What you will learn
- KDDI Digital Security Inc. now delivering passwordless MFA services to enterprise customers
- New capabilities for passwordless desktop SSO for on-prem and legacy password apps
- Passwordless MFA for standalone legacy apps with database ACL
Passwordless desktop SSO for SaaS and on-prem legacy apps
We’ve been saying it for years: An enterprise isn’t secure (or ‘Zero Trust’) until all workers can log into all applications without ever entering passwords. KDDI Digital Security Inc., a subsidiary of KDDI Corporation, one of Japan’s largest telecommunications and IT managed services providers (MSPs), agrees and did something innovative about it for their business customers.
KDDI Digital Security recently began using the passwordless authentication platform from Secret Double Octopus (SDO)to roll out a complete, high-assurance passwordless MFA service for all workforce applications – including the line-of-business (LOB) apps and services that don’t employ SAML-based approaches to conduct authentication. KDDI needed a solution that would deliver strong authentication — one that verifies identity beyond a reasonable doubt to single sign-on (SSO) SaaS apps and to on-prem and legacy LOB password apps.
For that, they needed a passwordless MFA that would include customers’ core systems and workflows that are not SAML-compatible and that use either federated directories or standalone databases access control list (ACL) to complete authentication.
The missing piece of the passwordless puzzle, desktop SSO for legacy apps
The industry buzz around ‘modernization’ and digital transformation mostly centers around online resources and transactions, but research shows most enterprises still rely on apps that aren’t tied to the Web, SaaS, or even Windows-based systems. In fact, for the average KDDI Digital Security’s customer, up to one-third of their core business systems run on-premises including self-managed vendor apps and custom LOB services.
“The larger the enterprise, the more likely they are to maintain or run custom or legacy systems on-premises,” says Kenji Ookoshi, Deputy Division Director of Creation Of the Security & Safety Division at KDDI Digital Security. “The Octopus platform from SDO offers the only solution on the market that extends passwordless login to applications built on password authentication, without redesign. The ability to eliminate passwords while logging into applications that don’t use SAML authentication to verify identity represents the missing piece of the passwordless puzzle that we need to prevent phishing.”
Learn more about KDDI Digital Security at https://www.kddi-dsec.com/.
Zero Trust identity strategies and world-class IT service
By building its Passwordless MFA service around the Octopus, KDDI Digital Security can offer a full passwordless solution that secures Mac and Linux-based workstations, legacy and custom applications, and other systems containing privileged data they choose not to expose to the cloud.
“Our enterprise customers just log into their desktops, remotely or at the office, and enjoy the same simple, efficient passwordless login for all work applications, without having to take extra steps to access legacy or custom systems,” says Kenji Ookoshi. “They use one unified workflow for SaaS and line-of-business systems – all without ever remembering or typing passwords that can be phished, lost, or stolen.”
The ability to create a secure unified user login makes KDDI’s customers safer without inconveniencing users, or customers’ IT professionals the way competing MFA solutions do. Best of all, workers enjoy the same easy login workflow they enjoy with web or SaaS SSO, but now for all their password-based apps, too.
Key takeaways
- Octopus delivers passwordless desktop SSO for SaaS web apps and on-prem legacy apps
- Difficult to modernize standalone apps with DB ACL can now go passwordless without redesign