ATOS

Remote access management, auditing and reporting, incorporates embedded security.

Whitepaper

Introduction

Analysis of Business Security Risks

"Gartner estimates that 70 percent of security incidents that actually cause loss to enterprises rather than mere annoyance involve insiders... enterprises must find the balance between completely open internal access and overprotective security that hurts business. Enterprises can achieve this balance by enforcing 'need to know' policies. Consolidated access management architectures should be deployed to allow server and database access only to employees who require it for legitimate business purposes. Audit and reporting tools should be used to review privilege escalation actions." High-Profile Thefts Show Insiders Do the Most Damage

John Pescatore, Gartner Inc., First-Take, 11/26/2002

Where does ATOS fit in?

ATOS is the world’s first single console for IT support users for multiple hosts in a multi-platform heterogeneous environment. The need to protect data is paramount, whether the need is to protect data that is crucial to the success of the business, or to protect private customer information, or even meeting legal obligations to secure data from external sources. ATOS has been specifically designed with security as its highest priority to ensure data integrity, whether the risk is internal or external.

Its embedded transparent security is complimented by a dynamic interface that will help streamline processes and lower IT support overheads. At ATOS’s core is it’s robust security measures comprising of session authentication, and encryption. Sessions may be initiated in a number of modes to suit each host type, or to suit the needs of the remote user. ATOS provides data traceability by automatically recording each session and storing them for future review.

Product Development Strategy

With the modern ‘Global Economy’ many companies have business interests all over the world. Businesses are quite often divided into regional or national offices. Typically to reduce the management burden, companies often outsource generic services, and focus their resources on their core competencies in each region or nation. Usually IT Support is one of the first services to be outsourced, with each region or national office negotiating separate outsourcing deals. Obviously this brings many benefits to the company but it also brings risks. It opens the company’s data and its customer’s data to a third party. This is of particular concern for Financial Institutions like banks or brokerage firms where the leaking of vital data can be extremely detrimental to the business.

Businesses who outsource IT Support services need to know exactly what the Outsource Partner is doing at all times, and this is why ATOS was developed. ATOS is used as a remote support tool but it has a number of key differences from other remote support tools on the market.

ATOS supports a multitude of host types, and multiple operating systems from a single GUI interface. ATOS provides four different session modes including RCE, RLS, FT, and RC. But ATOS’s ‘jewel in the crown’ is its embedded security.

ATOS authenticates every session before the console user can connect to a remote host. Host startup passwords are encrypted, as is the secure transmission between the console and the host. This means that an unsolicited individual/s cannot gain access to either network, and cannot connect to any of the hosts.

ATOS records and stores every session to a central database. This is how ATOS provides ‘security with proof’. The customer can view any session that the outsourcing partner has carried out. If data has been compromised ATOS can prove whether or not the Outsourcing Company was responsible or whether it was the user to blame. ATOS has in-built customized filters and reports that can show all sessions relating to a particular workstation or a particular individual.

But ATOS is not only for companies who wish to outsource IT Support. It is also extremely beneficial to large companies with distributed IT systems. ATOS provides these companies with a single platform to maintain and support their remote IT systems. The single GUI interface allows the support users to maintain many different host types from firewalls, routers, workstations, to embedded systems like ATMs and Credit Card terminals. ATOS as already stated supports many operating systems making it possible to interface with diverse systems from Linux web servers to Unix database servers. This is of enormous benefit to large companies with many differing IT resources. And this is all done within the secure environment that ATOS provides.

Product Features

• Integrated application for remote host access
• Unique Single GUI Console for multiple host types and multiple operating systems
• Transparent security through authenticated, encrypted sessions with restricted access
• Data traceability from recorded, stored sessions
• Common Address Book storing multiple hosts from available operating systems with Import/Export features.
• Customized reports
• In-built customizable scripting to automate tasks
• Multiple concurrent sessions
• User Account Management
• Backup management using customized tools or scripts
• Open architecture supporting industry standard communication through TCP/IP with 32-Bit multi-threading

Who can benefit from ATOS?

• Any Company wishing to Outsource it’s IT Support
  For companies wishing to reduce their management burden by outsourcing services to a third party, ATOS can provide security and confidence in this process.

  ATOS is the vehicle to review SLAs with the Outsourcing partner, or more importantly trace data or information that may be leaking from the company.

  
  

• Outsourcing Partners
  

  Such companies can market their services as being of the highest integrity, and focus on the secure nature of prospective business relationships, using ATOS as a corner stone of their marketing strategy.

  
  

• Large Companies with Distributed IT Systems
  

  ATOS offers great cost saving benefits for IT Support departments by adopting the single console for multiple hosts and operating systems.

  (could reduce costs in the following areas :

  Reduce User licenses

  Reduce helpdesk case resolution time

  Centralize IT support cells

  Reduce training overheads)