Handelsbanken

Handelsbanken chose Novell Identity Manager to improve the management of roles and access rights across its entire organisation and IT infrastructure, reducing IT workload significantly.

Overview
Founded in Stockholm in 1871, Handelsbanken is one of the largest banks in the Nordic region, with 10,770 employees and profits of more than 10 billion Swedish Kronor (US$ 1.8 billion) in 2007. According to a recent study by management consultants Arthur D. Little, Handelsbanken is the third most cost-effective bank in Europe.

Challenge
As a company operating in the financial sector, Handelsbanken is subject to a variety of financial regulations such as Basel II. As a result, it is important for the bank to keep tight control over its internal processes, particularly its IT systems.

“We had a number of different systems, including legacy mainframe applications, that each had their own user data, but there was no central repository to keep track of users and their roles within the organisation,” said Qamilla Syk, operations manager at Handelsbanken. “Without a more structured approach to identity management, it was difficult for us to demonstrate to auditors that only authorised users had access to a given system.”

Novell's Solution
Handelsbanken evaluated a number of identity management solutions before choosing Novell Identity Manager.

A key reason for choosing Novell software was the availability of local support. Pulsen, a Novell Platinum PartnerSM, is one of the largest and most experienced Novell software specialists in the region. Pulsen employs around 60 consultants with expertise across the whole spectrum of Novell products.

“It is important for us to know that we can get local consultants from Pulsen on-site very quickly if we need to,” said Elisabeth Netzell, business manager at Handelsbanken. “As a bank, we need high availability at all times. As the identity management solution is linked to all our major systems, it is crucial to have support from a partner who can respond rapidly to any problems. Pulsen has extensive experience in the Nordic region, as well as the technical competence to deliver the solution.”

Pulsen helped Handelsbanken deploy Novell Identity Manager and create a master repository of all user-related data. This data is then structured into an organisational model that defines which systems and resources each employee is authorised to access.

Pulsen also implemented Novell Sentinel™ as a monitoring tool for the identity management environment, providing a holistic view of all activities relating to security and compliance. Novell Sentinel can use information from Novell Identity Manager to generate real-time alerts when an unauthorised user attempts to access sensitive information. The software creates an auditable remediation workflow to demonstrate how each incident was resolved.

Results
With the Novell solution in place, Handelsbanken is able to demonstrate a much higher level of control over its IT environment, on two different levels.

First, Novell Identity Manager provides a central repository for user accounts that enables the bank to take a more structured approach to identity management, where employees are given access to systems according to their roles within the company.

Second, Novell Sentinel provides full traceability of activity within the identity management environment, generating reports that can be submitted to auditors and regulators to show that any security or compliance-related incidents have been investigated and resolved.

As a further benefit, the solution also provides a self-service portal, accessible via a standard Web browser, which employees can use to update their passwords and personal information. This helps to reduce workload for the bank's busy IT team, who can now concentrate on added-value tasks rather than basic user administration and password resets.

“This solution from Novell and Pulsen delivers real value for our business, and we are considering extending the use of Novell Sentinel to other areas of our IT environment,” said Netzell. “The expertise of the Pulsen consultants has made a huge contribution to the success of this project, and we are looking forward to working with them in the future to support the solution.”