Autoleague is one of Australia’s largest automotive retailer groups. The team needed a Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM) solution to better secure its information technology platform and comply with complex cyber insurance requirements.
“BeyondTrust has proven to be a solid vendor with a great product portfolio. We were looking for a vendor who could cover our requirements for both PAM and Privileged Remote Access (PRA) capabilities, and BeyondTrust has industry-leading products in both categories. They took the time to fully understand our needs and ensured the deployments added real value to our operations.”
—Ian Melton, Head of Security & IT Operations, Autoleague
To support its national network of car dealerships, Autoleague relies on a sophisticated information technology platform, which enables everything from stock management and ordering to administration, parts inventories, and support. The platform also serves an administrative team in Sri Lanka that undertakes back-office tasks. The team needs to have reliable and secure access to Australian-based IT resources without requiring complex networking technologies or relying on virtual private networks (VPNs).
To ensure the Autoleague IT platform remains secure at all times, while also complying with complex cyber insurance requirements, Autoleague realised it had to improve the way it managed admin and user passwords.
“We needed a way to separate admin logins from daily logins to reduce the likelihood of unauthorised access to the IT platform,” said Ian Melton, Head of Information Technology at Autoleague. “We also recognised that persistent passwords are regarded as a security risk and needed to be removed from use.”
After examining alternatives from a range of security vendors, a decision was made in 2022 to deploy BeyondTrust Password Safe. Now, Autoleague can automatically rotate privileged passwords, which significantly improves security without becoming onerous for users.
In addition, Autoleague leverages the BeyondTrust solution to automatically vault, rotate, and secure local admin account credentials, removing any need to deploy and manage LAPS for break-glass accounts (used, for example, to repair broken domain trust relationships on roaming devices).
Another challenge arose when Autoleague established a back-office support team in Sri Lanka. The new team needed a way to securely access the Australian platforms from an office building with a shared internet connection. They specifically sought a secure tunnel that would allow the staff to access the resources as required.
To solve this issue, the team deployed BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA), integrating the best of privileged account/credential management from Password Safe with powerful capabilities for managing and monitoring privileged sessions anywhere. Together, these two solutions facilitate a Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM) approach. Once deployed, Privileged Remote Access ensured there was a secure connection for staff in Sri Lanka. It also enables employees to work from the office or from home while always retaining strong security.
Additionally, Autoleague leveraged Privileged Remote Access during the due diligence phase of an acquisition to establish a secure, controlled connection with the acquiring company’s network. This approach allowed Autoleague to share sensitive information confidently without exposing their environments to malware, data leakage, or other cyber risks.
“It is often an overlooked part of the process,” said Melton. “There is the onus on us to protect our resources and systems while conducting our due diligence.”
“Thanks to BeyondTrust’s Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM) solution, we now have industry-leading password and access management capabilities. This ensures our core systems remain protected but also readily accessible to those who require it. The result is that we can offer support to our national network of franchisees who can meet their clients’ needs.”
—Ian Melton, Head of Security & IT Operations, Autoleague
Melton’s team also emphasized how their BeyondTrust solutions will keep their platform secure as they scale up, without compromising identity security across the estate. “With BeyondTrust’s Privileged Account and Session Management solution in place, I am confident we have a secure, robust environment that will support our franchisees as they grow. Our password management processes have improved significantly and our overseas teams enjoy dependable, secure remote links.”
"There are many security vendors from which you can choose, however, BeyondTrust stands out because it has strong solutions in both the privileged password management and privileged remote access spaces. I look forward to continuing to work with the company as a trusted PAM provider.”
