Introduction
Composites manufacturer Molded Fiber Glass Companies (MFG) regularly contracts with an external consulting firm to conduct audits of its internal systems and procedures to ensure safety, security, and regulatory and financial compliance. During recent audits, the company has been told that it needs to better secure its existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) application against unauthorized access. Unfortunately for the IT team, the code base for the application had been purchased and customized years ago -- before widespread adoption of secure password protection for such applications.
So the company was faced with a dilemma: how do you quickly and affordably secure a single application that wasn't designed with security in mind? Through a fortuitous COMDEX tradeshow visit, the company found its answer: SAFLINK.
Composite Innovation
MFG is a pioneer in the use of fiberglass composites, and was actually the first company to use fiberglass-reinforced plastic resins (FRP) in commercial products. The industry's watershed event took place in 1953, when MFG worked with General Motors to turn the automotive industry on its ear with the introduction of a new FRP-bodied car called the Corvette. Shortly thereafter, MFG successfully moved this same technology into the boating world. Over the intervening years the company has grown to 12 divisions, spread across the country, that produce everything from lunch trays and shower stalls to truck bodies and building components.
Along the way, the company adopted an ERP application and customized it heavily to help manage its many product lines and business interests. Unfortunately, the application was not designed with tight security in mind, and while it had some limited group logon capabilities, there were none of the secure password or other authentication mechanisms required for today's mission-critical business and financial applications. The audit team rightly viewed this as a significant liability, and strongly recommended that it be corrected. This presented a challenge for the IT team, as they would need to have the ERP application code rewritten to include a secure access system -- which, of course, would require a considerable investment of time and resources.
At this point, a member of the IT team happened upon SAFLINK's booth at the COMDEX tradeshow. An hour and a half later, the company knew it had found its solution.
Application Security
SAFLINK offers software solutions that provide Identity Assurance Management™, allowing administrators to verify the identity of users and control their access to computer networks, physical facilities, applications, manufacturing process control systems, and time and attendance systems. As a result, companies can better protect their intellectual property, secure information assets, and eliminate passwords.
"When we found SAFLINK's solution, it was very exciting for us," noted John O'Neill, Sr, the corporate director of information technology for Molded Fiber Glass. "We were familiar with the concept of biometrics from a general security perspective, but we certainly didn't realize that we could use the technology to overcome the security limitation of a specific application."
While MFG's objective was merely to meet current business and IT security standards for its ERP software, they quickly recognized that SAFLINK's biometrics-based technology would allow them to actually surpass current standards, and do so very quickly and cost effectively. SAFLINK provided the company with a software development kit for its technology, and MFG set about integrating the secure authentication into the ERP system.
"I can't say enough about the ease of integration with the SDK -- it went off without a hitch," said O'Neill. "We had a working model in two to three days, and most of that time was just reviewing the various parameters, API calls, coding conventions, etc. And SAFLINK support was beyond merely helpful, sending us sample code and working with us every step of the way."
MFG found SAFLINK's solution to be truly unique in the market, thanks to the company's strong focus on software and network integration. "There are many biometric hardware products, but while those are important, they're really just details," commented O'Neill. "The important thing is looking at the overall picture -- understanding how to implement a security solution across an entire organization without increasing directory management, administrative overhead, and network resources. SAFLINK recognizes this, and as a result is expert at leveraging the technology a company already has in place to achieve the required security solution."
MFG was able to roll out the secure authentication addition to its Microsoft Active Directory in an afternoon, and plans deployment to the company's multiple divisions over the coming months. Moreover, MFG is now looking beyond the ERP application and planning to leverage SAFLINK's solution for general network and Microsoft Windows security and authentication. "I'm eager to tighten security and ease sign-on companywide, especially if I don't have to increase IT overhead and try to force users to memorize 12-character alphanumeric passwords," said O'Neill. MFG is even considering adopting SAFLINK's biometric authentication for automated time and attendance tracking.
"The thing that really endeared SAFLINK to us was their downright willingness to work and support us at all costs," concluded O'Neill. "We have truly found ourselves a business partner, and are actively discussing new ways we can use the company's solutions to improve security and ease access and administration."
