NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Paramount Defenses, the world’s #1 cyber security company in the Microsoft Active Directory Security and Privileged Access/User Audit Space announced an initiative to help organizations that use Microsoft Active Directory on-premises as well as in the Cloud, easily and trustworthily fulfill their basic Active Directory security audit needs.
Microsoft Active Directory is the lifeline and foundation of IT and cyber security at over 85% of all organizations worldwide, and one of the world’s most pervasive technologies worldwide today.
Paramount Defenses develops the world’s best Active Directory security and privileged access audit solutions to empower organizations worldwide to obtain both basic cyber security insight as well as advanced privileged access insight into their Microsoft Active Directory deployments.
Its privileged access audit solutions embody unique, innovative,
patented access assessment technology that governs the precise
assessment of effective access in Microsoft Windows and Active Directory
environments.
ACTIVE DIRECTORY IN THE CLOUD
Microsoft’s foray into Cloud Computing and its introduction of Microsoft Azure Active Directory, its multi-tenant cloud based directory and identity management service, as well as Amazon’s foray into offering organizations the ability to run Active Directory as a managed service via Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud, are likely to substantially increase the use of and reliance on Active Directory.
As the world’s use of and reliance on Microsoft Active Directory increases, so does the need to obtain both basic as well as advanced cyber security insight into various aspects of Active Directory security, such as the ability to know exactly who has what effective privileged access in Active Directory.
The company’s unique effective privileged access audit solutions already empower many of the world’s top business and government organizations to fulfill this advanced and paramount cyber security need.
The company’s commitment announced today focuses on helping organizations worldwide that rely on Microsoft Active Directory, both on-premises and in the Cloud, to be able to easily and trustworthily obtain the basic cyber security insight they need into their foundational Active Directory deployments.
Towards this commitment, the company will make available for free, effective immediately, a limited version of its entry-level Microsoft Active Directory Security Audit Software, that all organizations worldwide can use in every Microsoft Active Directory deployment, both on-premises and in the Cloud.
The company also plans to donate, over the next five years, up to $50
Million of its entry-level Microsoft Active Directory Security Audit
Software, measured at fair market value, to non-profit and other
organizations such as K-12 schools, public universities, hospitals and
government agencies across over 100 countries worldwide.
THE NEED FOR TRUSTWORTHY BASIC ACTIVE DIRECTORY CYBER SECURITY INSIGHT
Organizations have a need to be able to not only fulfill basic Active Directory security audit needs, such as the need to assess the state of all user accounts and security groups in Active Directory, but also fulfill advanced privileged access audit needs, such as the need to know exactly how many personnel possess privileged access in the Active Directory.
The company’s cyber intelligence indicates that most organizations have yet to fulfill even these basic needs, and in their attempts to fulfill these basic needs, everyday IT personnel from across the world, including from many of the world’s most prominent business and government organizations, continue to look for free tooling in their attempts to fulfill these needs.
This suggests that the capabilities of native tooling in Active Directory may be insufficient to help easily fulfill even these basic needs, and that many organizations may not have basic cyber security policies in place that disallow the download and use of potentially untrustworthy software in their IT networks.
Consequently, today large numbers of IT personnel around the world may be downloading and using potentially untrustworthy or unreliable free software, the use of which could jeopardize their security.
For instance, an IT enthusiast may make available certain scripts or amateur software, that unbeknownst to him/her may be inaccurate, insufficiently tested or easily modifiable, yet thousands of unsuspecting users, who may not know better, may download and use it and obtain inaccurate insight.
Similarly, a malicious entity such as a hacking group or an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) could develop and make available a seemingly useful yet covertly malicious tool for free online, which when downloaded and run by an unsuspecting user, could grant the malicious entity instant unauthorized access to and privileged access in the organization’s IT environment.
“Law #1 of the 10 Immutable Laws of Security states that if a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore. A corollary of this law is that if you yourself download and run a program possibly written by a bad guy, on your computer, it may not be your computer anymore, and if you’re a privileged user, your network may no longer be your network anymore too,” said Sanjay Tandon, Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Defenses.
The use of potentially untrustworthy or unreliable free tooling can seriously endanger organizational security, yet thousands of organizational IT personnel continue to seek, download and use such tooling.
“The unfortunate problem with most free tooling out there is that there is little to no assurance of it being trustworthy or reliable, and consequently, any reliance on it, and especially its use by privileged IT users could potentially seriously jeopardize organizational security,” he added.
As a mature and disciplined software and cyber security company, Paramount Defenses goes to great lengths to develop highly trustworthy Active Directory audit software for organizations worldwide.
To help all organizations worldwide trustworthily fulfill their basic Active Directory security audit needs, the company has decided to make available a limited version of its trustworthy entry-level Gold Finger Active Directory Security Audit Tool for free, effective immediately.
“We’re happy to empower organizational IT personnel easily and trustworthily fulfill their basic security audit needs, so that they can engage in secure computing practices, and focus their valuable time and resources on addressing more important and urgent security needs, such as the ability to identify and determine exactly how many privileged users exist in their foundational Active Directory deployments today, i.e. how many individuals have the Keys to their Kingdom,” added Mr. Tandon.
Considering that 100% of all major recent cyber security breaches involved the compromise of a single Active Directory privileged user account, the company intends to help organizations progress beyond fulfilling basic cyber security needs, so that they can focus on understanding and addressing advanced, paramount cyber security needs i.e. precisely identifying and minimizing the number of privileged users in their on-premises Active Directory deployments, as well as in Active Directory deployments in the Cloud.
The free version of its Gold Finger Security Audit Tool is now available online for free download at –
http://www.paramountdefenses.com
ABOUT PARAMOUNT DEFENSES
Established in 2006 by former Microsoft Program Manager for Active Directory Security, Paramount Defenses is the world’s #1 cyber security company focused on Microsoft Active Directory Security and Privileged Access/User Audit. Its industry-leading, innovative, patented cyber security solutions uniquely help organizations worldwide audit effective privileged access in Microsoft Active Directory environments, both On-Premises and in the Cloud.
The company’s global customer base spans six continents worldwide and includes many of the world’s most prominent organizations including the United States Government, numerous Fortune 100 companies, financial institutions, defense contractors, Internet, software and technology companies, oil and gas companies, and other organizations worldwide.
Paramount Defenses is a registered trademark and Gold Finger is a trademark of Paramount Defenses. Microsoft, Windows and Active Directory are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
