SafeNet Offers Migration Package for RSA SecurID Customers

SafeNet has unveiled migration bundles to provide organizations with a full-fledged authentication platform as an alternative to what they currently have deployed.

SafeNet's trusted authentication system is flexible enough to support enterprises regardless of whether they want to deploy hardware or software tokens, smart cards or even mobile devices, the company said April 13. SafeNet offers “self-controlled authentication” products where organizations determine how the data is secured.

The new packages are designed to simplify the migration from existing authentication platforms where the vendor takes care of authentication to SafeNet's flexible platform where the customer owns the entire process, Tsion Gonen, corporate vice president of products and marketing at SafeNet, told eWEEK. The enterprise has the “ultimate control,” he said.

“Recent data breach headlines highlight the importance of data protection. Anyone can be hacked,” Gonen said.

Ever since RSA Security's Executive Chairman Art Coviello disclosed on March 17 that attackers had successfully breached the company's networks and stole information related to the company's SecurID two-factor authentication technology, customers have been worried about the security of their SecurID deployments.

Even though SecurID used tokens—either hardware or software—to generate one-time passwords, it doesn't necessarily mean customers no longer trust tokens, Gonen said. Instead of telling customers that one type of security authentication is better than another, SafeNet is offering a unified platform that can handle whatever mechanism the customer prefers.

SafeNet's migration path may seem attractive to RSA customers in comparison with other competitors precisely because of its flexibility. Customers receive a single management platform, a range of choices in terms of how authentication is delivered and programmable tokens as part of the SafeNet bundle.  “Brokering” functionality helps move security modules from the legacy system.

Gonen didn't consider SafeNet's move as taking advantage of RSA's difficulties, but rather seizing the opportunity to let customers know about the kind of options there are in the marketplace.

SafeNet works primarily with the channel, so customers would work with the partner to determine which bundle fits their needs. There are optional migration planning and implementation services to help with the migration process, Gonen said.

Gonen didn't specify pricing as it depends on multiple factors, he said.

Customers can even decide to migrate only a portion of their existing system, Gonen said. They can maintain the legacy platform in some parts of the organization and use the same authentication mechanism for the SafeNet platform.

Assuming that the attackers stole the seed values used to generate the one-time passwords on the SecurID tokens, a number of security experts have speculated that RSA customers will need to replace all deployed hardware tokens to prevent attackers from using the seed values to break into secure networks.

Avivah Litan, a distinguished analyst at Gartner, has estimated that it will cost RSA about $1.30 a SecurID token to replace all 40 million hardware tokens that have been deployed. The total $52 million price tag includes the direct expenses of creating the new token as well as indirect ones such as shipping the token and providing customer support, Litan told eWEEK.