RSA Gives Small and Mid Sized Organizations Enterprise Class Alternative to Risky Reliance on Passwords

BEDFORD, Mass. - January 26, 2011 -

RSA, The Security Division of EMC (NYSE: EMC) announced RSA^®Authentication Manager Express, its newest strong authentication solution designed to meet the cost and convenience requirements of SMBs. The same risk-based RSA technology used to protect millions of online transactions every day and more than 250 million identities worldwide is being made available in a package that businesses of any size can use.

Today’s organizations are faced with the challenges of an increasingly mobile workforce, stricter regulations, and advanced threats that target sensitive information and intellectual property. Both industry researchers and real-world security breach events have demonstrated for years that weak, password-only protection is no match for savvy cybercriminals and cannot be considered an effective method of preventing unauthorized users from accessing company resources.

RSAAuthentication Manager Express is a risk-based and on-demand authentication system designed for organizations to provide up to 2,500 end users with secure access to data and business applications through SSL Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and online portals. The system employs an intelligent risk engine engineered to provide invisible, behind-the-scenes protection of web-based resources against unauthorized access. Users continue to employ their standard username and password. Security is stepped up when the risk engine detects abnormal behavior, requiring users to correctly answer personal challenge questions and/or enter SMS- or email-delivered one-time pass codes before access is granted.

“There has always been a need for strong authentication in small and mid-size organizations, yet adoption has been slow because most offerings have fallen short of meeting the cost and convenience needs of these customers,” said Sally Hudson, Research Analyst at IDC. “Previous enterprise-class solutions have traditionally been too costly to deploy and manage for smaller organizations; cheaper alternatives lacked end-user convenience and didn’t provide multi-layered protection. RSA Authentication Manager Express combines the best of RSA’s expertise and innovation in enterprise and consumer authentication technology to provide the right balance of security, simplicity and features required by smaller organizations.”

“Strong authentication has become a business requirement that is often mandated by regulations which apply to organizations of every size,” said Tom Corn, Chief Strategy Officer for RSA, The Security Division of EMC.  “Building on more than 25 years of innovation and leadership, we’ve engineered the RSA Authentication Manager Express solution to provide enterprise-class identity protection and security while also meeting vital ease of deployment, cost and end-user convenience requirements of SMBs. The solution also demonstrates a compelling model and vision for securing access to web-based applications and resources using smart phones and mobile devices that have become a mainstay for business end-users.”

Easy Transition from Password-only to Strong Authentication

RSAAuthentication Manager Express helps organizations ensure the highest confidence that only approved users are accessing data and applications without inconveniencing them. The solution offers an easy way for organizations – including those that have never deployed multi-factor authentication in their environments – to implement a stronger and more secure alternative to password-only protection within a solution that is easily installed and requires near-zero ongoing management.

Additional benefits:

• Proven technology that can be tailored to an organization’s resource constraints, risk tolerance, and the profile of its users
• Layered approach for added strength of security; is invisible to end-users unless authentication is outside of established policy
• Nothing for end-users to manage making it ideal for employee, partner and client/customer use cases. Seamless integration with leading SSL VPNs and Web Servers requiring minimal IT resources
• Audit capabilities help organizations track what users are accessing to meet changing compliance regulations; canned reports help simplify proving compliance

“By adding an authentication solution based on RSA Authentication Manager Express to our portfolio, we anticipate being able to offer even more valuable services to both existing and new customer bases,” said Richard van der Graaf, Security Consultant, CISSP, at Netherlands-based Vosko Networking B.V., a member of the RSA SecurWorld Partner Program. “In particular, we expect that organizations in the public sector – such as hospitals and local governments – with relatively small user numbers and straight-forward online security requirements, will appreciate the simplicity and ease-of-use of the solution.”

“Most authentication solutions are geared towards the enterprise, but this platform is appliance-based and much more accessible for mid-market organizations,” Morten Ekeroth Stenfeldt, Product Manager & Team Leader, IT Security at Denmark-based Distributor SEC DataCom A/S.  “Being quick and simple to deploy as well, it’s a compelling offering for mid-sized businesses and we look forward to helping our resellers engage with them by providing new security solutions based on RSA Authentication Manager Express.”

“RSA Authentication Manager Express is another great example of RSA innovation that will help us meet strong demand from our mid-market customers for an industry-leading strong authentication solution designed specifically for them,” said Justin Mescher, CTO of Chicago-based Integrated Data Storage Solutions. “RSA’s product is cost-competitive, implements seamlessly into almost any IT environment and is designed to be one of the easiest ways to add another layer of security to resources that require end-user remote access. Coupled with an expanded set of RSA SecurWorld reseller training resources and benefits, we expect RSA Authentication Manager Express will help us drive new interest among mid-market customers that were previously hesitant to consider strong authentication solutions priced and designed for larger enterprises.”

RSA Authentication Manager Express will be generally available in March 2011 through authorized RSA resellers and distributors. More information can be found online at: http://www.rsa.com/node.aspx?id=3843.