Survey Reveals Little Confidence in Companies' Efforts to Securely Store and Manage IT Administrative Passwords.

DEDHAM, Mass. -- Half of IT Professionals Surveyed Struggle with Mundane, Labor-intensive Manual Processes for Password Management, Hindering Efforts for Regular and On-demand Resetting of Passwords

Cyber-Ark(R) Software, the information security company that invented and markets Vaulting Technology(TM), today revealed the results of recent research illuminating the industry-wide struggle to safely and easily share and manage administrative passwords that provide access to the network, systems and application backbone of enterprises worldwide.

The survey of nearly 200 information technology (IT) security professionals, conducted at Europe's largest information security event, Infosecurity, revealed:

--Half (50 percent) of survey participants were not very confident that passwords were stored securely in their organization. One quarter (25 percent) said that IT staff can access administrative passwords without permission.

--Less than a third (32 percent) were storing administrative passwords digitally. The remainder continue to use labor-intensive, manual processes, including paper copies stored everywhere from locked cabinets to physical safes.

--19 percent of respondents estimated that their colleagues still keep passwords on Post-It Notes while 14 percent use unsecured Excel spreadsheet files.

--Half of all security professionals change administrative passwords monthly or more frequently; however, nearly 10 percent of companies NEVER change IT administrative passwords.

--62 percent of companies have seen an increase in auditing of their security practices due to recent legislation.

"Companies are realizing they need to become far more nimble in their ability to regularly and rapidly change the passwords that literally are the keys to the IT infrastructure kingdom. Unfortunately, until now, it's been virtually impossible to securely automate what is traditionally a very manual, time-intensive process," said Tom Crawford, president and CEO of Cyber-Ark. "They are caught in a catch-22 between locking up passwords tight and providing the rapid access and management needed to make changes that avoid expensive downtime or security breaches."

Already, Cyber-Ark's Network Vault for Passwords has helped scores of organizations secure and dramatically simplify the management of administrative passwords, including some of the world's largest financial services firms, insurance companies, government agencies, telecommunications providers, gaming enterprises and energy companies. This includes European direct debit processor Voca, which recently transitioned its password management, replacing the physical safes used to store over 800 administrative passwords and redeploying staff dedicated to administering passwords.

"Cyber-Ark has cracked the code for automating a potentially insecure and immensely time-consuming process of storing and managing administrative passwords," said Keith Reeve, Manager Certification Authority and Access Control, Voca. "We've replaced physical safes with virtual ones, using Network Vault for Passwords to securely automate administrative passwords critical to the systems that support our business."

Organizations interested in viewing how much they can save by migrating to automated, electronic Vaulting of administrative passwords can ask a Cyber-Ark representative to provide them with the Cyber-Ark's Password Vault ROI calculator.

Network Vault for Passwords

Network Vault for Passwords provides a "safe haven" within the enterprise where all administrative passwords can be archived, transferred and shared among IT staff, on-call administrators, as well as administrators in the field. It is an end-to-end solution that protects passwords during transmission and at rest with multiple layers of integrated security, granular access control mechanisms and graphical auditing solutions to thoroughly track every password's whereabouts.

The Central Password Manager enables organizations to change passwords automatically on remote machines and then store these new passwords in the Vault, without any human intervention and all according to predefined organizational policy. The Central Password Manager contains built-in methods that change third-party entity passwords, such as a Windows Domain administrator password and a Unix Root user password.

About Cyber-Ark Software

Cyber-Ark Software is the leader in Vaulting solutions for securely connecting enterprises. The Company's Inter-Business Vault enables the creation of secure instant wide area networks (WANs) for connecting enterprises with partners, customers and sub-contractors over the Internet - enabling them to exchange information as if they have deployed a shared WAN, but without actually doing so. Cyber-Ark's leading Inter-Business Vault applications include solutions for Treasury Management files, PLM and CAD/CAM files, and Source Code. In addition to its business-to-business solutions, Cyber-Ark's Network Vault provides solutions for securely managing critical information, such as administrative passwords and critical documents, within the enterprise. Today Cyber-Ark enjoys strong customer relationships with more than 150 Global 1000 companies around the world.

Founded by a group of leading military security experts and computer engineers, Cyber-Ark Software is privately held and backed by some of the world's most successful venture capitalists, including Jerusalem Venture Partners, Seed Capital Partners (a SOFTBANK Affiliate), JP Morgan/Chase Partners and Vertex Management.

The Company is located in Dedham, Mass. and on the World Wide Web at www.cyber-ark.com.

Cyber-Ark, Network Vault, Inter-Business Vault and Vaulting Technology are trademarks of Cyber-Ark Software Ltd. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

All rights reserved.