Thanks to SafeNet Trusted Access, Itancia secures remote access to its Information Systems

The organization

Itancia, an eco-responsible group specializing in communication, collaboration, network and enterprise security technologies, has been supporting its reseller partners, integrators and operators for more than 30 years in the adoption of responsible practices thanks to tailor-made solutions & services, at most right
balance between technology, economy and ecology. This international group employs 550 people around the world.

The challenges

Due to COVID 19, Itancia’s IT department had been facing increased employee mobility with more than a third of employees accessing IT resources remotely.

It therefore decided to strengthen the level of security on remote access to the company’s internal network with multi-factor authentication.

The solution

Itancia Technology, Itancia Group’s distribution arm, markets cybersecurity products including SafeNet Trusted Access, Thales’s cloud-based access management and authentication solution. Itancia teams have already deployed the Thales solution with several Itancia customers and Itancia IT team started testing it for internal Itancia use.

The deployment

Itancia’s deputy CISO carried out a month of testing to verify the correct integration of the solution with the company’s user base and VPN, and to validate that the authentication methods were well suited to the different types of users.

He finally decided to deploy SafeNet Trusted Access for multi-factor authentication, in addition to the passwords already in use.

All employees equipped with company mobile phones use the SafeNet Mobile PASS+ mobile application as a second factor; users approve a notification received on their mobile and confirm their identity with a PIN or fingerprint. Employees not equipped with a company phone use a Thales “OTP 110” physical token: by pressing a button, the user generates a temporary code and enters it into the VPN connection page.

After the test phase, the Itancia team set up the service very quickly in ten days.

The deployment to all 450 remote users, spread over seven countries, was done gradually, over four months:
– An initial communication on the project and the interest of multi-factor authentication was necessary.
– Then IT Department scheduled the enrollment email sending.
– Users with company mobile phones easily activated the SafeNet MobilePASS+ authenticator app after receiving the email.
– Local IT team distributed the physical tokens in each branch; users activated the token from the received email.
– After a phase of monitoring activations and chasing latecomers, the IT department made the MFA mandatory for all users who connect to the VPN.

The results

1. Higher Protection against phishing attacks thanks to MFA activated for all remote users.

2. Employees benefit from a convenient user experience with easy-to-use activation methods.

3. Controlled deployment and maintenance costs thanks to a SaaS services and an all-inone license (physical tokens are included).

4. A scalable solution: other resources can be protected very easily with SafeNet Trusted Access (SaaS or on premise applications, workstations etc.); Users can use the same authentication method and at no additional cost for the business.

In a Nutshell

Challenge

Protect remote access to internal applications.

Solution

• SafeNet Trusted Access deployed to 450 employees
• SafeNet Trusted Access deployed to 450 employees
• SafeNet OTP 110 token for the others

Results

• Protection against phishing-type cyberattacks
• User adherence to easy-to-use authentication methods

About Thales Access Management and Authentication Solutions

Thales’s industry-leading Access Management and Authentication solutions let enterprises centrally manage and secure access to enterprise IT, web and cloud-based applications.

Utilizing policy based SSO and universal authentication methods, enterprises can effectively prevent breaches, migrate to the cloud securely and simplify regulatory compliance.

About Thales

The people you rely on to protect your privacy rely on Thales to protect their data.
When it comes to data security, organizations are faced with an increasing number of decisive moments.
Whether the moment is building an encryption strategy, moving to the cloud, or meeting compliance mandates, you can rely on Thales to secure your digital transformation.

Decisive technology for decisive moments.

About Itancia

An eco-responsible group specializing in communication, collaboration, network and enterprise security technologies, Itancia has been supporting its reseller partners, integrators and operators for more than 30 years in the adoption of responsible practices thanks to tailor-made solutions & services, as accurately as possible balanced between technology, economy and ecology.

The group relies on three pillars of complementary activities, the mastery and combination of which offer unique advantages on the market:

• Itancia Technology: group distribution activity, Itancia Technology selects and offers innovative technological solutions adapted to each customer need with more than 90 leading brands in their markets

• Itancia Factory: the group’s services and consulting activity, Itancia Factory offers tailor-made services around technical, logistical and industrial expertise, upstream and downstream of technology park management projects

• Itancia Again: an activity with an ecological and historic mission for the group, Itancia Again controls and renews the life cycle of products while supporting companies in reducing their environmental impact

Itancia is thus committed to its customers in all the life cycles of their project with virtuous solutions that combine innovation and preservation of the planet.

The group of French origin today has an international influence with nine subsidiaries in Europe, Africa and the USA, and achieves a turnover of 220M€ in 2021 with a growth of 50% over the last 5 years. From Maine et Loire to New York, our 550 employees work daily to serve our customers with a view to performance, team spirit and respect for the environment, which are Itancia’s three strong values.

Certifications: ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, 50001, CSR ISO 26000, Qualiopi & Ecovadis 2021 gold medalist.

Trophies: 2021 gold winner of the SEC Summit of Growth Companies in the Retail & Consumer Goods category & best CSR initiative.