The National Social Security Fund for Uganda Leverages Sectona to Improve Compliance and Govern Privileged Access

Case Study | 2 min. read

About NSSF

Industry Quasi-Government

NSSF is a quasi-government agency founded in 1985 to provide social security services to employees in Uganda. NSSF is a provident fund mandated by the government of Uganda for the employers and employees in the private sector not covered under the Government Retirement Scheme. This fund is a contributing scheme responsible for collecting, safekeeping, responsible investment, and distributing retirement funds for private-sector employees. Being the largest pension fund in the East African Region, the Uganda National Social Security Fund manages assets worth over UGX 14 million invested in Fixed Income, Equities and Real Estate Assets.

Challenge

“Over the years, with IT Teams associated with mistrust, Privileged Access Management has come on board to address these issues, as an adversary in the IT security world” remarkably quoted by Simon Kule, Infrastructure Manager at Uganda National Social Security Fund. Privileged Access Management has seen a quick adoption in the East African Region, especially the likes of private sector organizations in Banking and Telecom Industries, prioritizing this to the extent of setting up dedicated office spaces.

At the same time, the Government Sector organizations have been embracing Privileged Access Management to ensure adherence to audit requirements and benchmark. Being a quasi-government agency, The Uganda National Social Security Fund had seen a decline in audit ratings due to a lack of control over users’ actions in the organization’s environment and a dedicated process to manage privilege delegation. Identifying the Gaps, NSSF identified vital objectives they needed Sectona to help them.

Control and monitor access of privileged users in the organization’s environment.
Restrict and Manage delegate privileges throughout their lifecycle with a time-bound factor.
Record and analyze all the sessions for enhanced auditing purposes and enabling granular visibility into the user’s actions.

Solution

NSSF was looking to implement a solution that helps them address critical privileged access management issues, which involves going through a rigorous procurement process, as all the arms of the government are watching them. Sectona provides a purpose-built access platform that brings together different elements to secure privileges across the growing attack surfaces in an organization.

Sectona Leverages a platform developed from scratch, light build and integrated, focusing on automation, and bringing together diverse teams into a single platform, controlling and governing their access through a centralized console, helping achieve the security objectives with the desired velocity. Simon said that “Sectona has made us mature in terms of security, auditing, and ratings laying the foundation for extended business opportunities.”

Benefits

NSSF has successfully implemented Sectona for over two years, granting them control and monitoring capabilities from a centralized console. Simon said that “Sectona is an Easy-to-Use and Affordable Solution with Value for Money. Currently in our third year with Sectona, and all that we have needed have been taken care of.” Also pointing out a crucial benefit, Simon mentioned, “Stuck with audit rating issues for few years, Sectona helped us resolve them, and thereby maturing our audit rating.”