Uniting Q Software & Appsian Security: Thoughts From Q Software CEO, Mike Ward

Taken from Mike Ward’s original November 3rd blog post on www.qsoftware.com:

For years, Q Software has worked closely with our customers to provide the strongest set of GRC, security, and audit tools available for the Oracle market. To continuously increase value for our customers, we are always striving to make strategic improvements to our products and services. With this in mind, we’re excited to announce that we’re joining forces with Appsian Security, a global leader in ERP data security and compliance for the Oracle and SAP ERP markets.

Appsian Security specializes in dynamic, preventative access controls and real-time monitoring that provides critical layers of control and visibility so ERP customers can detect and prevent security threats. Most unique, Appsian Security solutions are specifically designed for and natively implemented in ERP applications – giving Oracle, SAP, etc., customers maximum levels of data security without custom development, additional hardware, or impact on future application updates.

Joining The Appsian Security Family

When Q Software was approached by Appsian Security, it became clear that a combination of our offerings would provide tremendous value for our customers. Q Software focuses on reducing the cost and complexity of managing risk, demonstrating regulatory compliance, and protecting our customers from fraud. Appsian Security focuses on protecting data at the transaction layer by applying dynamic, fine-grained controls if a user’s access indicates risk. Together, we’ll create the next generation solution for automating how ERP customers manage and enforce critical (GRC) processes like identity & access governance, segregation of duties, data loss prevention, and enabling data privacy and compliance reporting.

Introducing New Capabilities For Data Masking

One of the most critical innovations Appsian Security offers is the ability to apply dynamic data masking on any field using a policy-based (i.e., one-to-many) rules engine. Masking rules can be influenced by everything from the context of user access to business processes and application artifacts:

• 1. Conditional Masking– Mask fields based upon attributes of a session
• 2. Click to View Masking– Allows data to be masked upon entry to the form, user clicks masked data to expose information, which is tracked, logged, and easily accessible in Appsian360
• 3. Static Masking– Ability to mask application data for certain users or forms

Example Oracle EBS screenshot that shows a default data mask. Masking can stay in place or be removed using a “click-to-view.” This feature captures the masking removal action by the user, creating a log of activity.

Data Access And Usage Analytics

One of the cornerstones of demonstrating compliance is visibility. I am very excited about Appsian Security’s features for data access and usage analytics, as they solve the growing challenge of understanding granular levels of data access (across multiple systems) and making that data actionable for security and compliance purposes.

Click to view usage: Easily audit the unmasking of specific data fields (when using click-to-view masking.) Identify where, when, and who is accessing data by device type.

Understand which users are executing specific transactions and understand the specific data they are accessing. Perfect for investigating potential fraud and enabling SOX compliance reporting.

What The Future Holds

I couldn’t be more excited about joining the Appsian Security family. I will remain in a leadership role, and the rest of the Q Software team, with their unbeatable experience, will continue to provide world-class products and services for JD Edwards users and the broader Oracle ERP market.

Thanks to Appsian Security, we are now able to increase our investment in further developing and expanding the scope of our great JDE solutions, as well as introduce exciting new capabilities for the benefit of our customers.

I would encourage you to learn more about Appsian Security at www.appsiansecurity.com and reach out to receive a demonstration of their data security platform. Or you can reach out to your contact at Q Software, and we’d be happy to facilitate an introduction.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Sincerely,

Mike Ward