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Valorec Services AG, a Swiss environmental and waste services company, has reported increased the use of the RSA (News - Alert) SecurID On-Demand Authenticator for secure, remote network access in order to offer continual business services without any hindrances in case of a global H1N1 pandemic.

RSA is a provider of solutions in identity assurance and access control, data loss prevention and encryption, compliance & security information management and fraud protection.  

According to RSA, the RSA SecurID On-demand Authenticator is a unique tool that lets users securely access the network without pre-assigned credentials. The on-demand authentication method can offer flexibility and ease of deployment, while still maintaining all the security strictures required for two-factor authentication without the need for any physical hardware token or software to be installed on a laptop or smartphone.

Valorec previously outfitted RSA SecurID to a smaller group of employees including members of upper management and now as a precaution it has expanded its RSA SecurID deployment to guard itself against the potential global H1N1 pandemic which could require anywhere, anytime access for a significantly expanded remote workforce.

John Martinussen, chief information officer of Valorec Services, said that many clients have been taking measures to ensure business continuity during a pandemic and this has been at the top of their agenda because protecting their data is critical to their organization’s success. They upgraded to the newer version of RSA Authentication Manager to use its business continuity option where user access rights are controlled centrally, making it secure and easy to manage.

The on-demand authentication supports a diverse and constantly shifting base of workers, such as contractors and vendor partners. These workers require secure, remote Web or application access, but with too little frequency to justify issuing traditional hardware or software tokens. In such a case these workers can request on-demand authenticators through a self-service URL and receive token codes via SMS – without having to involve IT in the actual authentication transactions.

The business continuity option within RSA Authentication Manager – the server-side software that powers the RSA SecurID system – allows Valorec to temporarily expand its license to a large number of users. Pre-authorized personnel from departments such as purchasing, control and production will be able to leverage RSA SecurID in order to protect valuable data and help ensure that operations go uninterrupted.

Valorec has acknowledged RSA’s solution as the perfect option because it requires no physical hardware token or software to be installed on a laptop or smart phone. The company can simply create a user profile and define the length of time users have access to the network, whether it’s a few hours or an entire day. This technology will provide them with a reliable and secure solution in the event of a pandemic.

Recently RSA and VeriSign (News - Alert) teamed up on cloud-based, two-factor authentication offering and Intervoice (News - Alert) and RSA improved telephone banking.