Knorr-Bremse Group Strong Authentication Case Study
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The Knorr-Bremse Group, a leading manufacturer of braking systems, sought a secure remote access solution to enhance user authentication and system access while transitioning from a competitor's solution. They selected SafeNet's eToken system for its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, which allowed for seamless migration to certificate-based authentication. The implementation was quick, with successful integration into existing IT infrastructure, ensuring high availability and improved user management.
Knorr-Bremse Group Strong Authentication Case Study
- 1. Knorr-Bremse Group CASE STUDY Background The Knorr-Bremse Group, based in Munich, Germany, is the world’s Business Need and Challenges leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial Knorr-Bremse was seeking a secure remote access solution that vehicles. With thousands of users spread over the organization’s would enable one device per user strong authentication to their global operations, secure access to the company’s systems is existing Check Point IPSec VPN solution and Citrix applications. essential. They also wished to add support for a new SSL-VPN portal that utilized X.509 certificates, integrated with their Microsoft Certificate The company was using a competitor solution for their remote access Authority (MS CA) PKI solution. In addition, the company wanted a but wished to replace it with a more efficient solution that would solution that enabled installation of the backend in a virtualized enable them to expand to certificate-based (PKI) authentication with environment (VMWare ESX). ease in the future. Ably supported by Computacenter, Europe’s leading IT infrastructure “eToken’s market-leading innovation and flexiblity services provider, Knorr-Bremse evaluated a variety of solutions. covered our current needs without restrictin Impressed by SafeNet’s (Aladdin) broad range of authentication options, and attractive TCO, the decision to choose the eToken upcoming new authentication methods such as solution was unanimous. digital certificates” As the company was using a competitor solution, they required a Alireza Sha-Esmaeili deployment that would enable parallel use of the old solution while Senior Architect Corporate Network Security migrating to the new eToken solution. Knorr-Bremse Group Case Study 1
- 2. Solution Benefits The Solution: eToken authenticators and eToken TMS • Rapid ROI – eToken saves thousands of Euros a year, especially After evaluating various solutions, Knorr-Bremse selected when compared to the previous solution which used a hardware SafeNet’s eToken solution which consisted of the Token token with a built-in end of life. Management System (TMS), eToken PASS and eToken PRO • Enhanced productivity –high availability and worldwide authenticators. In a short pilot phase, the IT department tested redundancy ensures Quality of Service 24/7. interfaces to other systems and basic functionality. • User self-service – users can easily manage their own tokens, significantly reducing the number of help desk calls and limiting Confident of success, Knorr-Bremse insisted that the proof employee downtime. of concept (POC) be carried out on production servers at • Flexibility to evolve – eToken TMS ensures seamless migration headquarters. During the initial POC deployment, eToken TMS was from an OTP only to a combined OTP and certificate-based (PKI) easily integrated with the existing certification authority (MS CA), strong authentication solution without investing in additional enabling both the first stage roll out of eToken PASS for OTP-based backend support. authentication and eToken PRO for future use of certificate-based • Ease of use – The administration and help desk staff were authentication. trained “on the job” with ease. Users have responded positively SafeNet (Aladdin) products are designed according to industry to the new authenticators and to the TMS Self Service Website, standards, and this enabled quick and easy integration into the especially the remote capabilities which were not offered by the existing User-Repository (Microsoft Active Directory), RADIUS company’s previous solution. servers and authentication processes. Based on the success of the POC, the actual deployment for HQ and the EMEA region was About SafeNet implemented within 15 days, and the entire project took less than Founded in 1983, SafeNet is a global leader in information security. three months. SafeNet protects its customers’ most valuable assets, including identities, transactions, communications, data, and software As a global organization, Knorr-Bremse required a high availability licensing, throughout the data lifecycle. More than 25,000 customers solution that would enable redundancy worldwide. Computacenter across both commercial enterprises and government agencies, and in ensured the high availability of the system by supporting the over 100 countries, trust their information security needs to SafeNet. installation of the Backend in a virtualized environment (VMWare ESX) and installing two additional redundancy systems in APAC About Knorr-Bremse Group and NAFTA to grant high availability and failover functionality The Knorr-Bremse Group, based in Munich, Germany, is the world’s as well as 24/7 internal helpdesk. Utilizing a single database leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial for all three TMS Systems, including several RADIUS Servers vehicles. For more than 100 years now the company has pioneered the and dedicated configurations on the authentication systems development, production and marketing of state-of-the-art braking (Checkpoint, Citrix, Juniper) in case of downtime in one location, systems. Other lines of business include automatic door systems, rail the failover functionality using one of the two remaining sites can vehicle air conditioning systems and torsional vibration dampers for be realized very quick and easily. internal combustion engines. To enable ease of management, the service, helpdesk and administration has been set up so that every team is able to About Computacenter manage their regions, groups, users and tokens with the necessary Computacenter is Europe’s leading multi-vendor IT infrastructure rights and duties. The Computacenter team provided “on the services provider. To us, customer proximity means understanding job” training to administrators and helpdesk staff during the business requirements and reacting to these in a precise manner. installation and rollout of the pilot group. An intuitive web interface On this basis, we develop, implement and operate tailor-made has made the rollout and management within the helpdesk IT solutions for our customers. We evaluate the benefits of new processes simple and effective. technologies and swiftly and professionally integrate these into existing IT environments. “eToken TMS’ intuitive web-based self service was a winning factor in our decision-making process.” Alireza Sha-Esmaeili Senior Architect Corporate Network Security. 2009 SC Magazine Network Product Guide’s 2009 WindowSecurity.com “Best Buy” 5-Star Rating Best in Tokens Reader’s Choice 1st Runner Up Contact Us: For all office locations and contact information, please visit www.safenet-inc.com Follow Us: www.safenet-inc.com/connected ©2011 SafeNet, Inc. All rights reserved. SafeNet and SafeNet logo are registered trademarks of SafeNet. All other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. CS (EN)-03.07.11 Knorr-Bremse Group Case Study 2