Symark’s PowerBroker 3.0 Enables Selective Delegation of UNIX Administrative Privileges

Calif., Westlake Village, United States:  Symark today announced PowerBroker 3.0, security software that enhances native UNIX authorization by providing selective delegation of UNIX administrative privileges for trusted users without providing full root access, thereby reducing the risk of accidental damage or malicious activity. PowerBroker also manages privileges and access to third-party applications and accounts (e.g., database, CRM, and ERP), including generic accounts. In addition, PowerBroker extends the limited logging capabilities of traditional UNIX systems by providing an indelible audit trail of all accepted and rejected user requests and session I/O to ensure a secure environment as well as user accountability.

“Today, with more and more corporations building their extensive information technology infrastructures upon various flavors and versions of UNIX, the challenges of using native UNIX solutions to administer privileges across such complex environments become prohibitive,” said Rob Prigge, director of Asia-Pacific and Japan Operations, Symark. “PowerBroker bridges this gap, offering granular control of root account privileges while protecting the root password. With support for an expansive range of UNIX systems — all without requiring modifications to the UNIX kernel — PowerBroker is a single, central tool for managing authorization across heterogeneous environments.”

PowerBroker Restricts Access and Limits Security Risks

By providing selective access to root’s power, PowerBroker enables system administrators, database administrators, engineers, application developers, and help desk operators to perform their jobs without introducing security risks. PowerBroker maintains system integrity by ensuring that root password is not revealed. Granular privilege delegation enables administrators to restrict access to specific system commands as well as third-party applications, directories and files. Administrators can use PowerBroker’s familiar C-like scripting language to easily create comprehensive policies to govern privilege assignment.

PowerBroker Provides Indelible Audit Trail

To ensure a secure environment and provide clear user accountability, PowerBroker provides a thorough audit trail. Native UNIX syslogs provide limited information, failing to meet many of
today’s stringent regulations, such as HIPAA. PowerBroker extends native UNIX logging capabilities by centrally capturing each system’s events, requests, and complete user sessions by keystroke. PowerBroker provides both event logs and I/O logs; a new browser-based GUI enables administrators to view both logs. Log files may be queried and specified data may be extracted and viewed. For additional protection, “forbidden keystroke” sequences may be designated and systems secured before potential damage occurs.

PowerBroker Encrypts Network Traffic

PowerBroker further increases system security by encrypting network traffic as well as policy and configuration files and logs. Additional security is provided through support for SSL to encrypt all data related to PowerBroker authorizing secured tasks, including passwords when requested, that are communicated across a network. PowerBroker supports SSL, providing additional encryption and authentication for very secure organizations. PowerBroker also supports Kerberos version 5. PowerBroker is configurable on both sides of a packet-filtering firewall, and its client-server architecture ensures fault tolerance for continual availability.

PowerBroker Supports Popular UNIX and Linux Platforms

PowerBroker supports Sun, HP, IBM, Digital, Compaq, SGI, Motorola, Linux, Sequent, SCO, and other popular UNIX platforms. Version 3.0 introduces support for AIX 5, Solaris 9, Debian Linux, and IBM S390 Linux.

Symark services and support complement the company’s powerful product offerings. Symark offers onsite training, rapid deployment assistance, and 24×7 support by highly specialized technicians and staff.

For more information on PowerBroker 3.0, and other Symark products in the Asia-Pacific region, contact Rob Prigge at [email protected].

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