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The Context
Today, enterprise’s identity and access management environments are continuously facing threats of password misuse. Application service accounts that use privileged credentials to run scheduled automated tasks are no exception.
Indeed, with the proliferation of service application accounts in an increasingly heterogeneous IT environment, the underlying applications in any IT environment are continuously facing vulnerabilities around the password management.
Firstly, administrators who are responsible for managing the application service accounts face the maximum challenge of managing the passwords of hundreds of applications that have inter-dependencies. If it is done manually, the whole process of password management can be time consuming.
Furthermore, passwords that are responsible for managing the right access at the right time for the right reason are always vulnerable to intentional and unintentional human errors. If the entire mechanism to change passwords of application service accounts lack proper password management process, it can result in unexpected downtime, insider attacks and/or productivity losses.
What could happen if this password management process for application service accounts is automated? Organizations can reap the benefits of less time spent by admins, convenience, productivity, and security because all the service accounts are interconnected with one another.
The best solution to manage passwords for application service accounts
The application service accounts in any IT environment require robust password management to perform the scheduled tasks. With the help of the ARCON | Enterprise Vault (EV) solution, the password management process for multiple applications is automated through a single terminal. It manages the change and rotation of passwords by tracking the necessary details of the servers and IP addresses.
Moreover, if there is any requirement for updating or changing the passwords of configuration files, then changing the passwords from system to system is not at all a smart idea. ARCON Enterprise Vault’s App to App Password Management can save lots of valuable time just by automating the password management process.
What are the accrued benefits?
ARCON | Enterprise Vault’s App to App Password Management is not a one-time benefit. Rather, it continues to help enterprises reap the benefits of low cost, less manual intervention, and zero chances of downtime. If we consider the overall benefits, we can list the following:
- Minimizes insider threats by drawing extreme limitations of privileged access
- The service account applications are managed and controlled automatically by rotating and randomizing the passwords
- Maintains confidentiality and sanctity of the service account passwords
- Reduces chances of downtime
- Enhances productivity by eliminating risk of manual password change process
- Meets compliance requirements of global and local regulatory authorities that ask for mandatory password rotation
Conclusion
Service accounts or privileged domain accounts are used by critical applications that are interconnected with each other and interact with their operating systems to execute scheduled tasks. Strong chances of unprecedented setbacks arise if there are human errors due to manual intervention in managing passwords. ARCON | Enterprise Vault’s App to App Password Management helps organizations automate the entire process of password management and prevent anomalous access that results in any IT incident.
