Since the initial launch of the Safefood 360 platform we have always had a staunch and steadfast commitment to security and privacy.
This commitment has taken many shapes over the years and has been realised in many different ways in the SF360 platform.
Indeed, for more than 180 years, security has also been at the heart of our parent company, LGC, which was founded to test the authenticity of, initially tobacco, and later food imports into the United Kingdom.
Knowing the authenticity of a product, and validation of that claim, is itself a form of security as it gives peace of mind that things are as they should be.
Since the acquisition of our platform into LGC we have benefitted from many different synergies and resources.
To an external eye, some of these benefits and changes are more evident than others.
Behind the scenes, however, one of these synergies has been access to the deep and expansive knowledge that exists across the LGC group from PCQI’s and QA to business analysts, data engineers, and great minds in legal and corporate governance.
To this end, over the last 4 years we have been vigorously and continuously refining and improving our platform to ensure we offer an optimum product that suits a vast array of needs and gives peace of mind where it is needed.
During this time we introduced a new Microsoft customer identity access management platform (CIAM) into Safefood – called ADB2C. This is a safe and scalable authentication system solution capable of supporting millions of users and automatically handles cyber threats such as denial of service, password spray and brute force attacks.
This has proven very popular since we integrated it several years ago but it’s not the only choice for our customers. We also have another option that is more favourable for some of our clients – called Single Sign On.
What is Single Sign On?
Single Sign On, or SSO, as its typically called, is an important part of cloud security that very simply, makes life easier for your administrators by reducing various user logins across systems to one master username and password.
Essentially, it is a universal key that can be used to open all platforms a user needs, while allowing your administrators greater control of all the accounts and user roles in your organization.
Using this, you, as the user, only need to log in once at the beginning of your day, and you will instantly have access to Safefood 360 and any other systems you configure through SSO to work.
That means no more password resets or frustration when you make a mistake – just direct access so you can focus all your attention to the task at hand.
If you are unfamiliar with this, you may be thinking what’s the catch, or in a growing world of importance on security, data protection and privacy, why would you not want your systems air-gapped from each other?
The answer is quite simple, and we’ll go into the complex later, but essentially SSO provides your IT business partners with peace of mind that every user account is genuine as it provides greater traceability of accounts over the system, so no old accounts remain active long after the business need for it has ceased.
It also gives your administrator team direct control over access criteria, so you can eliminate dependencies on a specific vendor, and enable a zero-trust security policy as well.
In short, think of SSO like a bouncer to a nightclub – where the ID only needs to get checked once at the door and then the customer is free to order drinks – without SSO, the customer would need to verify their age each time they are at the bar, slowing up service, increasing the risk that someone may be underage or be refused, ultimately and decreasing the quality of service for everyone.
Benefits of SSO
For the reasons already listed above – SSO is more convenient and creates a better experience for everyone.
As people only need to be concerned with remembering one form of ID, you can make this stronger as it does not need to be repeated.
Think of a hall pass in school versus a passport.
Hallpasses can be issued frequently in line with changing demands, and typically are just a piece of paper with a stamp that can be forged versus a passport which has holograms, barcodes, serial numbers, signatures and other devices.
While a passport is difficult to forge, access is more immediate as being in possession of it, means the document is more trusted – and no additional verification is needed.
Both control your ability to travel, but one needs to be reissued constantly and checked, while the other is more durable, trusted, and can be used for a longer period of time without maintenance.
Although it is always advised to not use specific words or patterns in passwords, people are human and sometimes cut corners. By cutting down on the number of passwords in use – it’s less likely that a specific one may be spoofed or guessed – and as such, another security measure is present.
When your team do need to log on – they don’t need to think about it; and neither do your administrators.
Lastly, your IT team can benefit from one master list which they can deploy and modify systems access in real time with – this means like the rest your Safefood 360 system, that you will benefit from a singular version of the truth where all information flows across the different verticals of the business where it is needed, but most importantly, that this information correlates and matches when there is duplication.
Talk to us to learn more
If you are an existing customer we would be happy to talk to you or your technical teams about your SSO environment and what supports you need from us to enable this in your environment.
If you are not a customer though, we’re also happy to speak with you about how this is just one small piece of a much larger digital transformation project that we can help with you.
We offer off-the-shelf and custom solutions to food manufacturers of all sizes from single site manufacturers to some of the larger brands you may be familiar with such as Carlsberg, Publix, DSM-Firmenich, Upfield, Wegmans, Royal FrieslandCampina, Jacobs Douwe Egberts and much more.
Whether you are looking to fully digitally transform your food safety, compliance or operational data, our platform has customizable solutions which can fit your need.
If you would like to see how and have your questions answered, simply click the button below and get in touch where a member of our team will explain more.
