In today’s digital age, you are pretty much required to have a password for everything. 97 percent of computers, networks, websites and secure data files use passwords to authenticate users. With the constant increase in cyber crime, Internet users and IT departments know better than to have the same password for different accounts. Not only that, but some accounts make it a requirement to update these passwords every few weeks. Yet, the process that was put in place to ensure data and user security has become a nuisance to manage.

Passwords play a bigger role than just being the wall between you and your e-mail. For companies that are network or service providers, interrupted access to passwords could mean a loss in uptime. It’s not the password data security that is weak, but it’s how people today are managing their passwords that’s the problem.

Nova, Iceland’s first 3G mobile network service provider, once faced the challenge of managing administrative passwords on one Excel sheet used by more than 35 administrators. In addition to the headaches that ensued after trying to properly manage these passwords between different users, the threat of data loss was also increasing. So, the company set out to find a secure password solution that was easy to use and affordable.

"Security is the top priority for us. Even a minor security breach in our network could have numerous ramifications. While security systems are in place to guard the infrastructure against external threats, we wanted to strengthen our mechanism to rule out any possible internal breaches as well," said Stefán Stefánsson from the IT department of Nova.

Nova turned to ManageEngine’s Password Manager Pro, a secure vault for storing and managing shared sensitive information such as passwords, documents and digital identities of enterprises, to meet all of its password management needs.

Among the many factors that influenced Nova to deploy Password Manager Pro in its environment, the intuitive Web interface, well-defined password ownership and sharing model, granular access controls, comprehensive audit records and provision for live backup of data were the most compelling and impressive, according to the company.




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"The automated, policy-driven password management provided by Password Manager Pro has made us realize how inefficient and insecure the traditional 'excel sheet storage' approach was. Usage of Password Manager Pro is certainly the best practice approach for us," emphasized Stefánsson.

Password Manager Pro aims to solve typical problems faced with passwords such as insecure storage of passwords inviting security threats, uncontrolled super-user privileges, no role-based access control, lack of accountability for actions, and no provision for enforcing standard password practices/policies and no centralized control. The solution offers a centralized password vault, application-to-application password management, shared administrative password management, role-based access control, automated password resets, real-time notifications on password events, and PCI (News - Alert) DSS compliance recording among other capabilities.

Nova continues to expand its network to deliver new services and support a growing subscriber base. The growth in turn increases the number of devices, which results in exponential increase of administrative passwords.

"With Password Manager Pro on our side, we are not worried about password proliferation at all. Storing, sharing, accessing and changing the passwords have become simple and secure," added Stefánsson.

The solution is used to be a reliable password management solution for enterprises in all different industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, banking, insurance, professional services, universities and law firms. It can be used from two administrators up to hundreds of administrators, with unrestricted resources and users.

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