Quest Granted Another Patent

We were just notified that we were awarded yet another patent for our work on translating legacy authentication requests into Kerberos requests. This is a pretty key and important area that allows us to take, for example, LDAP requests and authentications and return Kerberos tickets to implement single sign-on. It’s patent #7,904,949 “Apparatus, systems and methods to provide authentication services to a legacy application ”. Congrats to John Bowers and Matt Peterson our illustrious inventors. The patented work shows up in Quest Authentication Services and further demonstrates the innovative work that has been put into our products.

Technorati Tags: Quest Software,QSFT,Quest Authentication Services,Patent 7904949,Vintela Authentication Services,QAS,identity management

How to Implement a Two-Factor Authentication Solution -- or Replace Your Current One

Are you considering implementing or replacing your current two-factor authentication solution? Not all solutions are the same.

In this live webcast, “Secure, Affordable Two-Factor Authentication,” you’ll learn about Quest Defender, an affordable, open-standards solution for two-factor authentication. You’ll see how Defender can:

• Leverage the redundancy, security and scalability of your existing Active Directory investment– so you won’t need to invest in expensive, proprietary solutions or learn a new console
• Coexist with other two-factor implementations for ZeroIMPACT migrations
• Offer perpetual soft and hard tokens that never expire
• Include all agents, radius servers and user self registration for both hard and soft tokens

You can register here for the webcast which takes place on Wednesday, May 4th at 11AM eastern time.


Technorati Tags: Defender,QSFT,Quest Software,BAA,two-factor authentication,OTP,RSA,SecurID,VASCO,security,identity and access management

BAA replaces their legacy OTP solution with Quest Defender

Good case study just published about BAA’s replacement of their legacy OTP solution in favor of Quest Defender. BAA is one of the world’s leading transport companies, owning six airports in the UK, including the largest, London Heathrow. One of Defender’s main advantages is being able to co-exist with other systems so a customer can do an “as they please” migration – no forklift required. Defender’s ability to co-exist with BAA’s previous solution also ensured that continuity of service was maintained during the roll-out.

“BAA will save money because Defender tokens last at least 67 percent longer than our previous solution, and last for the life of the battery rather than having a defined life of three years,” said Fiona Hayward, IT Programme Manager. “We can renew users’ tokens when they expire, as a help desk business-as-usual process, instead of issuing 7,500 tokens in one go and incurring the costs associated with running such a project.”

Thanks to BAA for participating in our case study. I always appreciate customers who are willing to talk publicly about our products and their success.

Technorati Tags: Defender,QSFT,Quest Software,BAA,two-factor authentication,OTP,RSA,SecurID,VASCO,security,identity and access management

RSA Hacked! Were they using 2-factor authentication themselves?

This has really made headlines. It’s also resulted in a number of e-mails from Quest customers happy they chose Quest Defender over RSA SecurID!

Hacker Spies Hit Security Firm RSA

Top security firm RSA Security revealed on Thursday that it’s been the victim of an “extremely sophisticated” hack.
The company said in a note posted on its website that the intruders succeeded in stealing information related to the company’s SecurID two-factor authentication products. SecurID adds an extra layer of protection to a login process by requiring users to enter a secret code number displayed on a keyfob, or in software, in addition to their password. The number is cryptographically generated and changes every 30 seconds.

“While at this time we are confident that the information extracted does not enable a successful direct attack on any of our RSA SecurID customers,” RSA wrote on its blog, “this information could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of a current two-factor authentication implementation as part of a broader attack. We are very actively communicating this situation to RSA customers and providing immediate steps for them to take to strengthen their SecurID implementations.”

As of 2009, RSA counted 40 million customers carrying SecurID hardware tokens, and another 250 million using software. Its customers include government agencies.

RSA CEO Art Coviello wrote in the blog post that the company was “confident that no other … products were impacted by this attack. It is important to note that we do not believe that either customer or employee personally identifiable information was compromised as a result of this incident.”

The company also provided the information in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, which includes a list of recommendations for customers who might be affected. See below for a list of the recommendations.

A company spokesman would not provide any details about when the hack occurred, how long it lasted or when the company had discovered it.

If you read what RSA’s Chairman said in his note he doesn’t detail if the hackers by-passed RSA’s security or how they by-passed it. I wonder if they (RSA) were using their own SecurID product to protect access to their internal networks? Gee, that’d be embarrassing if they were. Heck, it’s even more embarrassing if they weren’t! I wonder if we’ll ever be told?

Of course, if you’d prefer an alternative, there’s always Quest Defender.

Technorati Tags: RSA,SecurID,Defender,Quest Software,QSFT,security,identity management,EMC