NW_20000601_en_Info Security, June 1, 2000_ "Net Gain"
As I look more and more at the subject of Internet/network security, some recurring themes have become apparent, and they will not go away. The first is simplicity of implementation and use in a small enterprise. The second is ease of maintenance and management where resources and expertise are in short supply, and the third is complexity, i.e. the subject of computer security itself is complex enough, so can the products give us some peace of mind, and not scare us away, please?
...Recommended award...
VACMAN Programmer has taken token authentication to an almost enjoyable level. Every aspect of its configuration, right down to the tiniest detail on each user’s Digipass, is driven by intuitive menus, tabs and selection criteria, and management is for the entire life cycle of the Digipass, where reprogramming rather than re-ordering is the prevailing practice.
VACMAN Programmer 1.1
VASCO Data Security
Price on application
(630) 932-8844
[email protected]
www.vasco.com
For
Excellent system for managing large groups of token users individually or in batches; very well designed and truly easy to use and manage.
Against
Procedures not well described in the user manual.
Verdict
Suitable for immediate use in-house if you want to support VASCO Digipass technology on your network yourself, or for vendors, who can use it to support their customers with a full programming service.
Resulting in a two-factor challenge-response authentication and digital signature system that incorporates handheld Digipass devices, the purpose of VACMAN Programmer, is to make the management of Digipass 300 and 700 fast, easy and convenient for its entire life cycle. This is facilitated by an integrated database with full query support for viewing, finding, deleting, freeing and assigning serial numbers, and because a Digipass can be continuously re-programmed and re-initialized, the need to order new ones is cut down considerably.
VACMAN Programmer has three main functions: initialization and management of Digipass; allocation of Digipass to users; and creation and management of parameter sets, which are necessary for each Digipass to work properly. All actions pertaining to the above tasks are performed through a simple user interface screen.
The use of the VACMAN Programmer is protected by Digipass identification (DP300). For a 45-day trial period, a demo Digipass is provided, ready initialized with demo information that may be used to launch any VACMAN Programmer software during the trial period. Once registration is complete, though, a specific Digipass comes with License Information, which is initialized with the corresponding License and cannot be used to launch any other VACMAN Programmer software. Each time Digipass administrators launch VACMAN Programmer they are confronted with an access control screen giving a challenge code, which they key into the Digipass. Only when the response code generated by the Digipass is entered on the screen will they gain access to the application.
To gain access to a company's computer system, the user must have a Digipass and a secret PIN code, which when entered will result in the generation of a dynamic password. This enables the computer system to authenticate users, authorize their access and use this information to create ongoing accounting reports about system usage. The Digipass Administrator's screen has a grid at the bottom that permanently displays token database statistics in real-time. It is actually a counter that gives, for example, the total number of Digipass in the database, as well as the number of free, initialized, defective and assigned Digipass. Parameters are used to program each Digipass or batch of Digipass, while a batch is a group of Digipass that share a common parameter set. Batch is used to initialize or export a large quantity of Digipass quickly and easily. Every aspect of configuration, right down to the tiniest detail on each user's Digipass, is driven by intuitive menus, tabs and selection criteria.