1. What is the CloudAS?

CloudAS is a strong authentication virtual appliance offered on the Amazon Cloud. It supports a variety of hardware and software tokens that can be used to authenticate their log-in to Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Outlook Web Access (OWA), PHP web portals, etc.

2. Who is CloudAS for?

Businesses that are looking to enhance the security of online transactions, and in turn, offer better business value to their customers. Enterprises can also take advantage of this virtual appliance to reap the benefits of a mobile and informed workforce yet worry about securing access to these high value and sensitive corporate assets.

3. What is two-factor authentication?

Two-factor authentication is just like how you access the ATM. You insert the card and tap in your PIN. It is a process that involves using “something that you have” and “something that you know”.

End users of the CloudAS will log in with a password (something that they know) and a one-time password that is provided by a hardware or software token (something that they have).

4. What is this “Cloud” that everybody is talking about?

Cloud computing is a consumption and delivery model for IT services over the internet. It is particularly attractive for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they cannot justify or afford the large capital expenditure of traditional IT infrastructure. The flexibility and smaller start-up cost structure offered by the cloud infrastructure, coupled with the reduced complexity of deploying cloud solutions, help businesses achieve business functionality within a short period of time at relatively low costs.

5. What are the key features of CloudAS?

The CloudAS is a ready-to-go two-factor authentication solution on the Amazon cloud that is quick to deploy. It eliminates the hassle and lead-time required for shipping and server set-up that are associated with a physical appliance. There is also no capital outlay required to acquire and maintain physical servers, which can be daunting for some customers.

Enterprises and businesses will also benefit from pay-as-you-go billing, which frees them from costly contracts as they only need to pay by the hour for what they use.

6. What are the benefits of CloudAS?

With the CloudAS, enterprises and businesses can implement two-factor authentication to protect their critical corporate assets, while offering customers with the extra protection and assurance of two-factor authentication that can cater to a wide variety of hardware and software tokens.

Complex passwords are hard to remember, and users often resort to writing them on a piece of paper, which compromises the security that complex passwords are supposed to provide. Two-factor authentication mitigates this problem by requiring an additional proof with a time or event-based dynamic second factor password. This keeps users safe even when attackers gain knowledge of their passwords. Two-factor authentication also mitigates attacks conducted through malware, phishing and keylogging .

7. What types of tokens does CloudAS support?

CloudAS currently supports the following tokens:
• hardware tokens;
• software OTP tokens running on iPhone, Symbian, and Blackberry;
• and SMS OTP tokens.

8. How can I try CloudAS out?

In conjunction with the Amazon Web Service (AWS) free usage tier, DS3 is offering a free trial of the CloudAS solution. The AWS free usage tier comes with 750 hours of instance usage. (For more details of the AWS free usage tier, please visit http://aws.amazon.com/free/)

9. What does the free CloudAS trial include?

The free trial will come with 20 user licenses that will be valid till December 2011. Although the free trial does not come with any hardware tokens, you are free to deploy CloudAS with existing hardware tokens, or assign users with software tokens supported by CloudAS.

10. Where can I get more information on CloudAS?

You can go to www.ds3global.com/CloudAS to read more about the CloudAS.