Novell launches service to secure cloud access

Many firms are worried about transferring their access management systems to the cloud

Infrastructure software firm Novell has expanded its identity and access management offerings with the launch of its Cloud Security Service, which it claims can help enterprise customers maintain a consistent identity and security framework across cloud and on-premise environments.

The Novell Cloud Security Service (NCSS) is targeted at software-, platform-, or infrastructure-as-a-service vendors and could help them to differentiate themselves by offering the ability to control access, monitor activity and provide compliance – all key cloud computing concerns of end user organisations.

“Security is the biggest hindrance to cloud adoption that service providers offering cloud services need to overcome,” said Antonio Piraino, vice president of research, Tier 1 Research.

“The ability to provide interoperable security solutions for and between an enterprise’s internal infrastructure and the cloud provider’s platform will alleviate the biggest assurance, vulnerability and SLA concerns enterprises have today.”

End users can log on directly to the cloud-based service or via their own enterprise identity system, said Novell.

After verifying the user’s identity, the NCSS will generate an identity token in the format required by the cloud provider. Once inside the application, the app connectors that are provided with the service capture deep page-level user activity and provide an audit stream for compliance purposes, explained the firm.

The service currently has several beta deployments and is part of Novell’s strategy to allow firms to manage the identities of their staff across physical, virtual and cloud environments.

“Our goal is to give our customers the ability to take advantage of the economic benefits of cloud computing while also mitigating risk and maintaining compliance,” said Jim Ebzery, Novell’s senior vice president and general manager of security, management and operating platforms.