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Access Control with ConsoleWorks

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Privileged Interactive Access utilizes multiple approaches to control access to managed devices. Each approach focuses more precisely, giving greater and finer controllability down to the keystroke security.

Authentication – With ConsoleWorks, there are two non-exclusive ways to use authentication to control access:

  • User-to-ConsoleWorks authentication
  • ConsoleWorks-to-Asset authentication

Role-based Privileges – The ConsoleWorks privileges model enables the ability to associate privileges with roles, rather than with specific users, freeing you to associate these privileged roles with multiple users as needed. The ConsoleWorks privileges model provides access with sublime granularity.

Command Control – provides authority over what a user can do with an asset. Some users may be granted unfettered access, or controls can be placed on every character typed and every command.

 

See Resources for More Information

Managing Privileged Access with ConsoleWorks

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ConsoleWorks is an enterprise-level privileged access portal that monitors, manages, logs, remediates, reports, and secures physical (routers, switches, servers, etc.), logical (SANs and applications, for example), and virtual infrastructure at the lowest level, in all machine states, including operating, service, configuration, and maintenance modes.

ConsoleWorks Privileged Interactive Access functionality provides the foundation for security and operations to the automation and integration platform.  Once ConsoleWorks has knowledge of the various devices, it basically has the ability to take the place of a human in performing many of the mundane functions that may be required.

In addition to the fundamental Access features built into the core product, having access enables ConsoleWorks to perform Asset and Configuration Monitoring more comprehensively versus today’s manual processes. Once ConsoleWorks has access, it performs automated Endpoint Password Management on IT or OT assets.  It aggregates any and all log files to provide true Situational Awareness by interlacing those logs, line-by-line and applying a common time stamp.

Finally, with the robust Asset and Configuration Monitoring, ConsoleWorks Patch Gap Analysis has the configuration information retrieved directly from each device – the most accurate source of the information.

Privileged Interactive Access is the power that drives the integrated functionality of the ConsoleWorks platform.

Instead of putting agents on your systems, ConsoleWorks uses a unique blend of connectors, centralized web servers, and out-of-band technologies to implement a robust, high availability, lights-out management solution. ConsoleWorks is designed to minimize operational disruption and mean-time-to-repair, and includes the following features:

  • Agentless Monitoring
  • Log Aggregation
  • Audit & Compliance Reporting
  • Session management
  • Command Control
  • Event Management

For more information on managing privileged access with ConsoleWorks, download: Secure Interactive Access NERC CIP -005

Related Posts:

Persistent Monitoring and Management with ConsoleWorks

 

 

End-to-End Monitoring & Management with ConsoleWorks

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ConsoleWorks acts in a multi-dimensional fashion by monitoring not only the applications but also the servers, virtual machines, networks, and storage devices that run them. It provides managers and administrators with an end-to-end management solution that controls system access, monitors and manages all log files, and watches for specific events that may occur across the Enterprise.

And it does all of this in real-time and in all machine states – power on, single user, maintenance, production, and failure modes. This persistent connection also locks down the “back door” entrances that are overlooked by similar, agent-based solutions.

The end-to-end view provided by ConsoleWorks helps administrators understand why something went wrong and quickly determine and implement the resolution. During that process, ConsoleWorks captures the exact steps used by an experienced administrator to remediate an issue and stores it in the knowledge base for future reference.

ConsoleWorks achieves end-to-end monitoring and management with the following capabilities:

  • Secure Access Management
  • Event Correlation
  • Log File Aggregation
  • Keystroke Logging & Best Practices
  • Proof of Compliance

ConsoleWorks automates the collection, comparison, alert/notification and auditing of any changes to configuration baselines, eliminating the majority of human errors and minimizing the impact of intentional or unintentional erroneous activity.

ConsoleWorks has the ability to speak multiple protocols (including serial), gaining access to and then collecting the inventory is a fundamental capability of the product.  ConsoleWorks does this without adding an Agent to the endpoint, which is a requirement in the ICS environment since many of these devices are purpose-built and cannot have other vendor software installed on it.

ConsoleWorks can be configured to monitor many items including:

  • Functional settings that determine how the asset operates
  • Versions of software currently installed including BIOS, firmware, operating system, applications, etc.
  • Patches, including security patches that are installed
  • Ports that are active and how they are configured
  • Services that are enabled
  • Accounts
  • Configuration Files

Configuration Monitoring Datasheet

Configuration Monitoring NERC CIP 010

Closed Loop Remediation with ConsoleWorks

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Closed Loop Remediation – The ability to monitor, log, remediate, and secure physical and virtual infrastructure in all machine states; power on, single user, maintenance, production, and failure.

ConsoleWorks allows privileged users to perform their daily work while it works behind the scenes to monitor and respond to Events and changes to devices and applications.

Event detection is accomplished by using the pre-defined event patterns from each application or infrastructure vendor and mapping, in real-time, the information received to the vendor messages. With ConsoleWorks Intelligent Event Modules (IEMs), messages are matched using a number of techniques, including case sensitivity, wildcards, and regular expressions. The activity leading up to the event pattern match, and everything after it, is logged down to the keystroke.

When an Event is detected, it is checked for level of severity and to see whether an Event with the same name is already active or if an activity is currently outstanding. The Event can be configured to trigger one or more Actions that can notify personnel, integrate with applications such as trouble ticket systems or help desk solutions, or take customized actions that meet a client’s specific needs.

When a problem is detected, ConsoleWorks provides the user with a consistent way to interface with the IT infrastructure to solve the problem while capturing the process, commands, and method used to remediate the Event.

 

Flexibility of Enterprise-Wide Integration

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In the most comprehensive implementations, ConsoleWorks is the single pane of glass for managing and helping to integrate the foundation of the IT enterprise.

ConsoleWorks has an enormous amount of flexibility for managing the standard IT hardware devices and applications, and also enabling less common devices to be brought under the same management environment through its integration capabilities.

ConsoleWorks provides a number of methods that enable the product to be adapted to the specific IT enterprise requirements for the day-to-day security and management of hardware, virtual machines, and applications.

All of these advanced capabilities help to integrate ConsoleWorks into the tools, processes, and requirements of our customers rather than forcing our customers’ processes to work with the product. Some of these capabilities relate to:

  • Intelligent Event Modules (IEMs)
  • Controlled Automation
  • Command Control
  • Expect-Lite Routines
  • Actions
  • Tags

See the Resources Page for More Information

Improved Security Capabilities in ConsoleWorks

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Security expectations and requirements are a reality for every business. Here at TDi Technologies, our software engineers work hard to ensure that ConsoleWorks meets or exceeds all of the security needs of our customers and prospects.

Since the release of ConsoleWorks Version 4.6 last year, we’ve introduced a number of changes to ConsoleWorks:

  • Improved security of CWClient (CWterm) when used in Actions by improving the Authorization method.
  • Reduced vulnerabilities between the server and User Interface and between the server and monitored devices by staying current with SSL and SSH security patches.
  • Added visibility within the User Interface of last successful login and any failed login attempts.
  • Allowed administrators to set the minimum password length to as long as 32 characters.
  • Added a new Windows Event Forwarder (WEF) that uses an encrypted and authenticated connection between the server and Windows systems rather than the unencrypted syslog connection of the past.
  • Added new password security controls to meet US Government and other requirements: Inactive Password Expiration, Minimum Time Between Password Changes, and Login Lockout after a specified number of failed login attempts.

TDi Technologies uses industry standard development methods including required coding reviews to ensure that new software vulnerabilities are not introduced during the development process. They monitor many sources of information concerning software vulnerabilities and attacks and act to change ConsoleWorks when the need arises.

Requests and inquiries concerning security and ConsoleWorks are given every consideration and almost always result in changes that meet our customers’ needs, especially when related to security standards such as NIST, SOX, NERC CIP, and HIPAA.

 

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