When a United Nations health agency improved its COVID pandemic communication and rapid response with an Encora cloud-based application, it exemplified how global organizations across multiple sectors rely on
Encora to deliver life-changing solutions.
Maintaining trust and confidence with customers, including Fortune 500 organizations, is a critical strategy for Encora. The business has put in place several security policies and tools to ensure customer, employee and
business data are protected against today’s most challenging cyber threats. “Encora is very aggressive in keeping two steps ahead to align with best security practices to surpass the client’s expectations and provide a secure
development environment,” said Krish Anand, CIO, Encora.
Lack of Visibility and Control
There was one area, PAM, where Encora needed to do more. Encora had been using standard antivirus technology. However, accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the cyber threat landscape changed so much and so
fast over the last few years, that solutions once deemed sufficient no longer offered the level of protection required. The volume and sophistication of attacks had become far more challenging.
One of Encora’s major problems was the lack of visibility and control over privileged access. This led Encora to launch a detailed search for an effective privileged access management solution based on three critical parameters:
maximum technical adaptability to the Encora environment; support ecosystem; and customization agility. Of the three shortlisted vendors, CyberArk gained maximum points on all three criteria. In choosing CyberArk,
Encora relied on several different validation sources such as Gartner, CyberArk’s reputation and market position, and advisors from the wider Encora group.
“I build up a lot of trust in a solution when I see that it actually does what it promises to do,” commented Krish. “And that is certainly the case with CyberArk. There are two stand-out features of CyberArk. The first is the solution takes away the burden and worry of the privileged access process from users and secondly, the ability to record a session for compliance and improving processes.”
Exceptional Service and Support
Encora selected CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and CyberArk Endpoint Privilege Manager on a self-hosted subscription model. Privileged Access Manager has been deployed to around 4,200 of Encora’s users comprising IT
staff, business owners and development operations teams. Endpoint Privilege Manager is being rolled out and when complete, will take the total number of CyberArk users to 5,000 across Windows, Apple and Linux systems. Privileged Access Manager took around six weeks to deploy and Endpoint Privilege Manager is expected to take two months. Leveraging the CyberArk Blueprint framework, Encora took a phased approach to the deployment because the first priority was gaining control of changes on elevated privileged accounts. Once that was achieved with Privileged Access Manager, then Encora began to mature its processes by improving Identity Security controls, adaptative multifactor authentication, endpoint LCD and secure remote access. Encora is starting to use Endpoint Privilege Manager to support its Zero Trust cybersecurity strategy.
“CyberArk’s advice and consultancy before the purchase and the company’s support during implementation have been exceptional,” stated Krish. “And since then, CyberArk has been in regular contact with us tracking and following up on the solution deployment.”
Improved Compliance and Auditing
While CyberArk has helped Encora save time and money, the most important benefits are effective privileged access management and the ability to provide a clear audit trail to meet compliance regulations. For example, Encora has an internal and external auditing program designed to meet ISO standards for information security certified by BSI. Encora can run reports in CyberArk and give them to internal and external auditors. Previously, this was done manually, often with auditors sitting at a computer with a member of the Encora IT team, walking them through the process.
“CyberArk has enabled Encora to streamline the privileged access management process. When we designed our Zero Trust strategy, having a strong solution like CyberArk is key. We may not use all the features all the time, but it certainly makes for a resilient and robust solution,” asserted Krish. By improving privileged access management, and automating password and authentication processes, Encora is saving time and increasing productivity. CyberArk also enables Encora to establish consistent security practices across the whole organization.