CONTROL-SA/Links Expands Centralized Security Management
Joanna Doyle
CONTROL-SA/Links, the latest offering in Houston-based BMC Software’s security management solution, automates security administration and enables security managers to monitor complex operations across the network while implementing security policies from one central point.
Building on the capabilities of CONTROL-SA, BMC’s main security administration product, CONTROL-SA/Links allows enterprise security professionals to create event definitions and automated reactions, in addition to managing user access rights.
“When we introduced CONTROL-SA to the market, customers were empowered to manage users at the enterprise levels for the first time,” said Danny Moser, program director for BMC’s security management solutions. “With CONTROL-SA/Links customers can achieve that same enterprise level management of all security events.”
CONTROL-SA/Links boasts a number of new features intended to make security administration both more reliable and more efficient. The new system monitors applications enterprisewide and alerts security administrators via pager or e-mail as soon as a problem is perceived. The security manager can then use a touch-tone phone to prescribe predefined corrective actions in response to the alert.
Another new feature, Rule-based Automation, allows security managers to integrate human resources applications and security administration. For example, CONTROL/SALinks, can initiate a process in CONTROL-SA such as administering all end-user access rights for a new employee, to ensure that he or she immediately has all necessary access to resources and data in order to be as productive as possible the first day of work.
In addition, CONTROL-SA/Links can intercept messages originating from a wide range of platforms, systems and applications throughout the organization, including AS/400. Messages are consolidated into a single log and can produce a variety of reports related to the information produced, to alert security managers to potential area for improvements in security. Log sources include a variety of operating systems, firewalls, Web servers, e-mail, access control systems, user applications and human resources applications, among others. Finally, in keeping with the intent to make integration more practical, specific CONTROL-SA/Agents are designed to supports a variety of platforms, systems or applications. Those entities not supported by existing agents can still be centrally managed by a non-intrusive connection which is also provided by CONTROL-SA.