Belbim Project Success

BELBİM Electronic Money and Payment Services Inc. We are happy to announce globally our project success, which we implemented together with IBM Security® Verify Privilege Vault, a powerful PAM solution. Many thanks to everyone who contributed!

Making Life Easier in Istanbul with Istanbulkart

Istanbul is home to more than 15 million people in an area of 594 square miles. Every day, citizens and visitors rely on the Istanbulkart, a prepaid multi-purpose card, to pay their fares while using the city's extensive public transportation system. The card is now used for more than just travel – T.R. It has been integrated with the Department of Health's COVID-19 safety measures and Mastercard benefits and is accepted by thousands of food and beverage retailers. The public authority responsible for Istanbulkart faces pressure to deliver reliable customer experiences or bring the city to a halt.

This organization is BELBİM A.Ş., an electronic money and payment services provider that continues to develop and expand Istanbulkart. (BELBIM). Security is the top priority for BELBİM, which always wants to protect its customers from disruptions. At the same time, the organization complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ISO 27001, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and T.R. It must comply with the rules, including the policies outlined by the Central Bank and the Turkish Presidency Digital Transformation Office.

BELBİM A.Ş. Information Technology Director Olcay Nisanoğlu said, “As an electronic payment provider, we are an attractive target for cyber attacks. We aim to protect our IT infrastructure from both external and internal threats. “One of our primary goals is to closely control access to sensitive data, and we recognized that this was an area where we could improve.”

BELBİM had difficulty managing access to privileged accounts efficiently using its previous solution. The organization has a diverse workforce that includes temporary employees and third-party contractors. To meet compliance obligations, BELBİM must be able to monitor, record and report privileged sessions for all users.

“Our old solution for privileged access management was overly complex and offered limited reporting capabilities,” says Nisanoglu. “As a result, it was time-consuming and difficult for our IT team to grant and revoke access or extract information required by regulators. We also saw an opportunity to strengthen our cybersecurity posture by better protecting privileged accounts. “Our goal was to find a solution that combines robust security with user-friendliness to reduce risk without limiting productivity.”

BELBİM, licensing costs

40%

and allocated resources for service improvements.

Resources allocated to privileged access management

50%

Increases efficiency by reducing

Time spent investigating and reporting IT security incidents

20%

reduces, increases efficiency,

Passwords are like the front door key to our organization: our first priority is to secure them. With IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault and BBS, we rely on this first line of defense against compromise of our systems.

Olcay Nisanoglu

Information Technology Director, BELBİM A.Ş.

Adopting a new approach

BELBİM agreed with IBM Solution Partner Bilgi Birikim Sistemleri (BBS) to help transform the privileged access management (PAM) approach. BBS recommended that the organization deploy IBM Security® Verify Privilege Vault, a powerful PAM solution that is easy to implement and use.

“BBS has a long history of success with similar projects, making them the right partner choice for us,” says Nisanoğlu. “The support teams are extremely skilled and always responsive. BBS was able to demonstrate why IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault was an ideal choice for our use case.”

With the help of BBS, BELBİM launched the IBM solution quickly and efficiently. The organization now uses IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault for continuous discovery and end-to-end management of all services, applications, administrators and root accounts.

Olcay Nisanoğlu, IT Director: Since our project with IBM and BBS, we have seen significant cost and time savings. For example, we save 40 percent on PAM licensing.

“Thanks to BBS, we were able to deploy IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault in just a few days,” says Nisanoğlu. “The IBM solution supports multiple connection types, including web connections, SSH, SecureCRT and RDP, allowing us to comprehensively protect our environment. Today, 100 different users within BELBİM and more than 40 external companies have privileged accounts that we manage with IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault.”

Using IBM technology, BELBİM offers its users secure access to business-critical applications such as financial systems infrastructure and database. The organization leverages built-in features to store privileged credentials in an encrypted, centralized password vault. Because the IBM solution monitors and records all privileged sessions, BELBİM gains a full audit trail.

Nisanoglu explains: “Using IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault, authenticated users can securely connect to any system without needing to know the administrator password. “We now have full visibility into privileged accounts and every keystroke they make is logged by IBM software.”

Strengthening security, empowering users

With IBM technology and BBS expertise, BELBİM is in a better position than ever when it comes to the security of IT systems. The organization has gained additional layers of protection against internal and external threats without disturbing users.

“Passwords are like the front door key to our organization: our first priority is to secure them,” says Nisanoglu. “With IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault and BBS, we rely on this first line of defense against compromise of our systems.”

BELBİM benefits from significant efficiencies by automating important tasks using the IBM solution. The organization's IT team spends fewer resources managing privileged accounts and demonstrating compliance with legal obligations.

Nisanoğlu commented, “Since our project with IBM and BBS, we have seen significant cost and time savings.” “For example, we save 40 percent on PAM licensing. We spend 50 percent less time managing privileged accounts and granting access to new users. “Our IT security teams spend 20 percent less time investigating and reviewing PAM incidents, and we can create the reports regulators need in 80 percent of the time it took before.”

BELBİM plans to extend the solution with IBM Security Verify Governance to optimize user access beyond privileged accounts. As the organization explores how Istanbul can make life easier for its citizens and visitors, IBM Security solutions help it achieve its goals as it moves towards a zero trust strategy.

Nisanoğlu said, “By introducing elements of IBM's zero trust approach to security, we are increasing our cyber resilience while empowering our users to work effectively. As a result, we can focus on our core mission: keeping Istanbul vibrant for citizens and visitors alike.”

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