CRYPTOCARD, an authentication services provider, has unveiled its Authentication-as-a-Service offering ‘BLACKSHIELD Cloud’.
The company claims the new offering can drive integration and automation and save organisations up to 60% in total cost of ownership and 90% in administration and management resources.
Building on the capabilities of CRYPTOCARD’s CRYPTO-MAS offering, BLACKSHIELD Cloud allows enterprises to protect any point of access where a password is currently used.
BLACKSHIELD Cloud allows all access to be secured from a single point of control from network access, cloud and Web applications to Windows and Unix logons.
BLACKSHIELD Cloud also provides scalable and affordable authentication for enterprises and service providers, allowing them to benefit from: wide protection including in networks, applications and the cloud; and choice of authentication tokens and tokenless methods including support for third-party tokens
It also offers a full virtual enterprise authentication server available from the cloud that is fully operational in minutes and backed by a 99.999% SLA; no infrastructure requirement or costs; and an easy-to-use portal providing automated management, provisioning and reporting.
BLACKSHIELD Cloud joins an upgraded and updated version of CRYPTOCARD’s BLACKSHIELD Server solution, which allows organisations to host authentication in-house, said the company.
CRYPTOCARD CEO Neil Hollister said the BLACKSHIELD suite takes strong authentication out of the niche and into the mainstream, allowing enterprises, channel, service providers and systems integrators to utilise cost-effective strong authentication across applications and clients.
In a related development, Star, a provider of on-demand IT and communications services for UK businesses, has selected CRYPTOCARD’s BLACKSHIELD Cloud two-factor authentication to secure its cloud platform.
The company said, seamless integration of BLACKSHIELD Cloud authentication across Star’s on-demand services will allow it to deliver a powerful level of security to its 3,500 customers who need to access their corporate data, irrespective of device, location or time.
CRYPTOCARD is expected to help Star to address the requirements of customers who need to: increase security by eliminating phishing and passive attacks; reduce the impact of lost security credentials; mitigate risk with proven regulatory compliance; and provide greater flexibility for remote workers.
BLACKSHIELD Cloud-as-a-managed-Service will enable Star to integrate authentication into its cloud-based services portfolio with no up-front capital investment to build servers, said the company.
Star senior product manager John Iball said BLACKSHIELD Cloud’s seamless integration and utility-based pricing model support their mission to offer customers with on-demand services that are easy to use and pay for, and available anytime and from anywhere.
