Converged IAM Captain Cross Identity Excites with A New Mind for IAM
The crowd favorite Converged IAM platform, “Cross Identity,” is now available under a new banner. In a new move, IAM veteran Ilantus Technologies is shedding its long-standing persona of an age-old IAM company. Renamed “Cross Identity,” Ilantus is pursuing new ideals of modernism and cutting-edge innovation. In this advancement, Ilantus is reinventing itself based on the 2-year-and-going-strong success of its flagship Converged IAM product – Cross Identity.
President and Chairman Binod Singh said, “This transformation is as much internal as it is external. We have found new core values in both our approach to taking IAM to the market, as well as in our own technological development process. These principles have proved to be precious not only to us but to new and old IAM customers across the globe.”
When asked exactly what these values were, CTO Pramod Bhaskar replied,
“These principles we have adopted since engineering and releasing Compact Identity in late 2020. Going forward it will be called Cross Identity (both the company name as well as the product name.)
1st: The mid-market is not being served sufficiently by IAM vendors. Our job here is to deliver a Converged IAM product that suits small and mid-sized businesses in both features and price.
2nd: While innovation was never absent in Ilantus, it is now at the forefront and is one of our USPs. We offer the latest features like Forced Single Sign-on, Passwordless Authentication, and Adaptive (Context-Based) Multifactor Authentication.
Developing for the mid-market doesn’t mean only providing rudimentary features. Small and medium-sized businesses account for over 90% of global businesses and are the biggest contributors to our economy and to technological and business innovation. They need the best to give us their best.
3rd: Charge less when you can. With our new Pay-per-use model, we are proving that IAM vendors can be hugely profitable without emptying their customers’ pockets.”
It is apparent that this shift is happening on good ground. Ilantus is not attempting to ditch the past as much as walking into a new future.
We asked President and Chairman Binod Singh what the new name, “Cross Identity,” signifies. His response was,
“Cross signifies convergence. In the past, we had diverse offerings for different markets and niches. But all that has changed. We believe that Converged IAM is the future technology for the mid-market, if not for all markets.
When we say now that we are Cross Identity, not Ilantus, we are taking a stand for ourselves as a single-offering Converged IAM vendor. In the same breath, we are showing recognition that the technology is cutting edge NOW and likely for many, many years to come.
Finally, we are saluting mid-market customers by telling the world that their needs are important enough that we rebranded ourselves as “Cross Identity” and became a single-product (Converged IAM) vendor exclusively for them.”
A name well chosen; we think. It flows deftly.
We wanted to know more.
“What else is up and coming from Cross Identity? What new technological impact is in the works now that your organization has set the standard for Converged IAM platforms?” we asked CTO Pramod Bhaskar.
“Convergence is only the beginning,” he replied. “What you need to know is that the entire cybersecurity landscape is changing, and IAM with it. Cloud computing, BYOD, BYOI, and work-from-home have morphed the IT security landscape such that it is unrecognizable compared to just five years ago.
New problems need new solutions. And new technologies like Converged IAM, alone and in tandem with other new technologies like EMPs (Endpoint Management Platforms), make way for new integrations and features that could immensely benefit all organizations.
We could, for the first time in history, be able to remain one step ahead of hackers rather than always playing catch-up. Cross Identity will, and already is, developing new features and technologies that will vanguard this transformation.”
This revealing information kindled our interest. “Give us a peek?” we asked.
CTO Pramod Bhaskar replied with the following information:
“Consider the possibilities of Converged IAM. The technology mandates that both Access Management and IGA features be baked into one product that is built on a common codebase and presented in a unified dashboard.
Cross Identity will soon offer features otherwise nearly impossible to implement in standalone products. For example:
- The solution can perform authentication better with additional risk signals generated by its IGA module. For example, it can consider the list of entitlements assigned (IGA) and, based on those entitlement’s attribute values (such as criticality, risk factor, etc.), step-up or step-down authentication (AM).
- The solution can consider the age of the last access review/recertification performed on a user (IGA) and can step-up the authentication or deny access if it has been too long (AM).
- It can check whether the account is an Orphan Account (an active account with no registered user) (IGA) and step-up authentication or deny the access based on the result (AM).
- If a user performs multiple unsuccessful logins within a short time (AM), a converged solution can immediately initiate a micro-certification process or revoke the access temporarily (IGA).
- It can initiate the recertification of access (IGA) based on latent time since the last access (AM).
These are just a few examples.”
Our appetite whet for more, we considered CTO Pramod Bhaskar’s statement about new technological amalgams between different cybersecurity platforms.
Our question to him was, “You spoke of new integrations. Could you expound further on this?”
He responded, “Take our unique integration with CloudStrike Falcon, for instance (CloudStrike Falcon is the world’s leading EMP: Endpoint Management Platform). Utilizing real-time device health information collected by CloudStrike Falcon, Cross Identity can:
- Allow SSO to be performed at authentication time if a device’s health is within defined parameters
- Step-up or step-down the number of authentication factors required depending on device health.
- Entirely deny access if a predefined combination of lacking health parameters has been detected by CloudStrike Falcon. Cross Identity can provide the user with information about what health parameters must be rectified before access can be granted.
- Enforce that employees can only request new access from healthy devices. If CloudStrike Falcon detects lacking health parameters, employees will not be permitted to request access from the device. Alternatively, they will be prompted for 2FA or MFA before permission for requesting access is granted.
- Enforce compliance device health standards for approving parties as well. The same actions can be configured as with employee access requests.
- Cross Identity can generate a report of users’ devices and the devices’ health over time. It can revoke access to sensitive apps if predetermined minimum health parameters have not been maintained over time – indicating a security lax employee who might need cybersecurity training before being re-approved for access to certain sensitive apps and/or resources.
- Flag low-health device-related identities during Access Review campaigns.
These are just some examples.”
President and Chairman Binod Singh added, “Such risk-sensitive technology was not deployable before Cross Identity. IAM went as far as Adaptive Authentication and Zero-Trust but progressed little beyond.
Cross Identity is making possible a new future where various cybersecurity components, including its own Access Management and IGA modules, can interact and utilize one another to enhance security, improve agility, and benefit user experience. How can a hacker exploit identities that are protected on every vector? Identity-first security is a new buzzword and means that security must no longer be limited to network perimeters. It must be focused on identities and their activities. Cross Identity is investing heavily into Identity-first security.
If the last 2 years have shown us anything, it’s that Cross Identity is a quantum leap in a good direction. We have seen that the mid-market craves Converged IAM at an inexpensive price.
Our interview today revealed many game-changing progressions in IAM technology. And Cross Identity appears to be the driver.
Cross Identity is featured in Gartner’s IGA Market Guide, Gartner’s Access Management Magic Quadrant, KuppingerCole’s Leadership Compass, and Frost & Sullivan’s FROST RADAR. Over 50 MSSPs (Managed Security Services Providers) and other companies like Mindtree and Deloitte have chosen to partner with them.
The software has also won more than 15 awards since its release in late 2020, including the veritable “Converged IAM Solution of the Year” award at the RSA Summit in 2021.
It seems that Cross Identity will keep making waves like Ilantus before it. But now, with a new name, a determined outlook, and from position of industry leadership.
Converged IAM Captain Cross Identity Excites with A New Mind for IAM
The crowd favorite Converged IAM platform, “Cross Identity,” is now available under a new banner. In a new move, IAM veteran Ilantus Technologies is shedding its long-standing persona of an age-old IAM company. Renamed “Cross Identity,” Ilantus is pursuing new ideals of modernism and cutting-edge innovation. In this advancement, Ilantus is reinventing itself based on the 2-year-and-going-strong success of its flagship Converged IAM product – Cross Identity.
President and Chairman Binod Singh said, “This transformation is as much internal as it is external. We have found new core values in both our approach to taking IAM to the market, as well as in our own technological development process. These principles have proved to be precious not only to us but to new and old IAM customers across the globe.”
When asked exactly what these values were, CTO Pramod Bhaskar replied,
“These principles we have adopted since engineering and releasing Compact Identity in late 2020. Going forward it will be called Cross Identity (both the company name as well as the product name.)
1st: The mid-market is not being served sufficiently by IAM vendors. Our job here is to deliver a Converged IAM product that suits small and mid-sized businesses in both features and price.
2nd: While innovation was never absent in Ilantus, it is now at the forefront and is one of our USPs. We offer the latest features like Forced Single Sign-on, Passwordless Authentication, and Adaptive (Context-Based) Multifactor Authentication.
Developing for the mid-market doesn’t mean only providing rudimentary features. Small and medium-sized businesses account for over 90% of global businesses and are the biggest contributors to our economy and to technological and business innovation. They need the best to give us their best.
3rd: Charge less when you can. With our new Pay-per-use model, we are proving that IAM vendors can be hugely profitable without emptying their customers’ pockets.”
It is apparent that this shift is happening on good ground. Ilantus is not attempting to ditch the past as much as walking into a new future.
We asked President and Chairman Binod Singh what the new name, “Cross Identity,” signifies. His response was,
“Cross signifies convergence. In the past, we had diverse offerings for different markets and niches. But all that has changed. We believe that Converged IAM is the future technology for the mid-market, if not for all markets.
When we say now that we are Cross Identity, not Ilantus, we are taking a stand for ourselves as a single-offering Converged IAM vendor. In the same breath, we are showing recognition that the technology is cutting edge NOW and likely for many, many years to come.
Finally, we are saluting mid-market customers by telling the world that their needs are important enough that we rebranded ourselves as “Cross Identity” and became a single-product (Converged IAM) vendor exclusively for them.”
A name well chosen; we think. It flows deftly.
We wanted to know more.
“What else is up and coming from Cross Identity? What new technological impact is in the works now that your organization has set the standard for Converged IAM platforms?” we asked CTO Pramod Bhaskar.
“Convergence is only the beginning,” he replied. “What you need to know is that the entire cybersecurity landscape is changing, and IAM with it. Cloud computing, BYOD, BYOI, and work-from-home have morphed the IT security landscape such that it is unrecognizable compared to just five years ago.
New problems need new solutions. And new technologies like Converged IAM, alone and in tandem with other new technologies like EMPs (Endpoint Management Platforms), make way for new integrations and features that could immensely benefit all organizations.
We could, for the first time in history, be able to remain one step ahead of hackers rather than always playing catch-up. Cross Identity will, and already is, developing new features and technologies that will vanguard this transformation.”
This revealing information kindled our interest. “Give us a peek?” we asked.
CTO Pramod Bhaskar replied with the following information:
“Consider the possibilities of Converged IAM. The technology mandates that both Access Management and IGA features be baked into one product that is built on a common codebase and presented in a unified dashboard.
Cross Identity will soon offer features otherwise nearly impossible to implement in standalone products. For example:
- The solution can perform authentication better with additional risk signals generated by its IGA module. For example, it can consider the list of entitlements assigned (IGA) and, based on those entitlement’s attribute values (such as criticality, risk factor, etc.), step-up or step-down authentication (AM).
- The solution can consider the age of the last access review/recertification performed on a user (IGA) and can step-up the authentication or deny access if it has been too long (AM).
- It can check whether the account is an Orphan Account (an active account with no registered user) (IGA) and step-up authentication or deny the access based on the result (AM).
- If a user performs multiple unsuccessful logins within a short time (AM), a converged solution can immediately initiate a micro-certification process or revoke the access temporarily (IGA).
- It can initiate the recertification of access (IGA) based on latent time since the last access (AM).
These are just a few examples.”
Our appetite whet for more, we considered CTO Pramod Bhaskar’s statement about new technological amalgams between different cybersecurity platforms.
Our question to him was, “You spoke of new integrations. Could you expound further on this?”
He responded, “Take our unique integration with CloudStrike Falcon, for instance (CloudStrike Falcon is the world’s leading EMP: Endpoint Management Platform). Utilizing real-time device health information collected by CloudStrike Falcon, Cross Identity can:
- Allow SSO to be performed at authentication time if a device’s health is within defined parameters
- Step-up or step-down the number of authentication factors required depending on device health.
- Entirely deny access if a predefined combination of lacking health parameters has been detected by CloudStrike Falcon. Cross Identity can provide the user with information about what health parameters must be rectified before access can be granted.
- Enforce that employees can only request new access from healthy devices. If CloudStrike Falcon detects lacking health parameters, employees will not be permitted to request access from the device. Alternatively, they will be prompted for 2FA or MFA before permission for requesting access is granted.
- Enforce compliance device health standards for approving parties as well. The same actions can be configured as with employee access requests.
- Cross Identity can generate a report of users’ devices and the devices’ health over time. It can revoke access to sensitive apps if predetermined minimum health parameters have not been maintained over time – indicating a security lax employee who might need cybersecurity training before being re-approved for access to certain sensitive apps and/or resources.
- Flag low-health device-related identities during Access Review campaigns.
These are just some examples.”
President and Chairman Binod Singh added, “Such risk-sensitive technology was not deployable before Cross Identity. IAM went as far as Adaptive Authentication and Zero-Trust but progressed little beyond.
Cross Identity is making possible a new future where various cybersecurity components, including its own Access Management and IGA modules, can interact and utilize one another to enhance security, improve agility, and benefit user experience. How can a hacker exploit identities that are protected on every vector? Identity-first security is a new buzzword and means that security must no longer be limited to network perimeters. It must be focused on identities and their activities. Cross Identity is investing heavily into Identity-first security.
If the last 2 years have shown us anything, it’s that Cross Identity is a quantum leap in a good direction. We have seen that the mid-market craves Converged IAM at an inexpensive price.
Our interview today revealed many game-changing progressions in IAM technology. And Cross Identity appears to be the driver.
Cross Identity is featured in Gartner’s IGA Market Guide, Gartner’s Access Management Magic Quadrant, KuppingerCole’s Leadership Compass, and Frost & Sullivan’s FROST RADAR. Over 50 MSSPs (Managed Security Services Providers) and other companies like Mindtree and Deloitte have chosen to partner with them.
The software has also won more than 15 awards since its release in late 2020, including the veritable “Converged IAM Solution of the Year” award at the RSA Summit in 2021.
It seems that Cross Identity will keep making waves like Ilantus before it. But now, with a new name, a determined outlook, and from position of industry leadership.
