Power LogOn Helps Migrate Companies to PKI Adoption.
In my many blogs, videos and whitepapers, I discuss how passwords are secure, but their management isn’t. Frequently, cybersecurity specialists believe that I’m pitting my Power LogOn solution against a PKI solution. That is not my intent. In reality, Power LogOn is a stepping-stone to PKI adoption.
This is not a contest of one technology being better than another, but rather matching the right technology to the environmental requirements. For example, what’s the difference between a Ferrari and a Jeep? Both are automobiles, they have engines, tires, seats, etc., and both will get you from point A to B on any paved road. However, you would never take your Ferrari off-roading in the Utah desert, nor would you drive a banged-up jeep to the red carpet at the Oscars. Implementation is about matching the correct vehicle to the environmental requirements. IT must also match the correct cyber authentication solution to the company’s requirements.
PKI security is about protecting the private key. Power LogOn is about protecting passwords. Power Logon incorporates many of the same advanced security technologies and policies that a PKI system utilizes. Here are just a few of the shared technologies:
- Smartcards
- Smartcard readers
- Multi-factor authentication
- Challenge – Response
- AES-256 and SHA-256 encryption
- Hash salting
- Active Directory/LDAP integration
- And more
Power LogOn offers a migration roadmap to PKI adoption by familiarizing employees with two-factor authentication, exposing IT to smartcard issuance and management, leveraging hardware investments, and integrating multiple applications on a single ID badge (i.e. physical access and cyber access).
In today’s environment where so many business operations are controlled and managed by computers, cybersecurity can no longer be a luxury for the few. Businesses must secure networks now! Not tomorrow, not next week, but now. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in; it doesn’t matter if you’re in the private or government sector; and it doesn’t matter if you’re a multi-international corporation or a small mon ‘n’ pop shop, cyber security must be part of your business culture. By offering an advanced yet affordable solution, IT can implement Power LogOn within hours, secure their networks now, and give IT the time to define, plan and eventually implement PKI into their environment, when their budget allows.
Conclusion
When IT presents the most expensive cybersecurity solution available to upper management, they often get turned away. That’s because the “suits” and IT have two totally different missions for safeguarding the company: The suits manage the financial interests, IT manages the data network interests. The suits need to understand how cybersecurity is in the company’s financial interest, and IT needs to understand the company’s financial impact when deploying cybersecurity. The fear is that if these two sides don’t come together then nothing will be done, which in turn puts the company on a path to bankruptcy.
Cybersecurity begins by implementing multi-factor authentication. To get everyone to adopt multi-factor authentication it has to be convenient, affordable and scalable. That is where Power LogOn and PKI can work together. Companies can implement Power LogOn within a few hours at a low cost of ownership. IT can then leverage that investment in cards, readers, issuance, management, integration, etc. to move toward PKI.