Tag: PAM

Okta WIC Core Capabilities

Posted on by Dinesh Runjala in Okta

About Okta:

Okta is a trusted player in Identity & Access Management domain & is renounced for its best-in-class products & services. By leveraging the cloud, Okta allows users to access applications on any device at any time, while still enforcing strong security controls. Okta integrates with your organization’s existing directories, HRMS / Application directories and 3rd party identity systems to establish a central directory structure. Okta got an app catalogue of 8,000+ app integration which facilitates the users to have seamless SSO experience to access the integrated entitled applications from a single dashboard. Okta Workforce Identity cloud is a platform for your employees, contractors, or partners to access your organization’s digital resources.

Okta platform is spread across the Identity Domains and the capabilities around those core pillars.

  • Access Management.
  • Identity Governance & Administration.
  • Privileged Access
Okta Workforce Identity Cloud

Access Management:

Access Management primary focus of interest is around granting & revoking privileges to access an application or data or perform any actions on the applications / systems. The main objectives of Access Management are to authenticate the users, authorizing the actions attempted by the users & accounting the activities / actions performed.

Okta is aligned to these guiding principles and ensures the right users have access to the right resources at the right time through a variety of products & services listed below.

  • Single Sign-On
  • Adaptive Multi Factor Authentication
  • Password-less Authentication
  • Identity Federation
  • Access Gateway
  • Security Policies
  • Behaviors detections
  • Identity Threat Protection

Identity Governance & Administration:

Identity Governance & Administration focuses on governance, compliance & visibility across identities spread across the organizations. Identity governance is about policies around separation of duties, access requests for role management, access certifications to validate the access privileges, finally analytics & reporting. While Identity Administration is focused on provisioning the users to the requested applications / resources, managing the changes in the user role with appropriate access privileges & deprovisioning the access privileges when access is no longer required. IGA systems are designed to give organizations visibility into access sprawls and provide better controls to identify and limit access creeps to their resources.

Okta manages IGA diligently and the IGA architecture is perfectly balanced by leveraging the following products & services:

  • Access Governance
    • Access Requests
    • Access Certifications
    • Reporting
    • Entitlement Management
  • Lifecycle Management
  • Okta Workflows

Privileged Access Management:

Privileged Access Management revolves around securing & monitoring access to critical systems initiated by privileged users such as IT administrators, Application Owners, Contractors or 3rd party vendors who manage the infrastructure on your behalf. Users who hold privileged accesses are susceptible to cyber security attacks and if left unnoticed, results in a higher risk impacting the organization overall security posture. Compromising the privileged accounts will let the malicious actors have the key to the organization’s digital assets.

Okta being a cloud Identity Provider & with the tight integrations between these core pillars, Okta Privileged Access facilitates organizations to reduce risk by leveraging the IGA & Access Management services for privileged resources irrespective of the resource origins, cloud or on-premises servers. This will deliver better visibility, security, and compliance, without compromising on the user’s experience. Okta Privileged Access key capabilities are as follows:

  • JIT access to the infrastructure
  • Session recording & Auditing
  • Secrets Vaulting
  • Privileged Access Governance
  • Service Account management for Applications.

Demonstration of Core Capabilities:

Here’s the video comprising the core capabilities & working flow showcasing few real-time scenarios.

Reference Links:

Single Sign-On | Okta

Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication (AMFA) | Okta

Identity Governance | Okta

Okta Privileged Access | Okta

Password Management for Okta Administrators using CyberArk PVWA 

Posted on by Leela Krishna Paluru in Okta
  • Introduction
  • Pre-Requisites
  • Use case Overview
  • Technical Demonstration
  • Conclusion
  • Reference Links

Introduction: 

As Organizations continue to adopt cloud-based identity and access management solutions like Okta, securing administrative access to these platforms has become a top priority. Okta administrators possess elevated privilege allowing them to manage user identities, configure security policies, and access sensitive data. However, this also makes them a prime target for attackers seeking to exploit these privileges. 

To mitigate this risk, it is essential to implement a robust password management solution that can securely store, manage, and rotate administrative credentials. Okta manages password in cloud and the organization desires to manage passwords on-premises using CyberArk Password Vault. 

To address the integration challenge, we will implement a comprehensive solution that integrates Okta with CyberArk PVWA using SAML 2.0. This integration will enable secure and automated management of Okta admin account passwords, reducing the risk of password-related security incidents and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. As part of this solution, two admin accounts will be created in Okta: one non-privileged account to access Okta user dashboard, and a second one Privileged account which will be linked to CyberArk PVWA. The Privileged account will receive a password generated by CyberArk, which will be used for authentication. Using SAML 2.0, the admin will log in to Okta using the privileged account credentials, with the password provided by CyberArk. This will ensure secure and compliant access management and password management processes, streamlining administrative tasks and reducing the risk of security breaches.

Pre-requisites: 

  • Okta tenant, CyberArk PVWA tenant and Active Directory with a Domain. 
  •  Active Directory must be integrated with CyberArk and Okta. 

Use case Overview:

Please refer to the below video to have an understanding about Okta & the use case around integrating CyberArk Password Vault with Okta.

Technical Demonstration:

Here’s the technical walkthrough on the integration between CyberArk Password Vault & Okta.

Conclusion: 

The integration of Okta with CyberArk PVWA provides a comprehensive solution for managing Okta administrator passwords, enhancing security, and improving compliance. By automating password rotation, expiration, and compliance, organizations can reduce administrative burdens and minimize the risk of password-related security incidents. With real-time visibility and control over password management, organizations can respond swiftly on security incidents and ensure the integrity of their identity and access management systems. Overall, this integration provides a robust and scalable solution for securing Okta administrator passwords and protecting sensitive resources and applications. 

Reference Links:

Setup SSO | Okta 

SAML authentication | CyberArk Docs 

CyberArk PAM Master Policy

Posted on by Supreeth Avula in CyberArk, Technology

The Master Policy

Managing and securing privileged access across diverse IT environments is complex and prone to vulnerabilities. Without a centralized approach, inconsistencies in policy enforcement can lead to security breaches and compliance issues.

Using CyberArk’s PAM Master Policy helps standardize and enforce security and compliance policies consistently across all platforms, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and enhancing overall security.

CyberArk’s PAM Master Policy offers a simple and intuitive way to manage an organization’s security policy.

The Master Policy enables us to configure the security and compliance policy of privileged accounts in an organization from a single pane of glass. It allows us to configure compliance-driven rules, which will be defined as the baseline for the organization.

Master Policy: Rules

The Master policy is divided into four higher-level and compliance-driven policy sections, such as:

  1. Privileged Access Workflows
  2. Password Management
  3. Session Management
  4. Audit

Each of the above sections has a set of rules and offers better visibility and control over policy configurations and enforcement.

Master policy rules
Image: Rules of the Master Policy

Master Policy: Exceptions

Master policy settings, when configured, can be applied to most privileged accounts in the organization. However, a few privileged accounts may need to deviate from these global settings for various reasons. We can create exceptions for the accounts that need to deviate from the configured global settings.

Master Policy: Presentation

The following video will explain CyberArk PAM’s Master Policy and it’s rules in detail. Below are the topics covered as part of this video:

  • The Master Policy
  • Master Policy: Main Concepts
  • Master Policy: Rules
  • Master Policy: Configuring a Rule
  • Privileged Access Workflows
  • Password Management
  • Session Management
  • Audit
  • Exceptions
  • Combining Privileged Access Workflows
CyberArk PAM Master Policy: Technical Presentation

Master Policy: Technical Demostration

The following video will provide a detailed technical demonstration on configuring the Master Policy:

CyberArk PAM Master Policy: Technical Demonstration

Conclusion

In conclusion, managing privileged access across diverse IT environments is complex and prone to vulnerabilities. The CyberArk’s PAM Master Policy standardizes and enforces security and compliance policies, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. 

ENH iSecure plays a crucial role in this ecosystem by providing comprehensive support and expertise in implementing and managing CyberArk’s PAM Master Policy. With ENH iSecure, organizations can ensure that their privileged access management is not only effective but also aligned with industry best practices and compliance requirements.