BeyondTrust has released version 5.8 of PowerBroker Password Safe, our solution for automating privileged password and privileged session management. This new release features some exciting enhancements – especially around session management and password management, giving users unmatched levels of security, accountability and control while continuing our commitment to usability and simplicity. Read on for more.
Simplify Your Search Using Enhanced Session Playback and Keystroke Indexing
Organizations often times need the capability to review privileged sessions, but searching through volumes of data in recorded sessions takes time and can be inefficient. With Password Safe v5.8, designated viewers can instantly search for words that may have been typed or text that has been displayed. Any RDP and SSH activity from v5.7 and above is automatically captured and displayed. Input and output is indexed and searchable for SSH sessions. When an index is clicked, the session immediately jumps to that section and starts playback. Instantly search for words that may have been typed or text that has been displayed.
These session review enhancements serve to speed session review times, and help administrators complete audits faster.
Easily Access Passwords, Sessions and Applications with One Click
In larger or complex environments where many administrators perform repetitive tasks, there’s often no efficient process for checking out passwords, sessions and applications. Password Safe introduces OneClick, an easy-to-launch mechanism to expedite checkout operations for access that would normally be approved automatically. Simply click on a special icon in the request table, and automatic access verification is immediately performed for the default checkout period of the account. For Advanced Workflow Control, any available Access Policy for the given time period is listed for selection. Alternatively, administrators can globally configure the system to automatically select the most appropriate policy.
This new capability improves usability for administrators, making access to session and apps secure and convenient.
Ensure Critical Access to Accounts with Password Caching and Account Aliasing Features
Ensuring business operations continue without interruption is critical for IT environments, regardless of size. For high volume API requests, a new Password Cache utility allows credentials to be accessed directly on a local host (for close to zero latency), or from a local subnet. An unlimited number of caches may be deployed to distribute access to managed credentials for both scalability and redundancy. In the event of a catastrophic system or network failure, credentials, the credentials’ caches will provide a failsafe mechanism to ensure that critical operations may continue.
When APIs are normally accessed in extremely high volume applications, there is always a risk that a credential may be stale due to latency inherent in standard password change operations. To eliminate this issue, Password Safe version 5.8 has the ability to create aliases for API usage. This ensures that credentials will only be returned for stable accounts that are not in the midst of a password change.
There are several more enhancements and new features in this release of PowerBroker Password Safe – including account password and SSH key synchronization, which improves usability. Check out the complete list of new features, watch this short new feature video, or contact us to learn more about PowerBroker Password Safe.
Martin Cannard,
Martin has been helping organizations solve challenges in the privileged account management and identity and access management space for over 24 years. At Dell Software, Martin managed a team of Solution Architects, focused on designing and implementing solutions in the Privileged Account Management (PAM) space. Prior to joining Dell, Martin was Sr. Product Manager for Novell Privileged User Manager, a privilege management application acquired from Fortefi, an organization where he served as Vice President, Corporate Development. Prior to this, he was Program Manager of Client Technologies at Symantec where he was responsible for many ground-breaking field and channel enablement applications. Additionally, Martin managed the European QA group at Axent Technologies and has held various management positions in consulting, systems development, and operations. Martin is a regular speaker for security events, and webinars.