Global leader in the provision of security, storage and systems management solutions, Symantec has announced the release of its cloud information protection platform, Symantec O₃ Cloud Identity and Access Control. As a response to organizational concern over moving business-critical applications to the cloud, Symantec O₃ establishes a new security control point, enabling organizations to apply consistent identity and information security across all cloud-based services and devices.

The platform delivers three layers of cloud protection, namely access control, information security and information management, and provides companies with a single, secure access point to cloud services and applications. Symantec O₃ enables Single Sign On (SSO) across all web applications, including those that do not support federation protocols. It leverages an enterprise’s existing identity infrastructure for authentication and enables password management, federation services and context-based authorization. Symantec O₃ is also pre-integrated with Symantec Validation and ID Protection Service (VIP), which enables enterprises to leverage their existing VPN credentials. The platform’s flexible deployment options include on-premise, hosted, or a combination of both. In addition, all access events are logged and are available for audits, forensics and other compliance requirements.

“Companies want their employees to be able to take advantage of cloud services, but they also want to be confident that their critical information is protected as it flows in and out of the cloud. Symantec O₃ is the answer. By enabling companies to achieve consistent identity and information protection across all cloud services and devices, Symantec O₃ will deliver that confidence and enable a more rapid adoption of cloud services in businesses around the world,” said Francis deSouza, group president, Enterprise Products and Services, Symantec.

In the next phase of their rollout, Symantec plans to deliver cloud information security by leveraging their encryption technologies to detect, block and encrypt confidential information automatically, prior to being stored or shared in the cloud. Information management and compliance is ensured by aggregating all cloud-related security events, providing the foundation for cloud audit, forensics and compliance.

In addition, Symantec has also partnered with Salesforce.com to deliver Symantec O₃ for Salesforce – an SSO, access management and strong authentication application, built on Force.com, the Salesforce social enterprise platform. The partnership will allow customers to leverage their Salesforce identity to access all of their cloud services securely and conveniently, enabling two-factor authentication for Salesforce and other cloud applications. Availability of the solution is expected in mid-2012.