The IT support function for Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, a small team, needed to provide assistance in a quick, efficient, and secure way. They faced issues with providing support to remote staff that were connecting to the network from home via VPN, particularly on smart devices such as tablets. There was no mechanism in place to support these users, without having them return on-site to the Trust with their device to have their issue addressed. For many remote workers, some of whom were working long distances from the Trust, this just wasn’t a practical solution. A further problem was having the ability to accommodate third parties or contractors who required access to the Trust’s network. It was essential that Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust maintained absolute control and oversight of third party access, only granting entry to the necessary systems and data.

AMOCO Federal Credit Union, a regulated financial services organization, had the ongoing responsibility to ensure the security and integrity of the organization’s network, systems, and data. The Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) department had been using Bomgar Remote Support with an on-premises appliance deployment for several years. However, they saw the need to heighten the organization’s security even more. They needed a solution that could provide robust control over individual privileged user actions and fully control the rights given to internal users.

NHS Greater Manchester Shared Services (GMSS) is a large healthcare support service provider in the United Kingdom. They work with 12 regional clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) serving a population of 2.8 million. Their clients include CCGs, local authorities, over 600 healthcare providers, and other public and private sector bodies, primarily across the Greater Manchester region in the UK. The organization was in need of a solution that was both flexible and secure, as they handle large volumes of sensitive patient data every day. The solution needed to be highly configurable to meet their specific support needs, without compromising on strong security.

ANATEL, Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency, was using Microsoft’s Lync collaboration and instant messaging application for remote desktop support. However, when ANATEL refreshed its workstation fleet in 2014, they needed a more robust remote support solution as the Lync tool did not support the operating system of the new workstations. Additionally, the organization adopted a new set of security policies that required a remote support solution with more advanced security features. The Service Desk wanted to expand its capabilities so that it could provide remote support for the organization’s increasing number of mobile devices and its full range of network assets.

Northwell Health was initiating plans to replace its existing IT service management solution and wanted to ensure that its new approach to providing IT services included more robust remote support capabilities than the health system had at that time. It was also critical that the new solution comply with stringent data security regulations that Northwell must meet, such as HIPAA. Turpin researched a number of potential remote support solutions, but only Bomgar met all of Northwell’s requirements.

A leading retail clothing company was operating multiple brick-and-mortar enterprises using a complex patchwork of systems for identity management across its Unix, Linux, and Windows systems. When the company created a new division to handle consolidated online sales for all its enterprises, the complexity of their systems came to a head. The online division was having difficulty complying with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard. The problem was that the organizations has too many different operating systems, domains, and directory services made it impossible to manage user ID and passwords systematically. The company also needed to address issues of inefficiency. For the end users, engineers and developers, it’s very difficult to maintain continuity for their day-to-day work with multiple account IDs and passwords across the enterprise.

The technical college was experiencing increased demand on their network and seeing the opportunity for malware infiltration growing. Over the past several years, the Director of IT Services had been cleaning up the technical college’s PC environment: first locking down PCs in the labs, and then removing elevated privileges for faculty and staff. By allowing only the fewest or least rights actually needed by faculty and staff, the Director of IT Services hoped to prevent the installation and spread of malware. The Director also hoped that reining in unauthorized software installs would result in fewer resource-hogging components on college PCs. With less extraneous software, the PCs could provide acceptable performance for a longer period of time, therefore allowing the college to maximize the useful life of its PCs. Simply eliminating admin rights, however, would mean that any software install would require an IT Help Desk staff person to gain access to the PC and perform the installation. Deploying IT staff around the campuses for each install would introduce a frustrating delay for faculty and staff. And, the time involved simply to coordinate these sessions would continue to increase as the number of college-maintained PCs was also expanding.

In late 2003, Gap Inc. Direct needed to revamp its entire end-to-end business technology platform — from the customer-facing front-end system, to the back-end order management application, to the business tools that supported the company’s long-term growth strategy. Previously, Gap Direct’s e-commerce platform was largely built on Microsoft Windows. The need for new features — as well as concerns about the platform’s ability to scale given the retailer’s ambitious growth plans drove Gap Inc. Direct to evaluate alternative solutions to the Microsoft platform. Gap Inc. Direct uses Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) for administrative tools to grant and control end-user permission, but AD by itself doesn’t support Linux or Unix, this resulted in the need for several systems administrators and analysts to analyze all of the logs of hundreds of servers every time an audit needed to be performed — a task that took IT employees away from their day-to-day responsibilities.

The company was faced with upgrading its aging risk and compliance infrastructure, which previously relied on a disparate group of point products to scan for vulnerabilities and assess different operating systems for Sarbanes-Oxley and other types of compliance. Status data from the disparate solutions was imported into a SQL database onto which the IT department had built some limited dashboarding and reporting capabilities. However, IT personnel were still required to spend time writing custom code in order to extend the point solutions and enable them to interact with the database. In fact, the lack of integration among the various systems was creating inefficiencies that hampered the company’s ability to prepare for and pass compliance audits. The company sought a comprehensive and cost effective model for risk and compliance that would not only be easier to use and maintain, but provide a truly unified view into the status of all systems. As a UNIX shop, the company also needed a solution that could perform the deep, credentialed scans required for real protection from vulnerabilities, while also protecting the system’s root password.

The customer service division’s offshore call center had grown to over 5,000 Linux desktops that needed to be better managed and secured. Because authentication was being handled locally on the Linux machines, there was no easy way for the IT department to verify that any security policies were being followed. The company lacked the kind of central user account management for its Linux fleet that Active Directory typically provides for a Windows shop. In addition, the management of new hires, departures, and changing job roles had become a challenge. High turnover rates at the call center just made the problem worse.

The telecom company had just completed an internal security audit and found that their NIS directories were not compliant with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), and they needed to find a modern solution. Microsoft® Active Directory was their ideal choice, but they needed to migrate their existing NIS user accounts and groups into Active Directory, as well as manage a vast array of non-windows infrastructure. In its main datacenters, the telecom carrier had in excess of 4,000 Unix servers and 1,000 Unix and Linux workstations that were currently being administered with NIS. They also had over 137,000 user accounts, of which less than 40,000 accounts were active users in the company. In addition to the complexity of the Unix infrastructure and the large number of user accounts, the telecom company also managed the Unix attributes of each user in NIS. Each Unix attribute (e.g., password policy) corresponded to an individual NIS domain. In total the company had 155 unique NIS domains, meaning that for each of the 137,000 user accounts, there were up to 155 additional attributes to manage.

PlumChoice, a fee-for-service online support company, was using Citrix’s GoToAssist™ as their remote access tool. However, as the popularity of Mac systems increased and the market for mobile devices such as smart phones, digital cameras and MP3 players exploded, PlumChoice realized their remote support solution no longer met their needs. GoToAssist did not support any systems beyond the Windows platform and failed to provide the security measures PlumChoice needed to be compliant with its customers’ industry standards. PlumChoice started to receive requests from their partners to extend beyond the Windows platform and began reevaluating GoToAssist™ as their remote support solution. They needed a solution that would record every support session and agent interaction.

Zappos.com's dispatch & helpdesk teams faced the challenge of supporting approximately 1,600 employees located in two different time zones and merchandisers who travel globally. Traditional tools, such as VPNs, were used but with sporadic and limited success. The challenge was further complicated by the need to support a multi-platform environment that includes Windows, Linux, and Mac. The IT team also saw the evolving requirement to support mobile devices internally. The rapid expansion of the company's headcount over the last few years has put more pressure on IT for support and training.

The National September 11 Memorial Museum, located at the World Trade Center site, is a significant institution documenting the events of September 11, 2001. The museum relies on numerous operation systems for its functioning, and the IT staff needed a robust and secure remote support solution to ensure 100 percent uptime for these systems. The team of technicians in the Memorial’s IT department work in a virtual environment and knew it was necessary to deploy a remote support solution that enabled them to meet the demanding requirement of constant uptime while ensuring security.

NowNerd, an IT technical support provider, faced challenges when it contracted with a national retailer to provide remote support. The company experienced difficulties with its existing system and decided to develop a proprietary support dashboard, NerdDeck, to offer a white label remote support interface that could be branded for each individual client. The company needed a reliable, user-friendly, and secure platform for remote support that could handle retail transactions. After months of testing and evaluating different solutions, Bomgar emerged as the clear choice.

Chili Security, a Denmark-based company providing technology support to private users and small businesses, was facing scalability issues with its existing remote support assistance tool, TeamViewer. The tool was slow and required manual processes, such as copying and pasting customers’ passwords and session IDs. Additionally, there were concerns with TeamViewer’s security measures. As the company was growing rapidly, it needed a solution that could scale with its expanding customer base and offer advanced features with a high-level focus on security.

Murphy Oil USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corporation, operates nearly 1,200 retail gasoline stations across 23 states in the United States. The company's national support center provides remote technical support for the computers and point of sale (POS) systems at each of its retail locations. Prior to Bomgar, the company used a number of different remote support tools that it found to be inefficient and cumbersome. The IT team wanted to standardize on a single remote support solution that could troubleshoot all of its retail systems. Additionally, once the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was formalized, a PCI compliant remote support solution became a requirement.

When a new chief information officer joined Boise State University, he recognized the need to provide broader support for the university community, particularly the student body. This was in line with Boise State’s growing emphasis on the student experience. The university was in need of a remote support solution that could support users with Windows or Mac OS X operating systems and serve users outside the university network. The remote support tool in use at the time was cumbersome for the support technicians to use and only allowed them to support devices on the university’s network. The IT support department could not fully assist faculty, staff and students working off campus.

Before BeyondTrust, Bechtle AG used various remote support tools that the team was not completely satisfied with. They lacked integration with their company ITSM solution, ServiceNow. In addition to increased IT productivity, Bechtle also wanted to achieve a higher level of data protection and IT security. They wanted a guarantee that their data would not go through foreign servers.

Norton Healthcare, a leading healthcare provider in Louisville, Kentucky, was in search of a remote support tool that could help them lower costs, increase first-call resolution, reduce incident handling times, decrease call escalations, and reduce on-site visits. Additionally, the tool needed to be secure and meet HIPAA compliance standards, including data encryption and session recording. The demand for mHealth and telehealth services was increasing exponentially, and the number of mobile devices used amongst its workforce was continually increasing. The team needed a solution that could support all these endpoints securely. Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Norton Healthcare had to support a significantly increased number of remote workers, many of whom were using personal devices. The team needed to ensure that remote support and remote sign-in services were able to support BYOD in a secure fashion.

The article discusses the challenges faced by organizations in securing their infrastructure from cyber threats. These threats can come from various sources, including criminals infecting networks with ransomware, hacktivists making political statements, careless mistakes by insiders, or ethical hackers compromising poorly defended infrastructure. Many companies take a lax approach to cybersecurity, either thinking they will never be breached or worrying that it's too expensive and will slow down their operations. Resistance to change associated with additional security controls and monitoring is common. Another hurdle is integration, with organizations often dealing with third-party apps, in-house customizations and software, on-site operating systems like UNIX, Linux, Windows, and OSX, and off-prem cloud-based apps that run on AWS and Google Cloud.

The company was facing a significant challenge in managing password vulnerabilities and local administration rights, which were identified as the two biggest security holes. The company's InfoSec team was constantly putting out fires, dealing with security issues as they arose, but there was no strategic approach to preventing these issues from occurring in the first place. The company needed a solution that would allow them to take a proactive approach to security, reducing the attack surface within their infrastructure and preventing breaches before they happened.

The software development company was required by a large customer within the banking sector to control excessive administrative privileges across approximately 5,000 user endpoints. The bank's requirement came after an annual onsite audit identified a risk in relation to endpoint privileges. The software developer committed to a timeline of only three months to implement and deploy an effective and secure solution. The challenge was to find a solution that could control access privilege without disrupting the day-to-day work of its many users (endpoints).

Oxford Properties Group, a leading global real estate investor, asset manager, and business builder, was facing a challenge in securing its operational technology (OT) and non-traditional endpoints. The company was looking to improve endpoint security for IoT, desktops, servers, and other devices. The IT team identified the need for a solution that would allow the many vendors that serviced the buildings access to what they required, but without installing any local software or VPNs. These tools can create security gaps, especially with regards to privileged access. The company was also looking for a solution that would not require the vendor to install any local applications—they simply request access and can connect to the network with any internet-enabled device.

NHS Wales faced a significant challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic as they were forced to transition to remote work. The challenge was a combination of balancing logistical needs with maintaining quality of care. The NHS Wales Informatics Service, responsible for providing national IT systems and services to the Welsh NHS, had to adapt to this new situation. They provide direct IT service and desktop support to approximately 15,000 staff, with 12,000 of those staff members working in general practices in clinical or administrative staff roles, serving approximately three million citizens across Wales. The traditional approach of providing each user with a laptop and a VPN connection was not feasible due to the skyrocketing global demand for laptops. Therefore, they needed a solution that could provide remote access to the systems needed by the GPs.

The company, one of the world's largest payment and processing companies, has been aggressively expanding in the fintech space through acquisitions. This rapid growth has necessitated the scaling of all support systems and personnel to meet the increased demand for expertise. The company had accumulated seven different remote support websites and several data centers due to the acquisition of other companies and the launch of new products. The challenge was to streamline these systems and improve the efficiency and security of their support operations.

Ramboll, a Danish engineering, architecture, design, and consultancy firm, faced challenges in standardizing IT policies and procedures across its global offices due to its growth through mergers and acquisitions. The company had a high number of applications in use, with each country handling access privileges and admin rights differently. This resulted in an overburdened local IT team and a lack of visibility and control at the global level. The company also faced cybersecurity threats and needed to manage software licenses effectively. The challenge was to find a solution that would not only bolster and standardize application control and privileged management across the organization but also ensure license compliance and software standardization.

The University of Utah faced a unique set of IT challenges due to its diverse blend of students, professors, contractors, staff, visitors, and IT personnel. Many individuals held multiple roles concurrently, and roles could change or pause over many years. The university's hospital environment added to the complexity, as some students were also employees with access to Protected Health Information. Managing all these permissions, privileges, and access was exponentially more difficult than in a more traditional organization. The university needed to increase visibility into its accounts and reduce its risk, specifically improving the way it handled privileged accounts.

In March 2020, all 30,000 employees for the state of Illinois were ordered to work from home in response to the spread of COVID-19. This posed a significant challenge for the state’s Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), which had to figure out a way to grant employees access to their workstations from their personal devices at home, while also meeting the state’s stringent compliance standards when granting access to critical state applications, systems and information. The state had previously used a variety of remote access solutions, including VPN, but these initiatives could only support up to 5,000 employees and could not scale to the level needed. The state needed a solution that it could implement quickly and with ease.

MANE, a leading flavor and fragrance group in France, was facing the challenge of preserving its business model and maintaining the secrecy of its formulas in a fast-evolving world where workplaces are experiencing accelerated digital transformation and relying more heavily on remote workers. The company needed to rethink its growth strategy and improve its IT infrastructure. They sought a secure solution to enable productivity for its modern work environment while ensuring its trade secrets stay secret. The company also needed to improve data and information system security by enhancing access controls, privilege management, and visibility over its numerous third-party suppliers and systems managers.