Actu
Winchester City Council Deploys Evidian’s Single Sign On Solution for Secure Application Access
September 2009 by Marc Jacob
Winchester City Council has deployed Enterprise SSO
from Bull Evidian, the European leader in identity and access management, to simplify access for
staff to multiple applications while increasing security. The solution was supplied by integrator,
AppSpeed.
The Bull Evidian solution is being used together with two-factor authentication to secure systems
and application access in compliance with GSi Code of Connection (CoCo), which the council
achieved in February 2009, well ahead of the compliance deadline (31th March 2009).
Enterprise SSO eliminates the risks of staff having to remember multiple passwords to access key
applications.
Council staff use the Bull Evidian solution when signing into a range of back-office and citizen
data applications. Enterprise SSO enforces security policies by clearly linking application access
to user identities, and by enforcing the use of strong, complex passwords.
Winchester City Council Head of IM&T, Sheila Davidge, said: “We wanted to ensure we were
compliant with CoCo ahead of the Government’s original deadline. Evidian’s SSO solution
exceeds the CoCo requirements for password strength, and saves users’ time by negating the
need to sign in to multiple applications. It also cuts the number of helpdesk calls from users for
resets of forgotten passwords. It gives us a single, consistent security policy that’s easy to apply,
with minimal support overhead.”
Nick Lamidey, sales director UK and Ireland for Bull Evidian said: “SSO delivers security where
it’s most often needed, for user identification and authentication when accessing key applications.
This is becoming a key requirement for security compliance, especially in the public sector. Our
solutions simplify access for both office-based and remote users, and make single sign on easy to
deploy and manage. This delivers rapid ROI through reduced helpdesk support for replacing or
resetting user passwords."
Evidian’s Enterprise SSO solution increases enterprise security by enforcing
application password
policy. It automatically creates and changes application passwords, improving user productivity
and regulatory compliance, and cutting helpdesk costs. Industry analysts estimate over 30% of
helpdesk calls are for password resets.
Evidian’s solutions secure access to all types of corporate application – whether Windows, Citrix,
Linux, Unix, web-based or mainframe. They combine multi-factor authentication with a plug-andplay
SSO solution, replacing user passwords with digital signatures based on certificates, smart
cards, USB keys or biometrics. Access is authorised according to existing security policies and
enterprise directories. Enterprise SSO integrates with Windows Active Directory.
Evidian Enterprise SSO is available for Windows XP, 2000, 2003 and Vista workstations. For
thin clients, it is also available in the Windows Terminal Server and Citrix (MetaFrame,
Presentation Server and NFuse) environments.
