Shipping Software ... Secret Server 3.1 Sneak Peek

Shipping software is one of the most exciting times for a development team but this new release is easily the most anticipated version of Secret Server to date by our customers.  Secret Server 3.1 will feature the two most requested features from customers who visited our booth at TechEd in June 2007: full Active Directory synchronization along with remote password changing.  I am very proud of our team being able to take both of these features from whiteboard to release in about 7 weeks.

What this means ...

By having the Active Directory add-on, you'll never have to add another user to Secret Server.  All actions made to both users and groups in Active Directory will occur in Secret Server. 

The remote password changing feature is perfect for companies that have security compliance guidelines to meet.  The administrator sets a date for when the password needs to be changed and once that day is reached, the password will automatically be switched.  The remote passwords covered by this feature are Active Directory, Windows and SQL Server accounts.  The classic scenario being all those Local Administrator accounts on Windows workstations.

Other key features:

• Secret expiration – Administrators will be able to set expirations on a Secret Type through the Secret Type Designer.
• Password history – Secret Server will keep a log on the history of all password changes made to secrets (optional).
• Enhanced folder options – The folders feature will be enhanced to allow for multiple sub-folders (nested folders). In addition, administrators can set default permissions to folders.
• Password validation on logins – Administrators will have the ability to customize user login passwords by requiring or restricting special characters, numbers, length, etc.
• IP Address restriction – Administrators will have the option of setting IP address ranges used for accessing Secret Server.

Secret Server is no longer just a passive repository - we now reach out and interact with other systems in ways we never thought possible.

Find out more about Secret Server here. 

Jonathan Cogley is the CEO and founder of Thycotic Software, a .NET consulting company and ISV in Washington DC.  Our product, Secret Server is a enterprise password manager system for teams to secure their passwords.  Is your team still storing passwords in Excel?