Case Study: Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ) achieves secure, centralized access management with BalaBit Shell Control Box

Protecting Personal Data and Simplifying Access Management

Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ) needed a more secure way to manage SSH access to Linux servers handling personal data for hundreds of thousands of study applicants. Its existing password- and key-based administration made access control and auditing difficult, and LRZ also needed to separate server administration from access management. BalaBit’s Shell Control Box (SCB) was selected to provide a central access control point.

BalaBit implemented SCB with smartcard-based two-factor authentication and centralized access rules, allowing LRZ to control and audit 10 administrators across 100 servers, including Novell SLES servers and NetApp filers. The rollout took about one month and improved security, simplified firewall and audit management, and helped win worker council approval thanks to encrypted audit trails.

Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ)

Dr. Christoph Biardzki

Head of IT Infrastructure, Server and Services Group, LRZ