Leading energy company simplifies compliance adherence with MFA and SSO
- Energy company
- Oil & Gas
- Canada
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Regulatory compliance agencies take protecting industrial IoT very seriously in Alberta, Canada. After all, a breach poses a significant threat to the critical infrastructure Canadian residents depend on. Integrated energy corporations like our client need a way to prevent unnecessary traffic from entering their OT network while connecting to their corporate IT network. Our client turned to UserLock for multi-factor authentication (MFA) on access to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two networks.
"UserLock meets any MFA requirements we would need, plus it's easy and cost-effective to deploy. UserLock is definitely a solution I would implement again. "
Senior Control Systems Specialist
Even with network segmentation in place, a DMZ alone isn’t enough to fortify an OT network against unwanted traffic. Compliance regulations in Alberta, Canada require any entity that sells power to the electrical grid to implement MFA to protect the electronic security perimeter, too. That drove our client’s senior control systems specialist to search for simple, cost-effective MFA for DMZ to support his team’s users.
For him, many popular Active Directory MFA solutions have an oversized application footprint that doesn’t support his user base. These solutions often require extensive hardware setups and come with high price points. This drove him to research easy-to-implement, more lightweight MFA solutions.
UserLock’s great reviews, detailed web content, and helpful developer team drove him to give UserLock a try.
Before committing to to UserLock, the senior control systems specialist reached out to our development team with a few technical questions. Specifically, he wanted more information about implementing the solution into a DMZ network.
Our knowledgeable developer team quickly responded, guiding him on implementation best practices and offering him the information he needed to move forward. With that insight in mind, he installed UserLock mere days after choosing to work with us.
"There’s no guesswork with UserLock. Because there wasn’t a major investment or hardware requirement, I was able to get my installation off the ground in a matter of days."
Senior Control Systems Specialist
Our client’s team chose to leverage authenticator applications to provide secure access for their users. Even though UserLock offers other methods for authentication like push notifications, they appreciate that UserLock’s baseline solution provides the exact level of complexity they were looking for.
To make MFA even more user-friendly, our client also introduced UserLock’s single sign-on (SSO) feature within the team’s internal applications. This feature makes it easy for authorized users to seamlessly verify their identity and access applications without interrupting their workflows.
Since UserLock extends on existing Windows Active Directory infrastructure, our client found it was simple to adjust the settings to fit his needs. Rather than spending days or weeks configuring a complex, custom solution, they chose UserLock to help become compliant as quickly as possible.
"The set-up process was easy. We had the solution ready within hours with no issues whatsoever."
Senior Control Systems Specialist
With UserLock, maintaining Alberta’s strict compliance requirements around identity and access management became a breeze. Within hours of set up, our client’s IT team had the capabilities needed to verify user identities linked to Active Directory and simplify logins for users allowed access to the OT network. Plus, after his initial conversation with our developer team, the control systems specialist hasn’t needed to submit a single support ticket since his implementation.
Even a year after implementation, UserLock’s MFA and SSO capabilities have remained a great fit to secure access to the DMZ network and meet our client’s strict compliance requirements.
"For our purposes, UserLock fit the bill. It’s simpler to use than other complex installations. Plus, it gave us everything we needed to satisfy our requirements and sign off on a crucial compliance piece."
Senior Control Systems Specialist
After such a positive experience working with UserLock, he is eager to recommend the solution. While our solution fits his unique requirement for fully functional Active Directory MFA with a small footprint, he sees how UserLock would be equally appropriate to scale across any size of user base.
"UserLock meets any MFA requirement we would need, plus it’s easy and cost-effective to deploy. UserLock is definitely a solution I would implement again."
Senior Control Systems Specialist