Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 4, 2016 – Dell today announced that its newest Identity and Access Management solution, Dell One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords, is available in Malaysia through Dell Security channel partners.
Dell One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords
Dell Security is helping partners identify a significant customer opportunity by complementing and expanding their current network security portfolio so organizations of all sizes, especially small- and medium-sized businesses, get access to a complete suite of security solutions from one source. This is a natural extension of channel partners’ security portfolio, as it can help further secure Dell SonicWALL next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) by locking down the privileged passwords associated with them.
This is the first time Dell Security has offered an identity and access management solution through its channel partners at the initial product launch, further establishing a partner-led selling model across Dell Security solutions. It’s also the first of many strategic announcements planned from Dell Security in the coming months to build out the connected security ecosystem.
Managing privileged passwords is often time-consuming and cumbersome, and can lead to a security breach if done incorrectly. With a user-friendly interface, Dell One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords goes beyond other industry offerings to deliver a simple installation and administration process through an unmatched, pre-hardened appliance that provides locked-down support to protect organizations from risk during installation and ongoing operation.
This interface soon will become the single console for managing all Dell privileged management solutions, enabling simple, effective administration and reporting on privileged access to maximize productivity and accelerate ROI.
Control and secure privileged accounts, alleviate risks, and ease overall management
Small and medium-sized businesses that need identity and access management solutions to complement and strengthen their security postures now can add Dell One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords to the best-in-class network security offerings available through Dell Security channel partners. It includes the following new features:
Automates and secures the process of granting administrators the credentials necessary to perform their duties. Ensures that when administrators require elevated access for shared and privileged credentials, it’s granted according to established policy.
Simplifies installation and administration with a user-friendly interface for managing privileged accounts that enables users to securely gain access to the credential they need from almost any device, anywhere.
Provides a single, modular architecture that soon will serve as the launching point for all Dell privileged management solutions, including session management and monitoring, delegation, and AD bridging.
Includes numerous self-protection features at the hardware, system software, and application software layers that lock down access to the solution, making it resistant to attacks while simplifying installation and ongoing management.
Benefits
Increases security
Satisfies audit demands by eliminating the sharing of privileged accounts
Increases IT efficiency and decreases privileged user frustration by streamlining access
Delivers individual accountability for shared account access
Deploys easily as a secure, scalable, purpose-built appliance
Reduces the effort in providing access reports for your next audit
Features
Intuitive user interface — Designed to support business goals and maximize productivity, Safeguard’s intuitive multi-device interface accelerates user adoption and simplifies privilegedaccount management.
Secure appliance — Safeguard is delivered as a secure-hardened appliance that can only be accessed via a secure, role-based web interface, which eliminates concern about — and reduces effort — installing and securing access to the software itself. Because it does not have a console port or a console-level interface, it is protected from host-admin attacks, as well as database, OS or other systemlevel modifications. Its internal firewall protects against external-networkbased attacks and provides additional auditing capabilities.
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Release control — Manages password requests from authorized users for the accounts they are entitled to access, via a secure web browser connection with support for mobile devices. A password request can be automatically approved or require one or more additional approvals depending on the policy you set.
Change control — Supports configurable, granular change control of shared credentials, including time-based, last-use-based, and manual or forced change.
Favorites — Quickly access passwords that you use most-often use from the Favorites function on the login screen.
Secure password storage — Encrypts all stored privileged account passwords using AES 256-bit encryption. The appliance also includes full-disk encryption using BitLocker™ Drive Encryption.
Robust target support — Manages shared credentials on a wide range of target servers, network devices and applications.
Responsive Design — Supports password request, approval and retrieval via handheld devices.
Multilanguage support — Administrator interface supports localization through available language packs.
RBAC — Numerous admin-level roles enable granular delegation and workflows along with leastprivileged access.
Enterprise-ready integration — With several integration points, you can leverage existing investments.
Active Directory — Intelligent algorithms enable synchronization with Active Directory.
RESTful API — Quick and easy integration with most application development languages.
SIEM — All activities are outputted via syslog so they can easily be interpreted and alerted on by SIEM solutions.
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More often then not I get asked what are some of the must-have Mac OS X apps by friends and family members who’s just got their hands on their first Mac. So much so that I had taken the effort to put them up in an article listing exactly that. With the recent release of OS X El Capitan, it’s time for a refresh of my top apps recommendation for the Mac platform again.
I’ve previously written a similar article back on my own blog site in 2013 when OS X 11 was released. In this article, I’ve now refine the list to a set of top 5 apps and the rest in a secondary list. This is by no means that apps are not as great but instead are ones that would depend on personal preference if you need such apps or not. Just as an example, as great Affinity Photo is, not everyone needs a powerful alternative to Apple’s own Photo app.
Ok. enough of this chit-chat. Let’s jump straight into the top 5 apps that you need to have.
Top 5 Must-Have Mac OS X Apps
1. Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X 14
Even when I work in a predominantly Mac user workplace, I still need to deal with a lot of NTFS-formatted external storages. More so if you work in an environment that’s largely Windows dominated. And as you would probably already discovered, OS X by default can only read NTFS formatted drives and not write into it.
Thankfully, the good folks at Paragon Software provides us with an implementation of NTFS support for OS X. The latest version 14 provides full NTFS features and supports the latest OS X El Capitan. This alone makes it the top of the must-have Mac OS X apps list. Paragon Software has also made the installation process a lot easier on this latest release, making it simpler for non-techies to install it.
I’ve been using Paragon Software NTFS for Mac OS X for a long time and it’s really stable! And I would also say that this is a software that’s pretty much mandatory for anyone with a Mac, unless of course you exclusively only work on OS X.
With all the password hacks going around the web, it is time everyone starts using stronger passwords for all your online accounts. Not just a single strong password being re-used, but a unique strong passwords for each online account you have. And if that is to be, then you would need to use a password manager to help you remember all those passwords, unless of course you are one of those unique individual who can simply just remember everything. I’m surely am not, and therefore swears by the use of 1Password for this specific use!
When it comes to password management, 1Password is really in a league of its own. What I like most about 1Password is it’s ability to not just store and manage passwords well, but it’s ability to seamlessly sync the stored passwords across all your iDevices (iPad, iPhones and iPod Touch) via iCloud or Dropbox, as long as you also have the 1Password app on your device. It also stores not just passwords, but also credit card numbers (which is really helpful for all your online shopping needs), software license keys, accounts, and much more!
Generate strong passwords for your logins
And on the latest version of 1Password, it has a mini interface that is accessible with a quick shortcut key that allows you to quickly search the information you need and immediately copy it into the clipboard and allowing you to paste it where you need it to be.
[adrotate banner=”4″]Before, you would only be limited to the browser plugin that helps you automatically login with the stored user id and password, or opening up the full application to gain access to the secured information.
You can even create multiple vaults to be shared across different team or family members for those accounts that are meant to be shared, while keeping your own personal logins accessible just to yourself.
$49.99 and $17.99 may seem steep for an OS X and iOS app, but this amount worth spending so to allow you to start managing (and strengthening) all your online accounts. Getting your password hacked is far more annoying and potentially a costlier affair too!
Alfred is one of the few utility apps that I can’t live without now on my Mac. Essentially, it’s a search utility, working pretty much like Spotlight of OS X. However, it does it in a far more elegant way. It also provides you with the quickest way to launch applications. Find out more about what Alfred can do for you here. The basic version of Alfred is available free on the Mac App Store or from their website as well, which makes it a real no brainer to have it installed on your Mac.
Effortless search with Alfred
But I highly recommend using Alfred with its Powerpack which only costs you £15 as the extra features is really worth the cost! One of the greatest features that the Powerpack includes is the ability to create global shortcut keys that allows you to launch not just apps but also to open a commonly used folder, activate an AppleScript, run system commands, and much more. It also provides a quick file system navigator that’s really handy in many situations.
Extend Alfred with Workflows!
In addition to that, the Powerpack also enables the ability for you to create workflows! You can find many cool examples of the use of Alfred Workflows here. Personally, I use it as a replacement to bash scripts that executes or starts up servers which I would have to do on the terminal.
Starts up a web server and opens up the browser all with a quick keyword
Personally, I think Airmail is the OS X mail app that should have been. I’ve used Airmail from the very early days of its beta releases and now that the app is officially released on the Mac App Store, I’m highly recommending it to anyone who has looked out for an alternative to the default Mail app, especially if your email is based on Google Mail. Airmail is built from ground up to support Gmail natively.
What’s really great about Airmail is its highly responsive interface. It also have a very intuitive user interface which most mail apps have come to adopt since. One thing I like most about Airmail is its awesome support for multiple email accounts, support for a multitude of email services, including support for Exchange, IMAP, POP3, Gmail, Google Apps, iCloud™, Yahoo!, AOL, Outlook.com, Live.com and many other providers with IMAP or POP3 support.
Also, Airmail’s iOS app is on the way and when it is released, it would likely be the first mail app that supports the iOS and OS X Handoff feature.
Uninstalling applications on the Mac is really easy. Unlike Windows which requires an uninstaller to do the job right, on the Mac, you simple would just delete the application. It’s that simple! However, it still does leave some traces on your Mac, in the form of settings and configuration files. If you plan to reinstall the application later on and would like to have all the settings and configurations intact, then that’s fine. However, if you like to wipe it all clean, then AppCleaner does exactly that for you with just a simple drag and drop.
I would basically keep AppCleaner on my dock and simply drag and drop any applications I like to removed on the AppCleaner icon on the dock. The other options is to simple open up AppCleaner, click on Applications (or Widgets or Others) and search for the app in question and then click on “Search”, confirm that you want to delete the app and its related files, then delete them,
As I’ve mentioned earlier, these 5 apps are must haves and I would recommend them to anyone who’s on the OS X platform. The total amount so far is about US$120 (US$97.92 + £15 which is roughly $23.00).
The rest of the must-have Mac OS X Apps
These next set of apps are really great to haves depending on how you use your Mac and the work that you do with it. I’ve decided not to put it up as top apps as not everyone needs to use these apps if there’s no need for it. Read on to find out more about them and see if you too have a need for them as I do.
6. Scroll Reverser
If you use both a mouse with a scroll wheel and the TrackPad with OS X’s natural scrolling direction, Scroll Reverser is the tool for you. The screenshot below shows the exact settings I’m using, specifically to keep using natural scrolling on the trackpad and maintain the expected scrolling direction for mouse’s scroll wheel.
Natural on the Trackpad and “normal” on the mouse scroll wheel
If you find OS X’s Finder lacking, consider trying out PathFinder 7. I’ve written a pretty comprehensive review of PathFinder 7 here in comparison to OS X Yosemite’s Finder. But even when compared with Finder in OS X El Capitan, the points I made in the review is still valid and I continue to use PathFinder 7 today.
8 customisable modules in both the bottom and right shelf
I won’t go deep into the features of PathFinder that makes it my choice of Finder replacement here on this article but here’s a summary of it.
File Operations Queue
Dual-pane view
Bookmarks and Favourites
Configurable Shelves
Highly customisable and a whole bunch of features like…[adrotate banner=”4″]
Calculate file checksums with MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA-1, SHA224, SHA-256, SHA384, and SHA-512
Built-in hex editor
Built-in image editor
Archive files and folders with zip, gzip, bzip, dmg, Stuff, tar, and more
Ability to quickly get the dimensions of an image file and copy the dimensions into the clipboard as the following text: width=”###” height=”###”
If you need a good photo editor that has all the key features you look out for in Adobe Photoshop, but does not really need something as powerful as Photoshop, then Affinity Photo is the editor for you. First thing first, Affinity Photo is REALLY fast. It really is something that you have to use to believe how fluid the controls are. But more importantly, Affinity Photo provides most of the familiar features and capabilities as Photoshop, the industry benchmark for a professional photo editor app.
Affinity Photo also includes a pretty powerful RAW Processing capabilities as well which is very similar to Adobe’s Lightroom. I’ve not yer personally explored the RAW Persona deeply as I continue to use Adobe’s Lightroom for RAW development. But in my limited use of it, I find it as functional as one would expect from a RAW processing app. However, it does lack the rich support for camera color profiles and lens profiles as Adobe has. And because of that, I would likely continue to use Lightroom to develop my RAW files and then edit them in Affinity for post-processing.
Develop your RAW photos with Affinity Photo’s RAW Persona
If you have MacBook with limited SSD storage space, that means you’re more likely to fill it up faster as well. This is where an app like DaisyDisk is really handy.
As you can see form the screenshot, DaisyDisk presents your storage usage in a beautiful flower-like graph which acts as the intuitive visual map of your disk. It also doubles up as an interactive interface where you can discover what’s taking up all that storage space while allowing you to also select and remote the files within the app itself.
So if you find yourself to be running out of space on your Mac, DaisyDisk is the app to use to figure out what you can remove to gain back the space you need.
Just as my recommendation for DaisyDisk, If you use a Mac with limited SSD storage space, any apps that helps you figure out how you can free up files that you don’t need anymore would be very helpful. And with Gemini, it does exactly that by searching your storage for duplicate files.
Gemini does it really fast and elegantly. Due to my highly collaborating work environment where I share a lot of files with my colleagues, there’s bound to be files that are duplicated pretty much all over my MacBook’s storage. Gemini has been a really great tool in helping me find all those duplicated files and allowing me to decide if I would want to delete them. I’ve so far been able to remove about 10+GB worth of storage wastage.
If you use the terminal and work on the command line a lot, then I highly recommend using iTerm 2 as the replacement of OS X’s Terminal. Just check out this list of advanced features of iTerm 2 here and you’ll never go back to Terminal. Trust me.
For all the paranoid in you, Little Snitch is a great app that helps you protect your Mac from the outside world. How it works is quite interesting as it essentially is an anti-firewall, protecting not what’s incoming to your Mac, but what’s going out from your Mac to the Internet. And in some ways, this protects you better than just using a firewall as Little Snitch will prompt you every time an app requires to sent anything out to the Internet, unless you’ve already allowed it to do so permanently.
You can find out more about Little Snitch here. But if you are as paranoid as I am about what’s getting out of your Mac, Little Snitch is a great tool to help you keep that in check.
