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Senior Officer- Information Security at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Video and audio logs are there for any activities that the privileged admin carries out
Pros and Cons
  • "It was very easy for us to move this application and database from on-premise to cloud, as well as configure new things, such as load balancing. The product is very compatible."
  • "Video and audio logs are there for any activities that the privileged admin carries out."
  • "For the in-house built applications, they need to provide good, solid access through their portal."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use of the solution is to give privileged access to critical resources, including monitoring and auditability.

How has it helped my organization?

Whatever my scope was, it was covered by the application.

I recently was having an issue with the Office 365 web browser. Therefore, I reported this problem to the ARCON team, and they brought in developers. They made it compatible with the new browser station of Office 365. 

What is most valuable?

The locks, which can be features. You can group various departments to obtain the approval records for workflows. Therefore, it creates a type of automation, and I do not have to manually do everything or configure things.

Video and audio logs are there for any activities that the privileged admin carries out.

What needs improvement?

For the in-house built applications, they need to provide good, solid access through their portal.

Buyer's Guide
ARCON Privileged Access Management
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about ARCON Privileged Access Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
814,763 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been very stable. I have not had an issue with this product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable product.

A year ago, our infrastructure was on-premise. Then, we moved to the cloud infrastructure. Even during that time, it was very easy for us to move this application and database from on-premise to cloud, as well as configure new things, such as load balancing. The product is very compatible.

When we transitioned from our on-premise to the cloud environment, and even during the transition period, we did not face any challenges or any problems with this product. There was just minor tweaking that we had to do with the new features on the cloud, like failover, as well as autoscaling.

How are customer service and support?

Tech support is quite good. They have been right there to help me out. 

Their support details are good. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use a previous access management tool. This product seems to appropriately meet our scope financially, as well as technically, which is why we went for it.

How was the initial setup?

Implementation was very straightforward. 

Implementation may take about half a day, then you have to create your environment. However, this depends upon how many resources that you need to configure through it. If you want to give access and resources to people, then you should have a clear plan for your implementation. For example, which groups should you give access to. These things take about half a day to implement. Then, configuration is about a day. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Product pricing is based on users and connections. We did not have to pay more for additional features.

They do have some licenses, which are required for things like Linux servers. However, in my environment, we do not have Linux servers. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated Densify.

What other advice do I have?

I am satisfied with the application. The scope and specs that we had are met by this product. It is a very good product which is scalable. 

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
it_user864609 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head IT-Security at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Enables provisioning of administrative access, records administrative activities in logs
Pros and Cons
  • "After storing the administrator password in this password vault of the solution, the solution can automatically go and change the password based on the defined frequency with the defined complexity."
  • "It is recording video records for Windows and command-line reports for others, Linux and AIX, of whatever activities being carries by that particular administrator."
  • "One thing which needs improvement is where it is keeping video logs of Windows Servers, whatever activities are being carried out by the administrator. Because Windows logs are a video, they are unsearchable, so if you need to search for a specific administrator and what he has done on a server, right now you need to go through different video logs of that particular timeframe. I think they are coming up with an additional feature where in it can be indexed and can be searchable."

What is our primary use case?

Controlling the privileged access to all the target servers.

What is most valuable?

Provisioning of all administrative access through this solution. The privileged administrators are logging in to the solution using their domain ID and then getting access to the required servers based on their credentials. The administrators do not need to know the actual administrator's password. Otherwise, in an environment if you have N of servers, the administrator needs to know the ID password of each and every server. After implementation of this solution they are all stored in the password vault of this solution.

So in this case, let's say one administrator is managing a hundred servers. He may not know the different passwords of the different servers. That person will log in to this solution using his domain ID and password and he will get access to the servers he is managing. This is a primary use of this particular solution.

And then, after storing this administrator password in this password vault of the solution, the solution can automatically go and change the password based on the defined frequency with the defined complexity.

Additionally, it is recording video records for Windows and command-line reports for others, Linux and AIX, of whatever activities being carries by that particular administrator.

What needs improvement?

One thing which needs improvement is where it is keeping video logs of Windows Servers, whatever activities are being carried out by the administrator. Because Windows logs are a video, they are unsearchable, so if you need to search for a specific administrator and what he has done on a server, right now you need to go through different video logs of that particular timeframe. I think they are coming up with an additional feature where in it can be indexed and can be searchable.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't had any issues with stability.

We have designed a solution such that it has been implemented in both the production as well as the DR environments. Whenever we wanted to upgrade the product to the next version, we upgrade the DR first, then production. And whenever production is being upgraded, the entire access is switched over to DR for all the users. So effectively there is no down time for the end users, the administrators.

The stability of the product becomes very important. Otherwise, if the server in the solution is down, all the administrators lose their access for administration. It has proved its stability over the last five to six years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We never had scalability issues. The primary issue will be storing the logs. The storage is attached to the SAN, so whenever there is a space crunch, in terms of storing the logs, we just increase the SAN storage. That's it. In terms of computer requirements, we never had an issue in terms of performance.

How are customer service and technical support?

We had a little different model altogether. We had their resource on site for our support. We used to talk to the onsite person only. So I wouldn't be a right person to give you feed back on the tech support, as such. But whenever we had to escalate to tech support, there was a good response.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not have a previous solution.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is pretty straightforward, it is normal. There is application server, there's a gateway server and there's a database server. I don't think there is any complexity in that. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product's pricing is good value.

In terms of licensing, go for user-based licensing, without any limit on the target servers.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated different solutions. We evaluated CyberArk and, if I remember correctly, we had evaluated one more Indian product. I don't recollect its name.

Primarily we took the decision to go ahead with ARCON because the criteria for privileged administrative environment as a domain was evolving a lot at that time. It was in 2012. We felt that they offered many customizations, anything which was required that was specific to the customer's environment. They offered that customization to us. And they have come up with a number of customizations, and a number of good features over that period of time. With CyberArk, we didn't have that much flexibility in terms of customizing the product.

What other advice do I have?

Obviously your administrators should participate in the decision to buy this product, because they will have to go through the solution to access any server or any device on which they wish to do administration. At times, initially, it may seem to people who are doing administration that their flexibility is removed. You have to make them aware that the solution brings them flexibility in terms of not remembering the passwords of many servers; when they have a number of servers to be administered, they write down the passwords. Those issues are taken away.

It also provides a lot of security to the administrator himself. He can also review what commands fired, what commands did not fire.

The solution was suited for the purpose when we evaluated it, and it has also evolved to meet the different needs, additional needs. I think it's continuing to evolve.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
ARCON Privileged Access Management
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about ARCON Privileged Access Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
814,763 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user831819 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Manager at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Interaction between the servers and the client is recorded, which is helpful for analysis
Pros and Cons
  • "The entire conversation that is happening between the servers and the client is recorded. It is a good feature if you want to do some analysis, and for investigation."

    What is our primary use case?

    Used for server access management.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It has all the features that we require. In this regard I cannot tell you much other than that this solution is good for us, and we have been using it for a long time.

    What is most valuable?

    The most important feature is to know who is accessing the servers, the entire conversation that is happening between the servers and the client is recorded. It is a good feature if you want to do some analysis, and for investigation. So it is helpful to us.

    What needs improvement?

    I can't think of anything because the features which we require, it has everything that we need. So I cannot tell you much about the improvements required for this product. We are using all the features, and it is good to have.

    The only thing is, while the product is good, they could do something on the support side. Support is quite good, but some improvements are required because the time to resolve is four hours. If they could reduce that to two hours, that would be good for us.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    There has been no problem.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No issues with scalability.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is good, whenever we have issues they will resolve the issue, so the support is good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup is not complicated because we implemented it in a single virtual platform, and using that console we integrated all the server platform for access, and directed user privileges. We provided users with a single sign-on.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The pricing works for us. Comparatively, this software's pricing is good.

    What other advice do I have?

    We have suggested to other operations that they test this product. We have always spoken well about this product.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Consultant (e-Governance) Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance at Bangladesh Computer Council
    Real User
    Auto-discovery, access control, and privilege management are valuable features of this tool

    What is our primary use case?

    • Multi-user, multi-OS, multi-database, and multi-hardware platforms
    • Cisco, Huawei, IBM, HP, Dell, etc.
    • Lots of networking equipment including F5 Networks.

    How has it helped my organization?

    • It helps in managing privileged access management as well as password management.
    • Auto-discovery
    • Access control.

    What is most valuable?

    • Auto-discovery
    • Access control
    • Privilege management
    • Security controls
    • Identity discovery
    • Usage of privileged accounts
    • Time of sessions and monitoring of sessions.

    What needs improvement?

    • Security
    • Access management
    • Illegal activity finding.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Still implementing.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Good.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Good.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    No.

    How was the initial setup?

    Good.

    What about the implementation team?

    Yes.

    What was our ROI?

    It's not yet calculated.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    No.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    No.

    What other advice do I have?

    No.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Data Entry Specialist at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Good security with an easy initial setup and good stability
    Pros and Cons
    • "The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not complex at all."
    • "The solution needs more work on the password management side of things. Password management is a big challenge for us, and I would like to improve this aspect. We're finding that BeyondTrust is better in this regard, which is why we're probably going to migrate over. It will offer better security I think."

    What is our primary use case?

    We prefer not to talk about our use cases for security reasons.

    What is most valuable?

    Overall, aside from the lack of password management, this solution is the best. It's a very good product.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution needs more work on the password management side of things. Password management is a big challenge for us, and I would like to improve this aspect. We're finding that BeyondTrust is better in this regard, which is why we're probably going to migrate over. It will offer better security I think.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been working with the solution for the past two and a half years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability is really good on this solution. This product is really amazing. But in terms of our security, password management is a little bit of a worry for us. Security-wise, we need to change the password frequently. This product only has options for changing the password once a week, every two weeks, two days, or three days. Our recommendation is whenever users want to access the target server, they have to, every time, change the password. So this option is not available currently and it's a weak point.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable, but the security level doesn't increase. That might be an issue for larger companies and continues to be an issue for us. Still, we consider it to be a very good product.

    We use this product quite extensively and on a daily basis.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We've made contact with the technical support team on multiple occasions. We even reached out about increasing the password security protocols as an added feature and they said they would consider it, however not much has changed there. They said they were going to release it as a new feature in the next release. That never happened. It's the reason we're looking at another product. It would have been great if they actually responded to their client's needs a bit more.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not complex at all.

    We handle every aspect of the solution, from deployment and troubleshooting all the way through to managing and accounting. I personally have an administrator-level certification so I know personally how to handle the implementation of the solution and how to work everything in the background.

    Deployment takes a maximum of two hours. It's not a long process.

    What about the implementation team?

    We were able to implement the solution in-house using our own team. we didn't require the assistance of any integrators, resellers or consultants.

    What other advice do I have?

    We're customers; we don't have any relationship with the business. We're not a reseller or anything like that. We just use the product.

    Currently, we're using the solution. However, it's our intention to migrate to BeyondTrust in the near future.

    Currently, we are using the latest version of the solution.

    I'd like new users to know that the deployment really is quite straightforward, and it's easy to manage and troubleshoot. It's simple to restore the database within minutes if necessary as well. There are some great features that are available on the solution that makes it a worthwhile addition to a business. For us, security remains a concern, and password management is lacking. If an organization shares those concerns, this may not be the perfect solution for them.

    Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user974139 - PeerSpot reviewer
    it_user974139Advisory Consultant at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User

    Customer is thinking to migrate to Beyond Trust!!! 

    it_user826695 - PeerSpot reviewer
    IT and Infosec Professional
    Real User
    Video logs help us to identify any misuse of privileged accounts
    Pros and Cons
    • "The video logs help us to identify any misuse of privileged accounts."
    • "We expect improvement in the dashboards to provide visibility of password compliance status, whenever a password is opened from the vault. Also, flexibility to customize the live dashboard."
    • "We would like to see support for privileged accounts used in web-based systems like Blue Coat Secure Web Gateway, VMware ESXI management tools, etc."

    How has it helped my organization?

    This product has helped us to protect privileged accounts and comply with password policies for privileged accounts. The video logs help us to identify any misuse of privileged accounts.

    What is most valuable?

    • Integrated dual factor authentication using mobile app
    • Single sign-on
    • Password vault
    • Video recording

    What needs improvement?

    We expect improvement in the dashboards to provide visibility of password compliance status, whenever a password is opened from the vault. Also, flexibility to customize the live dashboard. 

    We would also like to see support for privileged accounts used in web-based systems like Blue Coat Secure Web Gateway, VMware ESXI management tools, etc.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Less than one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We faced one issue where video logs were not opening from all systems. The issue was solved after a version upgrade.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We found the product is scalable if we provide the recommended hardware by the vendor.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We have not had any issue with support. Support personnel are available whenever support is required.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We did not use any other solution.

    How was the initial setup?

    Initial setup is straightforward and it can easily integrate with OS, database, network devices, etc., without the need for any connectors.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The product is available with competitive pricing. Licensing is not complex. We calculated the license requirements by counting the number of admins and the number of devices which were going to integrate with it.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We evaluated Iraje and CyberArk.

    What other advice do I have?

    Every organization has a different environment, so do a thorough evaluation for different connection channels it supports like RDP, SSH, Telnet, web browsers, etc.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    IT Infrastructure Management at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
    Real User
    Enables us to meet regulatory and auditing requirements

    What is our primary use case?

    We use it for privileged access management for our production environment. We use it to record all of the changes that take place in our entire environment. That is the main function because there is a lot of compliance that we need to meet. It helps us meet those requirements.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Initially, we did not have any record of the production changes, what was been taking place in our infrastructure and environment. To work on this, we got in touch with ARCON. After the implementation, we were able to make changes and record all of the changes, either in the GUI mode or the command mode. This helps us to build on the changes that take place.

    What is most valuable?

    Because we are a financial institution, the compliance aspect is the most important for us. Using this ARCON product, we are able to leverage the compliance and auditing to meet the regulatory information and share it when we are required to.

    What needs improvement?

    The product is good but a lot of things can be changed, the way the system has been designed. All the access levels have currently been provisioned so a little more effort could be put into it to have a more friendly environment and user experience. The management portal could be a more friendly environment wherein I could deploy with fewer management resources from my side. We have been requesting from the ARCON team to have fewer management activities.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's a really good, secure system. It meets all the requirements. We have a high-availability environment so even if the system goes down, we always have the backup available. Functionality-wise, the cluster setup means the product has HA capabilities.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We've had problems along the way but they were not major. The product support team has been very good. There was an issue with functionality within the product, which, as a technical team, we were not able to resolve. With the help of the product vendor, we were able to resolve it.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We did not have a previous solution. We were looking in the market for a product but we couldn't find one that met our requirements. ARCON provided a product that was able to meet the requirements and that's why we went with it.

    How was the initial setup?

    Initially, because it was a new product for us, it was a bit difficult for everybody to understand the product. But since we've been using it for quite a long time, even the new features, the new screens, that have been deployed in the latest versions, are very user-friendly. It's not that difficult for the users to understand.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The product's pricing is a good value. We haven't had any issues with licensing.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We went through a few of the other products which were available but, as I mentioned, they did not meet all our requirements. In the end, we evaluated this particular product and chose to go live with it in our environment.

    What other advice do I have?

    It's a go-ahead for any organization that is looking to meet their compliance and audit requirements. This is a very good product to go with for getting your work done.

    It meets most of the requirements we have. I did not give it a nine out of 10 because there are still more requests that I am looking to have fulfilled, changes to be implemented in a new version. These would make the product more stable, as well as a better product on the market.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user822438 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Windows System Engineer
    Real User
    Eases network admin by logging changes securely, but needs support for more browsers
    Pros and Cons
    • "Logging, particularly screen recording for Windows RDP sessions. Also, command-logging for SSH sessions. This really helps us to see what commands/changes have been executed in a particular service at a given point of time, and by whom."
    • "The product is browser dependent. As of now, it only works on Internet Explorer from the client side. Admins cannot use any other browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.) to access the client manager online."

    How has it helped my organization?

    Provides a secure way of accessing the critical services in our organization, with a lot of auditing features built in. It really helps in daily system/network administration tasks by logging the changes executed, in a secured and reliable way.

    What is most valuable?

    Logging, particularly screen recording for Windows RDP sessions. Also, command-logging for SSH sessions. This really helps us to see what commands/changes have been executed in a particular service at a given point of time, and by whom.

    What needs improvement?

    The product is browser dependent. As of now, it only works on Internet Explorer from the client side. The product should not be browser dependent and should be compatible with all the modern browsers. Admins cannot use any other browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.) to access the client manager online, and have to stick with IE for accessing the services.

    Most people are either Chrome users or Firefox users. For them, I have to convince them to use IE.

    This has been communicated to the company some time ago. They said this is already under development, to make the product work in the other browsers.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    No issues with stability.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No issues with scalability.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Good. They are fine. They respond quickly whenever I put a ticket. Almost all the tickets I've created, I've gotten a pretty quick response. I cannot pinpoint any single instance, but almost all the tickets, whenever I have a problem, they have been good on the other side, and they are very happy to assist us. We are happy with that.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We have never used a PAM solution before. ARCON is the first of its kind in our organization.

    How was the initial setup?

    Setup was straightforward.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Pricing is reasonable.

    What other advice do I have?

    ARCOS is a powerful, stable, and reasonable product for anyone looking for a PAM solution.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free ARCON Privileged Access Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: November 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free ARCON Privileged Access Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.