Belgium is notable for its enlightened approach to electronic IDs with the national eID scheme allowing citizens to carry out a variety of online tasks, including securely buying football tickets and rail passes, as well as interacting with government agencies.
According to CyberArk, Belgacom has already started the process of developing an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) environment, along with Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) on its IT systems.
The move to cloud hosting, says the IT security vendor, comes with certain concerns over security, but using CyberArk's privileged account security technology means that the communications operator can ensure that customers' accounts are managed both now and in the future.
CyberArk adds that the programme is important as, if they are mismanaged, privileged accounts can pose a considerable risk in terms of administrative overhead, reduced productivity, audit failure and insider threat.
Commenting on the project, Gil Fromovitch, CyberArk's channel director, said that cloud service providers face the challenge of hosting multiple customers in a heterogeneous environment, whilst protecting their managed systems,
"The ability to demonstrate better accountability to our customers is of paramount importance to Belgacom", said Dries Robberechts, a senior technical consultant with Belgacom.
CyberArk's technology, he added, means that Belgacom can effectively show that it is protecting its customers' sensitive accounts, while improving efficiency.
The technology also, he explained, allows Belgacom to plan for future compliance requirements and seamlessly migrate to the cloud without any security concerns.