SafeNet's identity federation for cloud apps

NEW DELHI, INDIA: SafeNet, Inc., provider of data protection, has announced new cloud functionality for its SafeWord 2008 strong authentication management platform.

SafeWord 2008, which has become known as one of the simplest OTP authentication platforms to deploy, integrate and manage, now includes identity federation and single sign-on (SSO) capabilities for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, including Salesforce.com and GoogleApps.

As key solutions in SafeNet’s cloud security portfolio, both of SafeNet’s authentication management platforms, SafeNet Authentication Manager (SAM) and SafeWord 2008, now enable customers to seamless extend enterprise identities to SaaS-based applications.

“The world’s most user-friendly authentication management platform is now cloud enabled,” said Andrew Young, vice president, product management at SafeNet.

“As organizations start to widely adopt SaaS applications, they are looking for ways to leverage the operational efficiencies and scalability that the cloud brings, while still ensuring the security of their virtual assets,” he added.

SafeWord 2008, along with SafeNet Authentication Manager (SAM), now provides a seamless and extensible strong authentication and SSO experience for customers accessing SaaS-based applications. By federating an enterprise users identity via Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), SafeNet’s authentication management platforms now enable organizations to leverage existing infrastructure, and allow users to have the same login credentials for both on-premise and cloud-based applications.

“By extending enterprise identity management to the cloud, businesses and organizations can achieve greater efficiency through SSO and better visibility into business processes through workflow monitoring, and reporting functions,” said Sally Hudson, research director, Security Products and Services at IDC.

“Further, as cloud infrastructure absorbs routine activities performed by employees today, employers have greater freedom to deploy resources on adjacent or new business-critical strategies benefitting the overall business,” he said.

This extension of SafeNet’s authentication management platforms to accommodate both on-premise and cloud-based applications is significant for customers who are making the move to the cloud, or planning for a future infrastructure that includes cloud-based or virtual environments.

A unified platform that includes features such as SSO allows users to log on to enterprise and cloud-based applications with the same set of credentials. This simplifies and accelerates the log-on process for end users, and supports customer goals of driving down costs and better utilization of resources through central management of operations by IT staff.