Wallix's WAB secures IT systems of France's Ministry of Ecology
France's Ministry of Ecology has chosen Wallix Admin Bastion (WAB), the IT-security solution developed by Wallix, in order to secure the ministry's IT systems.
- (1888PressRelease) September 24, 2010 - Paris France - Christophe Louvard, Director of the Hosting & Operations Unit, within the central server centre at France's Ministry of Ecology, indicates that he is satisfied with WAB, the integrated security solution developed by Wallix: "The IT Department's managers, who have to be more and more vigilant in security matters, require solutions that are simple, yet robust. With WAB, we have a stable product, which we do not need to reboot every five minutes. It is a reassuring and reliable product, which, in time, will become a key element in information systems."
"IT managers, among our clients, must guarantee consistency in their administration operations and accurately trace the actions performed within the information system, or the applications of the company's data centre, should there be an incident, or even an audit. It is necessary to know how to reply, at all times, to the question: 'Who did what, and when?'" stresses Jean-Noel de Galzain, President of Wallix. "It is the role entrusted by the Ministry of Ecology to WAB which has made it a strategic element in its IT systems' security policy."
The role of France's Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea is to ensure a rational and balanced management of natural resources (including mineral and living resources) in the country. Within the context of its different activities, the IT Department of the ministry deals with a considerable volume of sensitive data, which can be financial and contractual, or relate to the ministry's partners and its staff. It is absolutely essential that the data be fully protected from all threats, whether the origin of those threats turns out to be accidental or malicious.
After an audit of the ministry's IT systems, in 2009, which was conducted by Solucom, the independent consultancy firm specialising in giving advice on the management of information systems, several needs were clearly identified, notably in relation to the traceability of operations and to the management of access to sensitive data.
The required security solution had to be capable of tracing the operations carried out on IT systems and equipment and, at the same time, of recording administration sessions on the servers hosting critical applications. Wallix Admin Bastion (WAB) was chosen because the Ministry of Ecology concluded that the IT-security solution developed by Wallix met these particularly rigorous criteria.
WAB has the advantage that it affords simplicity of administration and an innovative approach to technical choices. According to the managers in charge of the security of IT systems at the ministry, one important factor in the choice of the WAB solution was the flexibility that Wallix demonstrated during the test period, before going into production mode. Another factor that weighed heavily in the decision was WAB's potential to trace and record the connections made by users of privileged accounts on critical equipment, and the management of administrators' access rights.
The ministry's IT managers felt that WAB met, point by point, the needs of the ministry in terms of the control of in-house applications. Additionally, and crucially, WAB is able to provide pieces of evidence for investigation - through linking operations carried out on a given piece of equipment back to their originators - should problems or incidents arise. Thanks to the integrated solution developed by Wallix, the conditions in which sessions are recorded and stored allow for easy reconstruction of the operations carried out, within the context of the administration of sensitive equipment.
The client entity now has a highly secure installation in place, thanks to Wallix: the ministry is equipped with two high-availability-configured WAB 50 units (WAB HA) on its main site and two other WAB HA units on a site that is further afield. The HA function has been secured through installing a cluster consisting of two WAB appliances (master/slave) with an inbuilt crash-tolerance mechanism (active/passive). This architecture allows for the automatic recovery of services - access to the target equipment and the web console, recording of sessions, etc. - and guarantees continuity of service in the event of unavailability (or dysfunction) affecting the production appliance.
At present, 12 internal users and three external users have access to the WAB system that has been installed at the ministry, in order to administer 60 or so terminals, which are mainly Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 servers, as well as Linux Debian servers, relying on SSH, TSE (RDP) and SCP protocols. The ministry's IT Department has even found an unexpected and extra use for WAB, since it is also used by the IT team to document the server-installation procedures - the aim being to be able to replicate them more simply at a later stage, on the other machines, thanks to the session-recording functionality built into WAB.
About Wallix
Wallix, which is headquartered in Paris (France), is a developer and distributor of computer security software, specialising in the management of risks linked to the access by users to the critical computing infrastructure of businesses. The company is supported by private-sector investment funds such as Access2Net, Sopromec, Hedera and Venturis Capital.
Wallix offers innovative solutions for the management of user identities and access, and for the traceability of operations, with a simple, cost-effective approach, without deployment constraints in the client entity's information systems, and in compliance with the latest standards applying to computer security.
Wallix's solutions are marketed through a network of partners, dealers and computer integrators. The company is established in France, in the UK, and in the USA.
Wallix has been awarded the Oseo Innovation Prize (Oseo being France's government agency for the promotion of innovation). The company has also received an award as part of the PM'UP programme and is a partner of the System ( @ ) tic Paris Region high-technology cluster dot
For further information, please go to: www.wallix.com
For further information, please contact :
Quote ref. : FTPB3482
Ms Mary-Ann WILLIAMS - Press Officer
UBIFRANCE Press Office in London
Tel: +44 (0) 207 024 3640
mary-ann.williams ( @ ) ubifrance dot fr
View other press releases at :
http://www.ubifrance.com/uk/
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