Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                

Cloud Identity Buyer's Guide

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 20

WHITE PAPER

Cloud Identity Buyers Guide


Identity & Access Management In the Cloud

Paper Focus:

Outsourcing identity and access management to the cloud IAM for SaaS apps tradeoffs and concerns Implementation, integration and operational requirements Cloud Service Broker technologies Detailed sample RFP template

Abstract
In this Buyers Guide, Intel discusses how your organization can deploy and manage an effective, efficient identity and access management solution for cloud applications.

Cloud Identity Buyers Guide


1: Executive Summary..................................................................................................................4 2: Problem Statement..................................................................................................................4 2.1: Automating IAM for SaaS................................................................................................5 2.1.1: Internet Single Sign-On (SSO)....................................................................................5 2.1.2: Strong Authentication...................................................................................................5 2.1.3: Identity Lifecycle Management. ..............................................................................6 2.2: Regulatory Requirements..............................................................................................7 2.2.1: Privacy Laws........................................................................................................................7 2.2.2: Industry-specific Requirements. ............................................................................7 3: Use Cases & Integration Requirements...................................................................8 3.1: SSO for Cloud Apps................................................................................................................8 3.2: Strong Authentication for Cloud Apps.................................................................9 3.2.1: Context-aware Authentication. ...............................................................................9 3.3: Identity Lifecycle Management for Cloud Apps...........................................9 3.3.1: Provisioning Standards.................................................................................................10 3.4: Operational Management...............................................................................................10 3.4.1: Management Portal. ........................................................................................................10 3.4.2: SSO Portal.............................................................................................................................11 3.5: On-Premise Deployment.................................................................................................11 3.6: In The Cloud Deployment................................................................................................12 3.7: Hybrid Deployment..............................................................................................................12 4: Cloud Service Broker Security Ecosystem.............................................................13 4.1 Security Gateway....................................................................................................................13 5: Intel & McAfee Resources...................................................................................................13 5.1: McAfee Integration...............................................................................................................14 6: More Info & Other Resources...........................................................................................14 7: Appendix I - Sample RFP.......................................................................................................15 8: Appendix II - Industry Glossary & Acronyms.......................................................19

1: Executive Summary
The software-as-a-service (SaaS)1 application delivery model is growing rapidly. SaaS is taking over the world. Thats the good news. However, customers who adopt the SaaS model struggle to manage the overwhelming number of user accounts they have to create. Their users are constantly forgetting their passwords and calling the help desk. They are unhappy because they have to reenter their user ID and password every time they logon to an application during the day. Overwhelmed IT administrators take too long to create accounts for new users. When a user leaves the organization their SaaS accounts remain active, increasing the risk of data exposure. All this consumes resources, increases enterprise risk, and costs your organization time, money and effort. You need help to reduce the complexity of managing the hundreds or thousands of SaaS accounts your users require, not just employees, but others too, like contractors, partners, distributors and customers. This Buyers Guide discusses the issue of identity and access management (IAM) for cloud applications. It outlines the issues that need to be addressed, suggests some approaches to solving those issues and wraps up with an overview of the products from Intel that are designed to help companies manage their SaaS account identities more effectively and efficiently.

2: Problem Statement
Enterprises of all sizes are embracing cloud computing because of the many advantages it provides. These include lower costs, greater business agility, reduced IT administrative overhead, access to best-of-breed applications, and more. Industry analyst firm IDC reports the SaaS market reached $16.6 billion in revenue in 2010 and is projected to grow at more than 25% per year between now and 2015. The cloud contains solutions that address virtually any conceivable business need: sales, marketing, human resources, collaboration and communication, finance, legal, etc. However, this proliferating profusion of solutions has created a daunting operational challenge: how to efficiently manage the profusion of identities that users require one for each cloud application they access. If you have 1,000 employees, each accessing 10 cloud applications on average, thats 10,000 unique identities to manage. In the Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) advises, the need for trusted identities and secure and efficient management of these identities while users privacy is protected is a key element for the successful adoption of any cloud solution.2 The best way to address these concerns is to deploy strong identity management processes and technologies to ensure that only authorized users have access to cloud applications. In this Cloud Identity Buyers Guide, Intel discusses how your organization can design, deploy and manage an effective, efficient identity and access management solution for SaaS applications in two different scenarios: To the cloud IAM for SaaS applications from an on-premise platform In the cloud IAM for SaaS applications from an on-demand platform

the need for trusted identities and secure and efficient management of these identities while users privacy is protected is a key element for the successful adoption of any cloud solution. National Institute of Standards and Technology

Figure 1: Identity to the Cloud

Au
User

the

nti cat io

IAM System Active Directory

ib Attr

utes

Account Sync SaaS Apps

1 2

See Appendix II - Industry Glossary & Acronyms on pg. 18. US Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, Volume I, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 500-293, Nov. 2011

We discuss some of the technologies available to: Manage the end-user identity lifecycle from creation to termination. Provide users with greater convenience by eliminating the need for them to remember user ID and passwords for multiple systems. Protect sensitive systems with strong multi-factor authentication. Empower IT administrators to easily monitor and manage all SaaS access activities and ensure compliance with relevant regulations. We evaluate various identity management standards, such as Service Provisioning Markup Language (SPML), Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), OpenID, and OAuth which help ensure

Figure 2: Identity in the Cloud

Au
User

the

nti cat io

n
Account Sync SaaS Apps

Active Directory

ib Attr

utes

IAM System

that the ability to access enterprise SaaS solutions will keep pace as the industry matures. By making these fundamental capabilities an essential part of your overall cloud

initiative, you will be able to enjoy the many benefits of the cloud, while simultaneously protecting your vital corporate assets from unauthorized access, improving your users cloud experience, and controlling costs.

2.1: Automating IAM for SaaS


As you expand your utilization of SaaS and accumulate more and more applications with varying underlying security and architecture models, you may quickly find yourself dealing with a wide variety of user interfaces, application programming interfaces (API), security policies, and management tools. Automating IAM for SaaS applications can simplify these problems in a number of ways. 2.1.1: Internet Single Sign-On (SSO) As more SaaS applications become part of the enterprise portfolio, users desire the convenience of a single entry point into all their applications. Users are notorious for unsafe password practices: They may use the same password for more than one application, increasing the risk to multiple applications if one of them is compromised. If they have to remember a large number of user ID/password combinations, they may write them down and post them in a convenient, yet insecure, location, such as under their keyboard. They may choose passwords that are easy to remember and, therefore, easy to break. Implementing single sign-on for SaaS apps relieves end-users of the responsibility of managing their passwords while providing a high level of assurance that they have been properly authenticated. SSO reduces time wasted logging on and logging off work systems. It virtually eliminates password reset calls to your IT administrator or help desk, freeing up those resources to focus on more valueadded work. And, it eliminates many of the potential security risks associated with weak passwords. 2.1.2: Strong Authentication One of the leading reasons for not outsourcing identity and access management (IAM) to the cloud is concern for the security of user credentials. In cases where the risk associated with access is high, even the strongest password management practices may be regarded as insufficient to adequately protect user credentials in the cloud. What organizations are looking for is the ability to invoke strong, multi-factor authentication (MFA) in situations where it is essential to validate a users identity with more than a user ID and password. Candidates for strong authentication include users who are accessing a particularly sensitive app, who are located outside the firewall, who are contractors or other temporary hires, or who belong to a particular group.

Implementing Internet SSO gives you the ability to provide users with access to hundreds of external sites using a single set of credentials, through a single portal. If those credentials are compromised, then all the target sites are at risk. In this use case, where simply entering a

user ID/password may not be sufficient protection, MFA provides an excellent strategy to protect multiple apps by controlling access to the SSO portal. It enables your organization to secure the cloud-based portal, bringing it up to enterprise security standards.

This need has led to the emergence of various strong authentication technologies, as listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Multi-factor Authentication Technologies APPROACH Biometrics DESCRIPTION Relies on physical characteristics (iris, fingerprint, voiceprint, etc.) of the user. High administrative overhead expensive to deploy, configure and maintain. Limited portability. Inflexible typically linked to a single application or entry point. Hardware Token Uses a dedicated device, such as an RSA* SecureID* token. Proprietary solution may be complicated to install, configure, distribute and manage. Insecure - customers have to replace all their tokens in the event the vendor sustains a breach. Typically configured for a single application, which limits usefulness when you are deploying multiple cloud applications using multiple service providers. Software Token Based on something your user (employee, contractor, customer, business partner, etc.) probably already has. Low management overhead doesnt require you to purchase, distribute and manage multiple single-use hardware devices. Flexible can be delivered through multiple channels: smart phone app, SMS text message, email, IM, Skype, etc. Secure service provider doesnt hold seeds that can be compromised.

Over the past few years, soft token technology has emerged which leverage something your users probably already have their cell phone or other mobile device. Soft tokens have a number of advantages over hardware tokens, including the fact that they can be

delivered via a variety of out-of-band channels. 2.1.3: Identity Lifecycle Management Identity lifecycle management encompasses all the activities that IT administrators and security personnel

perform to manage the user accounts from creating a SaaS application account to terminating it when the user leaves the organization. This identity lifecycle is often referred to as the CReate-UpdateDelete (CRUD) process.

Table 2: Identity Lifecycle Stages STAGE Create DESCRIPTION Provisioning new hires quickly is important, since a delay in provisioning users results in a loss of employee productivity. Other employee lifecycle events, such as open enrollment for healthcare benefits, can also drive the need to create large numbers of identities in a relatively short period of time. As your users attributes change (e.g., transfer to another department or relocation to a new office), they should be updated in their identity profile, where appropriate. When your employee leaves the organization, you need a mechanism to delete or disable their accounts on the target system(s). Otherwise, your organization risks allowing non-employees to access corporate data through these orphan accounts. Orphan accounts can also cost money in excess license or subscription fees.

Update Delete

Ordinarily, when a new employee comes on board, your IT administrator or application owner must use the SaaS application management interface to create an account for your users containing their user ID, password, and other useful attributes (department, phone number, manager, location, etc.) This process, which is the first step in the CRUD cycle, is typically referred to as provisioning. Over time, employee attributes change, which often requires updates to their application profiles.

Finally, the employee leaves the organization, which results in the need to block them from being able to access sensitive SaaS apps. The effort and expense required to manage the CRUD process is affected by a number of factors: number of employees, number and variety of target SaaS applications, employee turnover, and seasonal hiring/firing patterns. As companies expand over time, they typically reach a point where the cost and inconvenience required to manage this process becomes high enough that it makes sense to consider automating it.

Other features provided by automation can include a management console which provides provisioning/de-provisioning tools, as well as the ability to monitor user access activities, generate alerts and collect event data logs. Logs can be used for various purposes, such as capacity planning, audit and compliance reporting. The latter are particularly important in certain regulated industries.

2.2 Regulatory Requirements


Automating IAM processes can help your organization comply with various industry requirements and government regulations. 2.2.1: Privacy Laws Many jurisdictions in the United States and other countries require companies that capture and store private personal information to take specific steps to protect that data from unauthorized access. 2.2.2: Industry-specific Requirements Certain regulated industries have requirements for protecting private, personal or financial information from unauthorized access. In some instances, these requirements are published by industry organizations, while in others they are mandated by the government. A few examples include: PCI DSS: the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is an example of nongovernment industry requirements. PCI DSS was developed by a consortium of payment card vendors (American Express, Discover, Visa, Mastercard, etc.) It specifies processes to protect personal information on credit cards or debit cards, including access controls and provisioning/de-provisioning of user accounts with access to payment card data. HIPAA: the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act mandates that healthcare providers implement procedures to protect personal health information data from disclosure. These include managing and monitoring access rights and enforcing secure password policies. FFIEC: the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council standards require multifactor authentication (MFA) to protect against the tactics of increasingly sophisticated hackers, particularly on the Internet. GLBA: The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act states that, each financial institution has an affirmative and continuing obligation to respect the privacy of its customers and to protect the security and confidentiality of those customers nonpublic personal information.

3: Use Case and Integration Requirements 3.1: SSO for Cloud Apps
Cloud SSO improves end-user convenience and productivity users log on once to a trusted, secure portal controlled by their enterprise (either on-premise or in the cloud), and access authorized SaaS applications with a single click. Cloud single sign-on requires a high degree of integration between the IAM/ SSO system and the target application(s). The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is the standard of choice for authentication and authorization between domains. SAML has several important attributes: SAML is a widely adopted standard which is supported by most major SaaS application vendors. SAML is based on a proven federated trust model. SAML doesnt require a password. A SAML-protected service provider relies on the ability of a trusted identity provider to verify a users identity. Table 3: Saas Authentication Models AUTHENTICATION SAML DESCRIPTION Uses industry-standard assertions (SAML token) provided by trusted target platforms, ensuring future compatibility as technology evolves; reduces risk (since SAML assertions contain no passwords) and address cloud identity regulatory compliance concerns. OpenID is used by a resource provider (typically a web site) to authenticate a user by redirecting the users browser to an identity provider, which provides an authentication token used to obtain access. OpenID is designed for use over HTTP, so its use is limited to browsers. Unlike OpenID, OAuth is designed to be protocol-independent. Applications using OAuth can theoretically request/ receive authentication tokens through a REST API using various protocols, including SAML, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) or proprietary APIs. Thousands of SaaS applications require users to authenticate by entering a user ID/password via a web form. SSO that works with HTTP forms enables the user to enter their user ID and password once. Their credentials are then stored in a secure password vault and transparently replayed whenever the user logs in after that. A smaller number of applications support SSO by exposing an API that can be called by the SSO software.

Figure 3: Federated SSO in the Cloud

Authentication User SSO Portal

Federated SSO

SaaS Apps

Ideally, the solution should provide out-of-the-box SSO for a wide variety of popular SaaS applications. Buyers should seek out SaaS solutions which support SAML and ensure that their IAM solution also supports it in order to provide the foundation for secure federated SSO. Other authentication standards to consider include OAuth and OpenID. Most standards-based SSO is sometimes referred to as federated SSO, since there is a trusted relationship between the user and the various systems responsible for authentication.

If a SaaS application vendor does not support federated SSO using a standard, such as SAML, OAuth or OpenID, they may provide support for HTTP forms authentication or a proprietary API. When considering an IAM solution for SaaS, make sure the vendor supports the authentication model(s) supported by your SaaS app vendors.

OpenID

OAuth

HTTP Forms

Native API

3.2: Strong Authentication for Cloud Apps


Strong authentication in a cloud environment can be performed using hard or soft tokens. Using a soft token for MFA, rather than a hardware token, has a number of advantages: There is no need to purchase, distribute, manage or handle break/fix issues with a soft token. A self-service portal can be provided where users can register their mobile device or download a smart phone app. If a device, such as a phone, is lost or stolen, the user can replace the old phone number with a new one, effectively disabling the missing phone. Soft tokens can be configured to work with multiple apps, while hardware tokens are typically associated with a single application. The most popular method of delivering a soft token is via an out-of-band mobile device, such as a smart phone app or a standard cell phone using SMS text messaging. In this scenario, a user is challenged to enter a one-time password (OTP) as part of the authentication process. The system sends the OTP to the device. Without physical possession of the mobile device, the user (or a hacker) is unable to log on. Integration requirements include a secure service-based architecture which can prompt the user to enter an OTP, generate the OTP, deliver it to the device for the user to retrieve and verify it once entered. Secure authentication depends on maintaining the integrity of the data flow across the network, as well as user training on how to protect their cell phone, or other mobile device, from compromise. Buyers should evaluate the complexity of the system, as well as the ease and convenience of the end-user registration process. 3.2.1: Context-aware Authentication With most vendor solutions, strong authentication is available as an allor-nothing approach. What some IT administrators desire is the ability to

Figure 4: Strong Authentication with OTP

Access Request Access Granted

User
OTP

OTP Challenge Access Request

IAM System

SaaS Apps

selectively invoke MFA in particular scenarios. For example, it may make sense to invoke MFA for a specific group of users; when a user is in an insecure location or on a public network; or is accessing the SaaS application from a previously unknown device or IP address. Context-aware authentication allows you to define business rules that selectivelly enforce MFA, based on user identityrelated attributes.

3.3: Identity Lifecycle Management for Cloud Apps


The basic identity lifecycle for SaaS applications consists of provisioning, managing and de-provisioning user accounts in the cloud. Provisioning requires tools and processes to create user accounts on target SaaS platforms. The SaaS application administrator should have the ability to create multiple target accounts in as few steps as possible. Similarly, when the user leaves the organization, you should determine if the system supports an automated process for disabling or deleting their SaaS application accounts. There are two basic provisioning models for SaaS applications: to the cloud and in the cloud. Provisioning to the cloud from an internal site requires the ability to establish a connection between the provisioning engine and the target application(s). This connection will be responsible for creating the user account on the target system and maintaining that account over time. Provisioning in the cloud means delivering the provisioning engine as a cloudbased service offering. This is commonly referred to as identity and access management-as-a-service (IAMaaS). In this scenario, the system administrator uses the cloud service to create and maintain SaaS application accounts. Depending on business requirements, the IAMaaS service may require establishing a connection to an internal identity repository. Many enterprises have an authoritative enterprise identity repository. Integration with this repository is useful to keep user identities in the repository synchronized with the various identities managed in target applications. The repository typically contains information such as the users identifier (user ID), password (in encrypted format), name, location, phone, department, logical groups, and other user-specific attributes. In most organizations, this data is held in Active Directory (AD) from Microsoft*, an enterprise LDAP directory, or in a database managed by a human resources (HR) system, such as Peoplesoft* or SAP*.

There may be instances where the identity attributes of different categories of users are stored in different repositories. An organization may keep the identities of regular employees in an HR system of record, contractor identities in a relational database, and customer identities in a customer relationship management system, such as Salesforce*. Its also not unusual for a single users identity attributes to be stored in multiple locations, such as an employee name, ID #, manager, location, phone number in the HR system of record, while their network user ID, network password and email address are stored in AD. When evaluating your integration requirements, it may be necessary to examine multiple systems to determine where relevant user identity attributes are stored. Integration with internal repositories addresses multiple purposes: provisioning, profile synchronization, and authentication. For example, when provisioning a SaaS account for a user, the attributes in the various repositories

may be passed along to the target system, and kept in synch with the target system as they change over time (e.g., a user transfers between departments or moves to a new location.) Centralized user authentication relies on the user being authenticated once when they log onto their PC or a network. Once the user is reliably authenticated, that can provide the basis for enabling secure SSO to various target SaaS applications. Regardless of which scenario (IAM in the cloud or on-premise) is used, the basic lifecycle is the same: an administrator uses the system to establish one or more SaaS application accounts on behalf of users, manages those accounts over time, and deletes or disables the accounts when the user leaves the organization. You should evaluate the ability of each vendor to support both provisioning AND deprovisioning for key SaaS applications. 3.3.1: Provisioning Standards The Service Provisioning Markup Language (SPML) standard was established to facilitate a vendorneutral process for provisioning and

managing accounts on target applications. Unfortunately, it is not widely supported by application vendors. As a result, IAM solution vendors have needed to create customized provisioning interfaces for each target application. Recently the Simple Cloud Identity Management (SCIM) provisioning protocol has emerged. This new protocol is expected to be supported by influential SaaS providers, including Salesforce and Google. Given the uncertain state of provisioning standards, you should carefully evaluate what provisioning capabilities are exposed by your SaaS vendors and whether the IAM solution you are considering supports those capabilities. Otherwise, you will need to work with your IAM vendor to create and maintain customized provisioning connectors.

3.4: Operational Management


3.4.1: Management Portal The system should provide a management console that enables administrators to manage the identity lifecycle and monitor all identity-related events. The console should deliver real-time utilization data, indicating recent successful and unsuccessful access attempts, as well as historical data that can be analyzed and provides a basis for utilization and compliance reporting, if your organization is subject to industry regulations.

Figure 5: Management Console

10

3.4.2: SSO Portal Many organizations provide employees with access to an enterprise portal used to provide convenient access to various applications. Common examples include IBM Websphere*, Oracle WebLogic* and Microsoft Sharepoint*. In many instances, the portal is responsible for authentication of a users identity, or it may rely on another authentication system, such as Windows. When selecting an on-premise IAM system, you should ensure that it will be compatible with your existing or planned enterprise portals. Implementing an IAM system that supports your enterprise portal enables you to create personalized portal pages, where authenticated users can have secure access to the various SaaS applications they are authorized to use. One advantage of using a personalized SSO portal approach is that users can be blocked from access to apps they are not authorized to use.

Figure 6: End-user SSO Portal

The same approach can be taken to an on-demand SSO portal by providing users with a personalized landing page in the cloud. Once the user authenticates to the page, they will see all the SaaS applications they are authorized to access and click on the icon to log on.

In todays cloud access environment, it has become standard to provide users with access to dozens or hundreds of pre-configured cloud apps. During the evaluation process, determine whether or not your vendor can provide this capability, since without it, your IT team will have to design and implement web links and other features of the portal.

3.5: On-Premise Deployment


An on-premise solution is the traditional approach to implementing IAM. The major advantage on-premise systems have is their ability to integrate with various internal systems behind the firewall, such as an authoritative identity repository. Some organizations consider user credentials to be the keys to the kingdom and feel more secure knowing that they are held internally and are relatively safe from external attack. However, this advantage may not be as strong as it might have once been. More than one organization has been broken into by a skilled hacker and user identities and passwords stolen, exposing the enterprise to further attacks. Like most other on-premise systems, an on-premise IAM solution typically involves acquiring dedicated hardware, a perpetual software license and paying for ongoing annual maintenance fees. These up-front costs can be ameliorated by using virtualization technology to enable greater utilization of existing systems, and obtaining an annual subscription license rather than a perpetual software license. In addition, if extensive customization or configuration is required, you may wind up paying the vendor or a system integrator for deployment, integration and other professional services. Finally, operational expenses tend to be higher, since dedicated IT personnel with specialized skills or training are typically required to manage and maintain the system, including backup/recover, patching, configuration management, updates, etc.

11

3.6: In the Cloud Deployment


As the cloud has become more popular over the past several years, more companies are considering the advantages of outsourcing their IAM software to a cloud-based services provider: Off-premise computing services convert fixed costs to variable costs the customer buys services as they are utilized, not for the fixed capacity available for use that must be amortized over the useful life of the asset. Most service providers utilize a multitenant architecture, which enables them to cut costs and pass those savings on to customers. Service delivery is elastic and responsive to dynamically changing business circumstances customers can expand service volume without worrying about adding more internal hardware capacity. Operational complexity is eliminated the service provider is responsible for operational details, such as backup/ recovery, updates, patches, etc. SLAs are available to meet demanding availability and reliability requirements. Shifting from owned assets to contracted services may improve the companys balance sheet by increasing both return on assets and financial leverage raising the companys return on equity. Implementation is relatively quick. Ondemand customers can start small with a trial and expand as needed. Full deployment can occur in less than 30 days for fast, visible ROI. There are several commonly seen adoption scenarios for IAMaaS. In one scenario, a large enterprise might start using IAMaaS to manage external workers (such as contractors, temps or business partners), or in support of a merger or acquisition. IAMaaS in this scenario may be a good way for an enterprise to test the waters and validate the usefulness of IAMaaS. Some companies, such as small to medium (SMB) organizations, have adopted a Cloud First model and are comfortable with building their infrastructure in the cloud. These companies are likely to have a relatively unsophisticated onpremise identity infrastructure, consisting primarily of an enterprise directory, such as Microsoft AD. By adopting an IAMaaS approach, they get the ability to leverage best-of-breed features provided by leading edge IAM vendors in the cloud. There are two major issues that companies should consider when moving their user identities to the cloud. The first is security. Evaluation of a vendors service offering must include a rigorous security review to ensure the vendors infrastructure and operational procedures deliver the highest level of asset protection, commensurate with the cost. The other is the risk associated with the vendors business model. Companies considering moving IAM functions to the cloud should consider more than feature/ functions offered by competing vendors. In particular, the vendors strength and viability on a number of dimensions: financial, engineering, support services, etc., should be evaluated. Placing critical business functions, like identity, into the hands of a fast-growing startup requires explicit consideration of their ongoing viability. When negotiating with a vendor, be sure you understand what will happen to your assets in the event the vendor is acquired, encounters cash flow or other growth-related problems, or goes out of business.

3.7: Hybrid Deployment


Some companies choose to deploy a hybrid solution. There are a variety of available scenarios, such as moving the identity and access management function to the cloud, but maintaining a link to an internal repository for automated identity provisioning and synchronization. Another is to use an internal solution for managing the identities of employees, while using an IAMaaS solution to manage identities of external users. Regardless of the model you select, you also need to consider the vendors support for enterprise-class features, such as: Security the system should protect all networked transactions with strong encryption using SSL. High availability the system should support clustering and other technologies that ensure continued operations in the event of a component failure. Performance the system should be able to scale up to support thousands of transactions per second without noticeable degradation of end-user response time.

12

4: Cloud Service Broker Security Ecosystem


One element thats important for organizations moving their identity and other IT assets to the cloud to consider is the emerging role of the cloud service broker (CSB). A CSB shields the internal enterprise from the complexity of consuming 1-n cloud services from multiple providers. As an enterprise adopts cloud services, billing, SLAs, integration, web service governance, and identity functions become too complex to manage internally at scale. Just as EDI evolved from expensive internal integration groups to third party operating exchanges to aggregate and simplify consumption, the cloud and SaaS services are following a similar pattern. CSBs can be third parties that aggregate, integrate, and customize service offerings from multiple cloud providers or in large enterprises these can be IT departments that set up CSB infrastructure to service 1-n internal departments. CSBs are relatively new but the technology platforms that CSBs utilize are based on mature technologies such as federation gateways, IAMaaS operators, monitoring billing applications, and e-catalogs. Security Gateways are the most important CSB technology in that they can expose, govern, and secure cloud application APIs. Today almost 1/3 of all enterprise traffic to the cloud is API based.

4.1: Security Gateway


There are several areas where a security gateway adds value to cloud identity models: Security Token Services: As web services are used to transact data from the enterprise to the cloud or to partner applications, they are crossing different security domains. Each domain relies on a particular identity token format for authentication. A Security Token Services (STS) validate enterprise security tokens, like Kerberos tickets from Active Directory, and can exchange one identity token format for another so that a transaction can be authenticated to process. In many cases this is called identity brokering or identity mapping. Cloud API Management: The mantra of reusing existing application assets as services has become established as part of the common language associated with cloud-based infrastructure sharing. The key to exposing application functionality is through APIs and this is well understood by developers. Cloudbased API management presents a new discipline with added security, visibility, integration, and scale requirements. As applications are shared outside the protective firewall to/from the cloud and among cloud providers, traditional firewalls do not provide the mediation or XML threat protection required to expose these applications safely. Features that manage cloud APIs provide a new means to meter, throttle, and audit how services are consumed. A cloud service broker can provide the backbone for a cloud provider or an enterprise to create an API monetization program that bills back departments or charges other entities for API usage.

5: Intel & McAfee Resources


Intel and McAfee, together, have produced a range of products and systems designed to enable organizations to manage user identities and access rights to SaaS applications. Table 4: Intel & McAfee Resources PRODUCT Intel Cloud SSO DESCRIPTION Intels on-demand solution providing identity and access management as a service. Includes identity lifecycle management features (such as provisioning), single sign-on, 2 factor authentication and a cloud-based secure SSO portal. Intels on-premise solution for managing SaaS identities and access. Along with the features associated with Intel Cloud SSO, this solution adds on-premise identity repository integration and synchronization, an internal SSO portal integrated with Windows authentication.

Intel Expressway Cloud Access 360

13

5.1: McAfee Integration


As organizations transition to a comprehensive cloud access model where user authentication, data, and application service security are brokered by IT or 3rd party providers, both Intels IAM solutions for SaaS applications are aligned with the McAfee Cloud Security Platform, providing enterprise-class security policy enforcement, threat protection, and collaboration across all cloud traffic channels. Intels position as a world-class platform provider delivers insight into emerging security technologies that can be used to build a trusted client-to-cloud connection. Intel is unique in that, unlike any other vendor, it offers integrated preemptive protection that crosses all security layers.

6: More Info & Other Resources


Intel and McAfee provide a wide variety of online assets for you to investigate your cloud identity and access management options. These are available at www.intel. com/go/identity. They include: Analyst research research reports published by firms like Gartner, Forrester, IDC, The 451 Group and others. White board videos short clips with subject matter experts describing topics like SSO and strong authentication. Product briefs downloadable descriptions of specific products, such as Intel Cloud SSO and Intel ECA 360. White papers white papers on a variety of topics, such as this Buyers Guide Customer case studies & videos assets with detailed descriptions of how Intel customers have met the challenges of cloud identity and asset management. More information is also available from McAfee at http://www.mcafee.com/us/ solutions/cloud-security/cloud-security. aspx.

14

7: Appendix I - Sample RFP


Section I. Company Background Information 1. How long has your SaaS IAM solution been on the market? a. What is the current release version of your IAM product? b. List how many prior versions of your product have been released to the market. c. Please include any relevant awards or analyst coverage your solution has received. 2. Please provide 3 customer references. Ideally, these clients should be organizations with a size and scope similar to our environment. Company Name Name / contact information Number of users under management on the system. General description of their deployment (number of users, systems they are provisioning, type of workflows, etc.) Date they went into full production with your system Business results that have come from the deployment of your solution 3. Did your organization develop your SaaS identity management solution in house or was it acquired from other vendors? If acquired, please answer the following: a. What different products or vendors were acquired to build out your solution? b. How do the products work with one another? c. How will you insure seamless interoperability of the products moving forward? 4. Provide a brief history of your solution, highlighting milestones and unique features your company has introduced to the market. 5. Provide a product roadmap highlighting future plans for your IAM solution. 6. Are you willing to complete a free trial? Provide an overview of your trial process. 7. Describe the various software modules that come packaged with your IAM solution (i.e. provisioning, password management, strong authentication, reporting, etc.) 8. What industry standards (e.g., SAML, XACML, OAuth, OpenID, etc.) does your product support? 9. Describe your products support for high availability and scalability. Section II. User Provisioning Capabilities 10. Describe your solutions provisioning capabilities. For each requirement below, indicate whether this is out of the box functionality, requires customization, requires a third party product, or is not available. a. How will the administrator initiate the provisioning workflow? Please include screenshots. b. Does your product provide the capability to delegate provisioning? c. What are the various types of provisioning actions your solution offers (i.e. create, change, disable, delete, etc.)? d. Can your SaaS application provisioning system integrate with existing on-premise identity and access management systems? e. What are the various types of provisioning workflows your solution offers (i.e. requestor / approver, self-service, bulk, etc.) f. What is the process to create or change a provisioning workflow? What type of skill set does this process require (i.e. coding or development)? Please include screenshots.

15

7: Appendix I - Sample RFP (Continued)


11. Describe how your provisioning solution will integrate with our target SaaS applications to automatically provision user accounts. For each requirement below, indicate whether this is out of the box functionality, requires customization, requires a third party product, or is not available. a. Please list all SaaS applications that your solution can provision out of the box. b. What is the level of detail your provisioning connectors provide? c. What options do we have for creating provisioning connectors for systems not currently supported by your product? Who would build these connectors (i.e. your company or ours)? d. Does your provisioning solution support integration with our on-premise identity repository? Can your solution automatically provision/de-provision user SaaS accounts if the user profile in the identity repository changes (add, change, delete)? Section III. Single Sign-on (SSO) Capabilities 12. Describe your SSO capabilities. For each requirement below, indicate whether this is out of the box functionality, requires customization, requires a third party product, or is not available. a. Identify whether or not you support SSO for the following SaaS authentication models: SAML, HTTP POST forms, OAuth, proprietary API. b. Do you have a mechanism for users to view SaaS applications they are authorized to access? How do you restrict their view to only authorized applications? c. How do you handle password errors, expiration or reset notices from the target SaaS application? d. Does your solution support SSO based on Windows authentication? e. What happens if a user changes their password natively in Active Directory? Will the passwords get out of synch? f. Can we choose to establish an end-user SSO portal on our intranet or in the cloud? g. What tools are available for the system administrator to deal with password issues? h. Describe your support for native target platform password policy requirements (length, strength, dictionary use, password reuse, password expiration, etc.) Section IV. Strong Authentication Capabilities 13. Describe your strong authentication capabilities. For each requirement below, indicate whether this is out of the box functionality, requires customization, requires a third party product, or is not available. a. Describe how your solution supports strong authentication. b. What out-of-band channels are supported for strong authentication via one-time password (OTP) soft token? c. Can your solution selectively invoke strong authentication, based on user attributes defined by the system administrator (e.g., user group, user ID, network IP address, etc.)? Section V. Architecture Overview 14. Please provide a general overview of your IAM architecture. a. Will your IAM solution require us to implement or maintain any proprietary infrastructure? b. Will we need to consolidate our information into one directory to deploy your IAM product? c. Can your product simultaneously work with multiple directories or data sources? d. If we integrate your product with Active Directory, will it require (and would you recommend) that we modify our AD schema? e. How is your product architected to deliver enterprise-class reliability, availability and performance? Does it have support for a distributed IT infrastructure?

16

7: Appendix I - Sample RFP (Continued)


15. Connectors a. Describe the breadth of your portfolio of connectors to SaaS platforms. b. How many connectors are available? c. Are connectors bundled with your suite or sold separately? d. How many connectors work out of the box? e. How many will require customization to work in our environment? f. Describe the process of maintaining connectors as our environment changes. g. Describe the process of making new, custom connectors available for our systems. Section VI. Deployment & Management 16. Describe the implementation process for your solution. 17. Can your solution be integrated into our corporate portal using our look-and-feel? 18. Does your solution provide the flexibility to be deployed either on-premise or as a service? 19. How does your solution capture corporate security policies and incorporate them into the system? 20. Describe your suites audit and reporting functionality. a. What type of reports come standard with your solution? b. Does your suite support standard reporting tools? c. Does your solution have the capability to create a secure, full audit trail for any identity-related operation? Section VII. Implementation Services 21. Describe what professional services will be required to deploy your solution. Will professional services be provided by your organization, a sub-contractor, or a 3rd party? 22. What resources will your firm assign to our implementation? Describe their roles and responsibilities during the implementation. 23. How long do you anticipate it will take an organization of our size and scope to deploy your solution? 24. Describe your standard implementation methodology. a. What are your best practices for minimizing project risk, while demonstrating incremental value and quick wins throughout the project lifecycle? b. How will you assist us in collecting and analyzing data to demonstrate the ROI of your solution? 25. What is the pricing model for professional services: fixed-fee or time-and-material? Section VIII. Post-deployment 26. Describe the post-deployment support services available from your company. a. Can we get support 24x7? b. What service level agreements are available to us as a customer? c. Describe how you track and manage customer issues to ensure high priority problems are addressed in a timely fashion to minimize disruption to our business.

17

7: Appendix I - Sample RFP (Continued)


Section IX. Licensing & Pricing 27. Describe your licensing and pricing model. a. Software licensing provide software pricing for the relevant software modules provided by your company that would satisfy the requirements in this RFI. b. Does your software licensing include unlimited application connectors, or is there a charge for each additional SaaS application? c. Does your licensing model provide the flexibility for either an on-premise or on-demand service deployment for the same price point? d. Maintenance and support provide pricing for your maintenance and support options. Is 24x7 support provided as part of the base license, or will it cost extra? e. Provide a description of what is included with your maintenance and support options. Provide maintenance costs for year 1 and future years as well. f. Professional services provide pricing for the installation services your company will deliver during the installation. List what type resources would be assigned to this project and their hourly billing rate. List pricing for any additional post-deployment services. g. Administrative or end-user training provide course descriptions and fees of the various administrator or end-user training options your company provides. Indicate whether these training courses are held at your company or if they can be onsite at our facilities.

18

8: Appendix II - Industry Glossary & Acronyms


Table 5: Industry Glossary & Acronyms ACRONYM CRUD IaaS IAM IAMaaS IDaaS* OAuth OOB OpenID OTP MEANING CReate, Update, Delete Infrastructure-as-a-Service Identity and access management Identity and Access Management-as-a-Service Identity-as-a-service Open Authorization Out-of-band Open ID One-time password ADDITIONAL INFO Refers to the major lifecycle operations applied to a users identity. Delivers relatively raw hardware, operating systems, storage and network capacity as a service via the Internet. A technical business process which encompasses the CRUD lifecycle of a users identity, regardless of delivery model. IAM functions outsourced to an external service provider. Similar to IAMaaS, but may provide certain limited aspects of IAM, such as authentication or authorization. An open standard for authorization. ( Wikipedia) An alternate channel used to deliver an OTP, which is separate from a primary authentication channel. An open standard used by web identity providers (Facebook, Google, etc.) to share credentials with other entities. (OpenID.net) A technique of challenging a user to enter a one-time password delivered via an OOB channel, such as a cell phone. The user authenticates by demonstrating possession of a device or token. Delivers higher level IT services (e.g., security, management, middleware, etc.) layered on top of IaaS. IAMaaS is a form of PaaS. The delivery of an application by an external service provider without the need to acquire, deploy or manage hardware or software internally, other than an Internet browser. The leading industry standard for managing federated SSO between applications. (OASIS) An emerging standard for managing provisioning and de-provisioning SaaS accounts. (SCIM) An XML-based framework for exchanging provisioning information between cooperating organizations. Has not been widely adopted due to implementation complexity, hence the emergence of SCIM. (Wikipedia) An open XML-based access control framework designed to abstract and separate the authorization process from an application. ( Wikipedia)

PaaS SaaS

Platform-as-a-Service Software-as-a-service

SAML SCIM SPML

Security Assertion Markup Language Simple Cloud Identity Management Service Provisioning Markup Language eXtensible Access Control Markup Language

XACML

19

More Information
Intel Cloud SSO: intelcloudsso.com McAfee: www.mcafee.com/cim Phone: +1-651-628-5352 email: identity@mcafee.com

McAfee and the McAfee logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other marks and brands may be claimed as the property of others. The product plans, specifications and descriptions herein are provided for information only and subject to change without notice, and are provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Copyright 2012 McAfee, Inc.

You might also like