June 29, 2017 at 10:00Four questions for choosing a cloud-based authentication solution
Often, when choosing a cloud authentication service, organizations are guided by the desire to minimize investment in technical resources and the desire to reduce the total cost of ownership. However, in order to take full advantage of the transition to SaaS, which allows companies to get rid of the unnecessary burden of integration and technical support, it should be borne in mind that cloud authentication services can vary greatly between in terms of control capabilities. Today on the market of authentication tools there are products that can fully satisfy any of your needs in terms of authentication - these can be solutions entirely based on cloud technologies, or solutions involving a more hybrid model. However, before making a choice,
The first thing you need to pay attention to when choosing a cloud model for implementing a strong authentication solution is which applications you want to protect. It should be taken into account exactly where the data is located, and access to what types of services you would like to protect. Are these services cloud based or are they deployed on your own hardware? The next important factor is to understand what additional efforts your IT team has to make in terms of integration and customization. In this regard, you should examine whether the authentication service you choose involves support for standard communication protocols such as RADIUS or SAML? Does this service include dedicated agents and special APIs? You have to make sure that you can really protect your entire IT ecosystem, because today it includes cloud services, locally deployed applications, VPN networks, local networks, virtual desktops, etc. You might want to find out what efforts your IT team will need to integrate future applications with your intended authentication solution. Therefore, to begin with, it would be nice to make a list of applications that you would like to protect access to today, and at the same time ask yourself what applications your organization may need in the future.
As mentioned above, you might want to use a cloud solution, but it is useful to know that many of the solutions available on the market today will require you to place some local components in your infrastructure without which the service will not work. Active Directory Connectors, local servers and SAML or RADIUS proxies, IDP systems are just a few examples of elements that solution providers can offer their customers to install and manage in their local infrastructure. It is important to understand exactly what elements and systems you have to install and manage, as well as what exactly you will need. The time and the efforts that your IT team will need to implement the entire solution depend on how many components are to be placed locally.
You can achieve good adoption of strong authentication by end users by providing simplicity and ease of use. Flexibility is the key to successful implementation of the solution and translates into a number of advantages for your users. Often the opportunity to offer a whole range of different authentication methods leads to the fact that end users are more willing to use authentication mechanisms, and in addition, due to this, it is possible to minimize factors that impede the penetration of these services. Another point that should be taken into account is the amount of self-service services that an implemented solution implies. A well-designed self-service service allows end users to more fully control authentication processes and frees the IT team from many routine administrative tasks.
Your current need for strong authentication services may be due to some special circumstance, for example, the need to ensure compliance with industry standards. However, over time, these circumstances may change and will require even more flexible tools for access control. Therefore, obviously, it is worth asking what additional options the provider offers to meet your potential needs in the future, so that you do not need to upgrade your current two-factor authentication solution. For example, as a result of a company reorganization or growth, circumstances within the company may change, or possible mergers and acquisitions may eventually affect the work of your IT department and the security environment. You may need to centrally manage authentication services, or vice versa, instruct administrators to manage services locally and independently. All this can be implemented, for example, using shared services. As another example related to changing needs, we can cite the desire to provide end users with additional conveniences when working with numerous logins and passwords. In this case, it will be useful for the implemented solution to support the single sign-on mechanism .
So, when choosing an authentication solution that meets your current and (possibly) future needs, it is important to ask yourself the following questions:
What are your future needs, and will the implemented solution satisfy them?
Answer these questions, and move on to choosing an authentication solution - from a company or organization located in the local infrastructure to a cloud solution with remote access control.
1. What applications to protect?
The first thing you need to pay attention to when choosing a cloud model for implementing a strong authentication solution is which applications you want to protect. It should be taken into account exactly where the data is located, and access to what types of services you would like to protect. Are these services cloud based or are they deployed on your own hardware? The next important factor is to understand what additional efforts your IT team has to make in terms of integration and customization. In this regard, you should examine whether the authentication service you choose involves support for standard communication protocols such as RADIUS or SAML? Does this service include dedicated agents and special APIs? You have to make sure that you can really protect your entire IT ecosystem, because today it includes cloud services, locally deployed applications, VPN networks, local networks, virtual desktops, etc. You might want to find out what efforts your IT team will need to integrate future applications with your intended authentication solution. Therefore, to begin with, it would be nice to make a list of applications that you would like to protect access to today, and at the same time ask yourself what applications your organization may need in the future.
2. Should additional equipment be located in the local infrastructure?
As mentioned above, you might want to use a cloud solution, but it is useful to know that many of the solutions available on the market today will require you to place some local components in your infrastructure without which the service will not work. Active Directory Connectors, local servers and SAML or RADIUS proxies, IDP systems are just a few examples of elements that solution providers can offer their customers to install and manage in their local infrastructure. It is important to understand exactly what elements and systems you have to install and manage, as well as what exactly you will need. The time and the efforts that your IT team will need to implement the entire solution depend on how many components are to be placed locally.
3. What benefits will users receive?
You can achieve good adoption of strong authentication by end users by providing simplicity and ease of use. Flexibility is the key to successful implementation of the solution and translates into a number of advantages for your users. Often the opportunity to offer a whole range of different authentication methods leads to the fact that end users are more willing to use authentication mechanisms, and in addition, due to this, it is possible to minimize factors that impede the penetration of these services. Another point that should be taken into account is the amount of self-service services that an implemented solution implies. A well-designed self-service service allows end users to more fully control authentication processes and frees the IT team from many routine administrative tasks.
4. How to prepare for growth?
Your current need for strong authentication services may be due to some special circumstance, for example, the need to ensure compliance with industry standards. However, over time, these circumstances may change and will require even more flexible tools for access control. Therefore, obviously, it is worth asking what additional options the provider offers to meet your potential needs in the future, so that you do not need to upgrade your current two-factor authentication solution. For example, as a result of a company reorganization or growth, circumstances within the company may change, or possible mergers and acquisitions may eventually affect the work of your IT department and the security environment. You may need to centrally manage authentication services, or vice versa, instruct administrators to manage services locally and independently. All this can be implemented, for example, using shared services. As another example related to changing needs, we can cite the desire to provide end users with additional conveniences when working with numerous logins and passwords. In this case, it will be useful for the implemented solution to support the single sign-on mechanism .
So, when choosing an authentication solution that meets your current and (possibly) future needs, it is important to ask yourself the following questions:
- What applications do you want to protect?
- Where exactly are they located - in the cloud, or in your local infrastructure?
- How much of your own resources are you ready to allocate for current administrative tasks? Are you ready to invest in locally installed components and also support their work?
- How can factors that impede the successful implementation of such solutions be minimized, and how to make the authentication process simple and convenient for end users?
What are your future needs, and will the implemented solution satisfy them?
Answer these questions, and move on to choosing an authentication solution - from a company or organization located in the local infrastructure to a cloud solution with remote access control.