What are the five dimensions to securing machine identities with Akeyless?

Akeyless secures machine identities across hybrid multi-cloud environments by focusing on five key dimensions: Centralized Control (consistent access policies and orchestration), Automation (automatic secrets injection and lifecycle management), Governance (oversight with dynamic and Just-in-Time secrets), DevOps Compatibility (user-friendly interface and broad tool integrations), and Zero Trust Implementation (Zero Knowledge encryption, Vaultless® technology, and Distributed Fragments Cryptography). These dimensions help organizations combat secret sprawl, minimize standing privileges, and reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

What core problems does Akeyless solve for organizations?

Akeyless addresses several critical challenges: the Secret Zero Problem (secure authentication without storing initial access credentials), legacy secrets management inefficiencies, secrets sprawl, excessive standing privileges, high operational costs, and complex integrations. Its Universal Identity, Zero Trust Access, automated credential rotation, and cloud-native SaaS platform help organizations centralize secrets management, automate security processes, and reduce maintenance overhead.

What key features does Akeyless offer for secrets management and machine identity security?

Akeyless provides Vaultless Architecture, Universal Identity, Zero Trust Access, automated credential rotation, centralized secrets management, out-of-the-box integrations (AWS IAM, Azure AD, Jenkins, Kubernetes, Terraform), and a cloud-native SaaS platform. These features enable secure, scalable, and efficient management of secrets and machine identities across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Does Akeyless support automation for secrets lifecycle management?

Yes, Akeyless automates the entire lifecycle of secrets, including creation, storage, rotation, and revocation. It enables automatic injection of secrets into workloads and supports dynamic and Just-in-Time credentials, minimizing the risk of longstanding privileges.

How does Akeyless integrate with DevOps tools and workflows?

Akeyless offers a user-friendly interface and standardized workflows for secrets injection into workloads. It integrates seamlessly with CI/CD, configuration management, and container orchestration tools, supporting developers' choice of tools and enabling secure, efficient machine identity management.

Does Akeyless provide an API for integration and automation?

Yes, Akeyless provides a comprehensive API for its platform, supporting secure interactions for both human and machine identities. API documentation and guides are available at docs.akeyless.io/docs.

What security and compliance certifications does Akeyless hold?

Akeyless is certified for ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, FIPS 140-2, PCI DSS, and CSA STAR. These certifications demonstrate robust security and regulatory compliance for industries such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure.

How does Akeyless protect sensitive data and secrets?

Akeyless uses patented encryption technologies, including Zero Knowledge encryption, Vaultless® technology, and Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC™), to secure data in transit and at rest. These technologies ensure that sensitive information remains fragmented and encrypted, preventing unauthorized access and reducing the attack surface.

Does Akeyless support audit and reporting for compliance?

Yes, Akeyless provides audit and reporting tools that track every secret, ensuring audit readiness and compliance with regulatory requirements. The platform integrates with centralized log analyzers for event correlation and automated actions.

Who can benefit from using Akeyless?

Akeyless is designed for IT security professionals, DevOps engineers, compliance officers, and platform engineers across industries such as technology, finance, retail, manufacturing, and cloud infrastructure. Organizations needing secure, scalable secrets management and machine identity security can benefit from Akeyless.

What business impact can customers expect from using Akeyless?

Customers can expect enhanced security, operational efficiency, cost savings (up to 70% reduction in maintenance and provisioning time), scalability for multi-cloud environments, improved compliance, and increased employee productivity. These benefits are supported by customer case studies and testimonials.

Can you share specific case studies or customer success stories?

Yes, Akeyless has helped companies like Constant Contact, Cimpress, Progress, and Wix achieve scalable secrets management, enhanced security, and significant operational savings. For example, Progress saved 70% of maintenance and provisioning time, and Cimpress transitioned from Hashi Vault to Akeyless for seamless integration and improved security.

What feedback have customers given about the ease of use of Akeyless?

Customers have praised Akeyless for its user-friendly design and seamless integration. For example, Conor Mancone (Cimpress) noted, 'We set Akeyless up 9 months ago and we haven’t had to worry about credential rotation or leakage. It’s been a really smooth, really easy process.' Shai Ganny (Wix) highlighted the simplicity and operational confidence provided by Akeyless.

How does Akeyless compare to HashiCorp Vault?

Akeyless offers a Vaultless Architecture, eliminating the need for heavy infrastructure and reducing costs and complexity. Its SaaS-based deployment provides scalability and flexibility for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, with advanced security features like Zero Trust Access and automated credential rotation. HashiCorp Vault is self-hosted and requires more operational overhead.

How does Akeyless compare to AWS Secrets Manager?

Akeyless supports hybrid and multi-cloud environments, provides better integration across diverse environments, and offers advanced features like Universal Identity and Zero Trust Access. AWS Secrets Manager is limited to AWS environments. Akeyless also offers significant cost savings with a pay-as-you-go pricing model.

How does Akeyless compare to CyberArk Conjur?

Akeyless unifies secrets, access, certificates, and keys into a single SaaS platform, eliminating the need for multiple tools. It offers advanced security measures like Zero Trust Access and Vaultless Architecture, reducing operational complexity and costs compared to traditional PAM solutions.

What technical documentation is available for Akeyless?

Akeyless provides extensive technical documentation, including platform overview, password management, Kubernetes secrets management, AWS target integration, PKI-as-a-Service, and more. These resources offer step-by-step instructions for effective implementation. Access documentation at docs.akeyless.io and tutorials at tutorials.akeyless.io/docs.

How long does it take to implement Akeyless and how easy is it to start?

Akeyless can be deployed in just a few days due to its SaaS-native architecture, requiring no infrastructure management. For specific use cases, such as deploying in OpenShift, setup can be completed in less than 2.5 minutes. Self-guided product tours, platform demos, tutorials, and 24/7 support are available to help users get started quickly.

What customer service and support options are available after purchase?

Akeyless offers 24/7 customer support via ticket submission, email (support@akeyless.io), and Slack channel. Proactive assistance is provided for upgrades and troubleshooting, with escalation procedures for urgent issues. Technical documentation and tutorials are available for self-service support.

What training and technical support is available to help customers get started?

Akeyless provides self-guided product tours, platform demos, tutorials, and comprehensive technical documentation. 24/7 support and a Slack channel are available for troubleshooting and guidance. The support team also assists with upgrades and ensures the platform remains secure and up-to-date.

How does Akeyless handle maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting?

Akeyless provides 24/7 support for maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting. The support team proactively assists with upgrades and ensures the platform remains secure and operational. Extensive technical documentation and tutorials are available for self-service troubleshooting.

Which industries are represented in Akeyless's case studies?

Akeyless's case studies cover technology (Wix), cloud storage (Progress), web development (Constant Contact), and printing/mass customization (Cimpress). These examples demonstrate Akeyless's versatility across diverse sectors.

Who are some of Akeyless's notable customers?

Akeyless is trusted by organizations such as Wix, Constant Contact, Cimpress, Progress Chef, TVH, Hamburg Commercial Bank, K Health, and Dropbox. These customers represent a range of industries and use cases.

5 Dimensions to Securing Machine Identities

Posted by Anne-Marie Avalon
January 10, 2023

Securing Machine Identities in a Hybrid Multi-cloud Environment

The rapid development and adoption of hybrid multi-cloud environments coupled with advances in DevOps processes have triggered a significant expansion of machine identities, encompassing both workloads and devices. These machines routinely connect to various microservices to bolster their functionalities. To ensure secure machine-to-machine interactions, machine identities rely on secrets like credentials, certificates, and keys for authentication and data flow security. Therefore, it’s no wonder that the exponential rise of machine identities coincides with an increasing number of secrets. Read on to learn 5 Dimensions to Securing Machine Identities.

Machine identities diverge from human identities in one key aspect – their ephemeral nature. They can power on or off based on demand fluctuations, operating on any platform or geographical location. Hence, machine identities require access to a plethora of secrets, which must be securely orchestrated as needed. This article examines five ways a secrets management solution like Akeyless can reinforce machine identity security.

1. Centralized Control

Machine identities, scattered across hybrid multi-cloud environments, necessitate consistent access policies regardless of the cloud platform they operate on. Akeyless ensures this centralized policy configuration and enforcement, thereby averting security blind spots that could arise from inconsistent access policies.

Akeyless’ secrets orchestration solution combats secret sprawl by offering secure storage and orchestration of secrets across diverse business units and developer teams.

2. Automation

Machine identities are highly dynamic and are auto-orchestrated as part of DevOps processes. Akeyless facilitates the automatic injection of required secrets into workloads, thereby ensuring uninterrupted operations. It also automates the lifecycle management of secrets, from creation to storage, rotation, and eventual revocation.

By leveraging Akeyless’ centralized secrets lifecycle management solution, businesses can ensure automated operations across their entire hybrid multicloud infrastructure.

3. Governance

With Akeyless, security teams can maintain oversight of secrets’ storage and usage. Akeyless resolves tracking issues associated with static secrets by offering dynamic or Just-in-Time (JIT) secrets. These temporary credentials, customized for the connecting identity, minimize the risk of longstanding privileges.

Akeyless’ secrets management solution offers seamless integration with centralized log analyzers, enabling security teams and engineers to correlate events and take automated actions when necessary.

4. DevOps Compatibility

Akeyless provides a user-friendly interface for DevOps teams, allowing them to securely and efficiently manage machine identities. It also offers a simple and standardized workflow for secrets injection into the workload.

Akeyless’ platform accommodates numerous tools for CI/CD, Configuration Management, and Container Orchestration, thereby ensuring developers aren’t limited in their choice of tools.

5. Implementing Zero Trust

Akeyless supports the Zero Trust model, which dictates that no access request, whether from inside or outside the network, should be trusted by default. By using Akeyless, businesses can easily transition to an environment with zero standing privileges, using JIT secrets that are generated on-demand and revoked shortly after use.

In addition, Akeyless employs a Zero Knowledge approach with its revolutionary Vaultless® technology and Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC™). These technologies ensure that the user’s sensitive data remains fragmented and encrypted, preventing unauthorized access and significantly reducing the attack surface.

According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, mismanagement of machine identities could cost businesses over $52 billion annually. But with Akeyless, organizations can stay ahead of threats and protect their machine identities effectively.

For instance, Akeyless has a proven track record of aiding multinational corporations. These firms achieved a 70% reduction in time spent managing secrets, and observed a significant decrease in the number of security incidents, thanks to Akeyless’ secrets management solution.

Moreover, by leveraging Akeyless’ Vaultless® technology and DFC™, businesses can eliminate the need for a traditional vault-based storage system, thereby minimizing the risk of unauthorized data access.