We're introducing the solution's transparent mode for privileged sessions. This is part of what the client hasn't used before. It will simplify their administrative situation greatly. So far, the rollout of this feature has been a seamless process, but we're still in the midst of rolling it out. The benefits will be on the risk side.

Right now, the way accounts are managed, you don't necessarily know who is using an account. There's a shared admin account, and that's not a good thing. And those accounts are shared in wallets by several people. One of the real benefits of safeguarding here is that the client will have an absolute audit of who is using an administrative interface, whether it's server or network.

The centralized storage of secrets and credentials prevents them from spreading throughout the organization. We know who has control over them and who has access. Before Safeguard, there might have been a few Post-Its stuck on screens, which isn't secure.

We have also gained visibility into the use of privileged access. It's way easier for us to see what, when, how, where, and why. We now have a good way to provide justification for doing things, instead of relying upon people to remember. Now we can demand that. 

And the rich level of logging, including visual logs with video recordings of sessions, has given us more confidence in our security posture, where we have onboarded the system.

It has greatly helped improve our security posture. Safeguard has an option where it will reset passwords on service accounts, then go out to those servers where that service account is running as a service and update the password on it. That makes password changes very easy. We can regularly change passwords now and are planning on making it an annual activity, where all the people who own service accounts will go in and make sure all their passwords get changed, updated, and reset. That's a huge scary stance right there because people leave the company and memorize all their passwords. Now, they're null and void, and we're in a far more secure place.

We are still building out the Safeguard behavioral analytics feature, but so far, it's pretty good about being able to detect nonhuman input. This has increased our security posture as well. It's really easy to use. Security guys are able to identify, "Why is this person logging into spots on the weekend when historically they've never accessed it on the weekend whatsoever?" We're able to keep watch as there is a lot better visibility of our environment.

The situation as it was seven years ago, the usability and functionality of Safeguard were like three key questions in the case of Safeguard. Unfortunately, several years ago, they still had a sync client, which means a desktop application for one part of the product, while another part of the product was managed through the web UI. Of course, it was not so convenient. But nowadays, all the functionality is managed from the same console, meaning via the web UI, 100 percent. So, from this perspective, I can say that customers are quite happy with the current user interface of the solution.

The most important benefit is that when we talk about the deployment of any PAM solution, it serves as a centralized point for privileged access connections. This includes internal users, such as administrators or individuals with special privileges, like an accountant with additional access to the company's ERP system. This is in contrast to the standard situation where users have a direct connection to the target system, which lacks control. Firstly, a single point is created to enable full control over connections. Additionally, automation allows for quick response in case of any malicious activity. For instance, if the system detects abnormal behavior, such as in an SSH session, it can instantly terminate the session without requiring the involvement of cybersecurity personnel. The advantage of this approach is that it eliminates the need to involve humans in the process, which would take time. With a PAM solution like Safeguard, these actions can be executed within seconds, preventing any negative impact on the target system.

From my perspective, using the transparent mode is quite easy. However, from the customer's point of view, they should take the time to understand how it works properly. Once they grasp the concept of how this mode operates, which is made possible by the unique technology at the core of Safeguard's privileged session module, it becomes a significant benefit. Some customers may find it necessary to review this aspect carefully. Nevertheless, once they comprehend the intended functionality, everything else becomes straightforward.

I did not observe any issues concerning the rollout of the transparent mode for our users.

Monitoring privileged accounts using transparent mode is much easier from a user perspective, as it is almost invisible to them. What we are discussing is the deployment of Safeguard in transparent mode. From a monitoring standpoint, unfortunately, it does not prevent the injection of certain credentials. However, in terms of monitoring functionality, it is almost the same. Therefore, I cannot say that there is a significant negative impact from that perspective.

We utilize the secure remote access feature for privileged users. The majority of my projects involve contractors and third parties rather than direct employees.

Without One Identity Safeguard, managing remote access would be significantly more challenging. Safeguard is the tool that, from my perspective and based on my project experience, enables customers to have complete and effective control over remote access for both their contractors and internal infrastructure. It is remarkably user-friendly. Therefore, there is no distinction between deploying Safeguard for securing our internal network and implementing it for managing remote access from third-party networks and beyond.

It is nice that the Secure Remote Access feature does not rely on VPN; however, all of my customers continue to use VPN and utilize a VPN panel to manage remote access via Safeguard.

Managing the remote access for privileged users feature is moderately difficult.

Secure Remote Access feature is being utilized by non-technical users, primarily for multi-factor authentications. We are implementing MFA; however, some users in our branch are not yet connected. Consequently, we are resorting to using a VPN in our access control measures. At times, we have also employed remote branches for auditing and monitoring any potentially suspicious activities. Our endpoint security is consistently updated and ensures encryption for all the internet services we utilize.

It is important that the Secure Remote Access feature does not rely on a VPN. One Identity Safeguard provides us with the ability to manage access to the system network and data from our remote branches through the Secure Remote Access feature, ensuring a secure and confidential connection on the backend.

We have integrated One Identity Safeguard with our DevOps processes to assist in managing the parameters. Prior to the integration, we used to wait for certain automation related to security, either already completed or sometimes people would proceed without reporting. However, after the implementation, it has proven to be highly effective for security testing through automation at various stages, particularly in the pipeline, and for conducting critical analysis. This has significantly improved our understanding. 

We have several data centers located all over the globe. Previously, if someone needed access or certain permissions, we had to manually go to our Active Directory, identify the user, and give permission. We had to do that one by one. When we had hundreds of new joiners, it was a time-consuming activity. Sometimes, this activity would take more than two days. One Identity has made all this easier. Monitoring has become much easier, and I can invest the energy in other things instead of monitoring which user is doing what. It has become a one-console management for us.

For my team, it has reduced the task of monitoring who did what and using which ID by 80%. They only have to do 20% of the work than before.

We are using all of the access features. It is much easier for a new user to adopt this solution. It also works perfectly fine with a VPN.

We went from a state where privileged accounts were being used and not being monitored or even audited to our situation now where we are starting to monitor these privileged accounts more closely. That's where we show value in the product. Whenever a change is happening, we know because we find it in the logs. Our reporting and monitoring team is looking at it, and they are now starting to question changes that are associated with some kind of ticket or some kind CAB (change advisory board) request. It has improved our visibility for privileged access.

One Identity Safeguard uses a secure remote access feature that does not use a VPN. This is important because it is cheaper and more secure than implementing a VPN for remote access.

People can start using the solution after five days of training.

So far, I haven't seen any type of improvement from using this solution when compared with other products in the identity and access management space. It has been neutral.

One Identity Safeguard helps with accountability. We now know which person is accessing which machine. It also helps to make sure that they are secured, and that everyone knows what changes they need.

We have used the transparent mode and non-transparent mode for privileged sessions. The transparent mode is more difficult than the normal mode, but with the help of the documentation, we figured out how to do the necessary configuration and use this mode. Generally, we use the normal mode. We do not use the transparent mode. 

We use the Secure Remote Access feature for privileged users. It was very easy to manage remote access for privileged users by using this feature. When our users cannot be physically present at our place, they can access the resources using the Starling account. It is easy.

The Secure Remote Access feature does not make use of a VPN. This is very important for us because there are some problems with using VPN, so it is easier to use something like Starling. We can be sure that our users can access the network even from home and that the sessions are secure.

I have worked with other One Identity solutions. I have used One Identity Defender, One Identity SPP, and One Identity SPS. They worked very well for our users. We also use the authentication service to control the Linux machines with Active Directory accounts. They work well with each other. I have also used Safeguard Remote Access. I tried its features with Safeguard to allow our users to connect to the sessions by using the cloud so that they do not need to log in to the company servers.

When we are asked to do an investigation for a server, we have all the information that we need. We never have any problems as all the information is available to us.

This solution allowed us to provide remote access to the company's internal infrastructure in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It made this access more transparent and controlled for information security departments.

We easily integrated this product with our SIEM system for collecting events. Thanks to this integration, we were able to build convenient, regular reports on privileged user connections. Therefore, our information security units can better see who is connecting to the remote infrastructure.

Safeguard can define and update processes and procedures into the security framework of a company, including mobile. It allows us to change the policies and configurations on a mass scale in regards to security.

I don't think it's improved our organization internally. I've had to suspend workflows and focus my time and attention on creating technical, instructional, documentation regarding user procedures and practices.

We were able to take an environment where we had several hosts managed by different people and consolidate that into a single, centrally managed solution.

Anytime new tools and technologies are being brought into the bank, the biggest impact is to the process, procedures, and culture. There is a culture change when any new technology gets rolled out. This solution changes the way we have done the business for many years. We're taking a very controlled, conservative approach in how we roll the technology out.

It's easier to connect to the server and it makes it more secure. We've seen about a 40% improvement in that regard.

The time frame to get sessions rolling has been cut to a third. From a productivity standpoint that's tremendous.

In addition to that, the ease of use is fantastic because our IT team is able to check out sessions very quickly because it's so intuitive and easy to work with. They're pleased with it and it allows them to do their jobs much faster. That's probably the largest way it has improved things for us.

Finally, because of the intuitiveness and ease of use for end-users it has been really simple to train on. This product has worked flawlessly for us.

All user sessions are going through Safeguard. They are all audited and secured with forcing the minimum security settings on the side of the user. With this setup, you can easily secure all of the connections to the production environment from the office. Especially if you have a lot of different places connecting to the production environment, it is a PCI DSS requirement that you secure the flow. In our company we already audited the product as part of the PCI DSS certification.

For our customers, it's much easier for them to be in line with audits. A lot of our customers work in the medical field, where it is important for them to keep track of external vendors, e.g., maintaining medical appliances inside of a hospital. This solution gives them real confidence that they can keep their customers safe and their data protected.

We are able to demonstrate what has happened on the systems and who did what, when we have to investigate, in regards to audits using evidence.

Our customers use it to provide full privileged-access monitoring for external users/administrators, so they are fully compliant and still have easy access to external user’s activity.

Gave much more visibility over who is doing what and more granular control over external support engineers.

Administrators can administrate the privileged accounts. It is a safer way to monitor the administrators.

• Improved security
• Detailed audits for support/maintenance activities done by admin/technician and third-party engineers
• Drastically reduced unauthorized and improper use of systems and servers

When I worked in a bank, it greatly facilitated the control admins and reduced the length of investigations.