Cybersecurity Insurance Checklist - Meet Insurance Requirements with BeyondTrust PAM Download for Free

  • Partners
  • Support
  • Careers
  • English
    • Deutsch
    • français
    • español
    • 한국어
    • português
BeyondTrust
  • Products

    Privileged Password Management

    Discover, manage, audit, and monitor privileged accounts and credentials.

    • Password Safe
    • DevOps Secrets Safe
    • Privileged Access Discovery Application

    Endpoint Privilege Management

    Enforce least privilege across Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix endpoints.

    • Windows and Mac
    • Unix and Linux
    • Active Directory Bridge

    Secure Remote Access

    Centrally manage remote access for service desks, vendors, and operators.

    • Remote Support
    • Privileged Remote Access
    • Privileged Access Discovery Application

    Cloud Security Management

    Automate the management of identities and assets across your multicloud footprint.

    • Cloud Privilege Broker

    BeyondInsight

    Experience the industry’s most innovative, comprehensive platform for privileged access management.

  • Solutions

    Use Cases

    • Cloud Security
    • Compliance
    • Cyber Insurance
    • Digital Transformation
    • Endpoint Security
    • Operational Technology
    • Ransomware
    • Service Desk Efficiency
    • Zero Trust

    Industry Applications

    • Financial Services
    • Government Agencies
    • Healthcare
    • Law Enforcement
    • Manufacturing
    • Schools & Universities

    Solutions

    The BeyondTrust Privileged Access Management portfolio is an integrated solution that provides visibility and control over all privileged accounts and users.

  • Resources

    Learn

    • Blog
    • Customer Stories
    • Competitor Comparisons
    • Datasheets
    • Demos
    • Glossary
    • Podcast
    • Whitepapers

    Attend

    • Events
    • Go Beyond
    • Training
    • Webinars

    Support

    • Changelog
    • Professional Services
    • Technical Documentation

    Universal Privilege Management

    Our innovative Universal Privilege Management approach secures every user, asset, and session across your entire enterprise.

  • Company
    • About
    • Leadership
    • Core Values
    • Partners
    • Careers
  • Watch Demo
  • Contact Sales

E Pluribus Unix – Out of many, Linux

January 22, 2019

  • Blog
  • Archive

Standardized hardware, the advent of cloud and other virtual platforms, as well as the low cost of Linux has led the Unix world down the path of standardization under open source software. When originally developed, commercial Unix solutions such as Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and others were custom built to accommodate proprietary hardware configurations using proprietary drivers.

It is no longer cost-effective for commercial concerns to develop their own OS. And, as the industry embraces standardization and common platforms, commercial Unix platforms will soon cease to exist. Open source has permitted the best ideas from the various commercial platforms to be integrated into one standard operating system. Large commercial environments have also taken a containerized approach to software deployments, and OS standardization is the cornerstone of such deployments.

Proprietary operating system development customarily involved the development of alternative processes and management tools such as “Smitty” in AIX, or “Management Console” in Solaris, and other processes that deviated from more common approaches. Unfortunately, this forced system administrators to learn multiple tools and methods for doing virtually the same thing.

Each commercial deviation from common approaches caused downstream changes in other software that was installed on servers. Directory changes, tools used to manage network connections, or other software had to be modified to work properly on each variant. This took focus away from developing best practices and standards that were common to all Unix platforms. Through open source software, these deviations were normalized, and the best methods have been incorporated into the Linux operating system.

The downside with Linux as an on open source software is that, in most cases, there is only community support to resolve any issues or vulnerabilities in software and supporting libraries. However the fact that the open source community has a roughly 10-year track record of quickly responding to reported has helped foster considerable confidence in the Linux operating system.

With commercial Unix variants, the source code and libraries are all custom-developed and underwritten by the company that delivers them. For large commercial organizations, even though that security comes at a premium, it has traditionally been considered worthwhile. The recent acquisition by IBM of Redhat Linux brings significant credibility to the open source software on which it is built, and this indicates a further trend towards standardization of the operating system to Linux.

How Standardization Simplifies Access

One of the foremost benefits inherent of common platforms and standardized operating systems is consensus and standardization of access and asset models in all enterprises. Once a standard method is agreed upon, it will be possible to focus more effort on securing systems and standardizing access to them. Resources that were previously focused on esoteric development threads can be rededicated to developing common access policies and collecting asset data to strengthen their security program.

With a common operating system such as Linux, it is possible to deliver significant return on investment from BeyondTrust’s Endpoint Privilege Management solution for Unix and Linux servers, and the rest of our suite of products. One alternative use for our Unix/Linux server solution is to take advantage of the trusted agent nature of a deployment and to use the agents to collect consistent data from assets within the network. Another use would be to leverage the solution’s infrastructure as a gateway into any corporate environment where access to any resource is granted based upon the conditions desired by the customer.

Focusing on a common operating system provides an opportunity to develop standards among tools and software and to introduce common points of conditional access into any environment. As the presence of commercial Unix variants begins to diminish due to standardization and consensus among consumers, there lies an opportunity to further expand the same controls that govern privileged access to the broader corporate environment.

To learn how BeyondTrust and our extensible suite of privileged access solutions can help your organization’s journey toward audit and regulatory compliance, and secure access at any level, contact us.

Chad Erbe, Professional Services Architect, BeyondTrust

Chad Erbe is a Certified Information Systems Security professional (CISSP), with nearly 30 years’ experience in a Unix/Linux administration role. Chad has worked in DoD high-security environments, manufacturing, and with large financial services companies throughout his career. This broad experience has lead him to an architectural role with BeyondTrust where he focuses on Privileged Access Management, particularly in the Unix suite of products. Chad also maintains his PCI ASV certification from the PCI council.

Stay Up To Date

Get the latest news, ideas, and tactics from BeyondTrust. You may unsubscribe at any time.

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

You May Also Be Interested In:

Whitepapers

Cybersecurity Insurance Checklist

Whitepapers

Microsoft Vulnerabilities Report 2021

Whitepapers

Privileged Access Management: PAM Checklist

Keep up with BeyondTrust

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

Customer Support
Contact Sales

Products

  • Endpoint Privilege Management
  • Password Management
  • Privileged Remote Access
  • DevOps Secrets Safe
  • Remote Support
  • Cloud Privilege Broker

Resources

  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Competitor Comparisons
  • Datasheets
  • Glossary
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Webcasts
  • Whitepapers

About

  • Company
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Leadership Team
  • Partner Program
  • Press
BeyondTrust Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • Manage Cookies
  • WEEE Compliance

Copyright © 1999 — 2022 BeyondTrust Corporation. All rights reserved. Other trademarks identified on this page are owned by their respective owners. BeyondTrust Corporation is not a chartered bank or trust company, or depository institution. It is not authorized to accept deposits or trust accounts and is not licensed or regulated by any state or federal banking authority.