AA takes Linux road for ID system

Motoring organisation the AA is to implement an identity and access management solution running on Novell's SuSE Linux to automate the management of digital identities for around 6,000 staff.

The AA said the move was designed to increase security by ensuring that the right people had access to the resources they needed, when they needed them. The move would also reduce complexity across the organisation and ultimately control IT costs, said the AA.

The AA said it was making changes in its identity management procedures following industry recommendations by the Financial Services Authority. Adopting the solution will allow the AA to reduce capital offset obligations – a pool of money it is required to keep as insurance against the risk of fraud and crime.

James McNeilly, senior architect at the AA, said, “We must be able to audit our IT environment and easily identify users and access rights. We must ensure that only current employees have access to systems and that these employees have the correct account privileges.”

The AA will implement an identity management system based on Novell Identity Manager and Novell eDirectory technology.

The system will be integrated with the AA’s SAP human resource system, ensuring that when a new user change is created or removed from the SAP HR system, the account will be automatically provisioned or deprovisioned from the identity management system and company IT systems.

The identity management system will run on a Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server. Ongoing maintenance and support of the project will be handled by IBM under an existing and extensive outsourcing agreement.