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Breaking News - Security:

RSA Announces Marriage Of ID Federation, Strong Authentication

RSA Security Inc announced the integration between the RSA SecurID two-factor authentication solution and the new RSA Federated Identity Manager. The one-of-a-kind interoperability between these two technologies immediately enables enterprises to bring new levels of security and trust to business initiatives involving federated identity.

"Identity federation opens up a wealth of new business opportunities," said Howard Schmidt, former cyber security advisor at the White House, and former CSO of Microsoft, currently serving as CSO at eBay. "However, fully realizing this potential requires trust in the validity of the digital identities of the partners with whom you are conducting online business. Strong authentication is a critically important component of successful identity federation systems, particularly ones where high value transactions are executed. Standalone, enterprise-class federation solutions make tremendous sense for organizations that need to exchange trusted identities today and evolve to meet their business needs tomorrow, all based on recognized industry standards."

The integration of RSA Security's strong authentication and federated identity management solutions has immediate applicability to a wide range of scenarios. Enterprises that have deployed the RSA SecurID solution can leverage their existing investment by integrating it with RSA Federated Identity Manager. This enables those enterprises to begin the secure exchange of digital identities with business partners to ensure confidence when conducting high value transactions online.

Additionally, organizations wishing to launch federated identity systems can implement the integrated offering from RSA Security to increase the overall security of the system by enhancing the trustworthiness of the digital identities that they exchange with their partners. Finally, individuals who have historically carried multiple security tokens in order to authenticate to different applications within or across domains can now carry a single token that will be recognized by multiple RSA ACE/Server software installations that are linked with RSA Federated Identity Manager, thereby simplifying the overall authentication process.

"Identity federation is emerging as one of the most exciting and fastest growing segments of the identity and access management market," said Jason Lewis, vice president of product management and marketing at RSA Security. "Without strong authentication, federated systems are more vulnerable to attack and fraud. RSA Security's leadership in both strong authentication and federated identity management is a unique combination in the industry that will significantly accelerate the successful deployment of, and benefits from, federated identity networks."