not expect these solutions to help secure their environments. Moreover, use of these solutions can complicate security.

Microsoft Passport Under Pressure From New Liberty Alliance Support

by Randy Heffner, December 17, 2001

AOL and American Express announced that they will join the Liberty Alliance, placing additional pressure on Microsoft and its Passport offering, and giving Liberty the upper hand in the battle for I-SSO leadership.

Microsoft Passport: Too Much Risk, Too Little Reward

by Ken Smiley, Jonathan Penn, November 16, 2001

Passport has a history of operational problems: security weaknesses and server crashes, and the ability to impersonate any individual on the MSN network is a cause for great concern and could lead to a serious breech of security.

Netegrity Buys DataChannel: Building a Unified Platform

by Jonathan Penn, November 15, 2001

Netegrity Acquires DataChannel and Outlines a Bold but Risky Vision

by Jonathan Penn, November 13, 2001

Netegrity's acquisition of portal vendor DataChannel is an interesting and important development for both companies. It has broad implications for the access and identity management space, but is risky for Netegrity, as it expands beyond its core market.

Netegrity and DataChannel: Major Risks in Maintaining Dual Product Visions

by Randy Heffner, November 6, 2001

With the complexities of a dual product vision, Netegrity may end up shortchanging SSO customers, portal customers or both. Customers should closely watch future product enhancement plans.