Introducing SAML-Based Single Sign-On for Cloud Apps

Introducing SAML-Based Single Sign-On for Cloud Apps

Today we're excited to announce the launch of SAML-based Single Sign-On (SSO) for cloud applications in Zoho Vault. Available as the part of our Enterprise Edition, the solution will now deliver enterprise-class password vaulting and single sign-on in a single package to deliver seamless login experience to our users .

Zoho Vault serves as a centralized repository for enterprise passwords and helps control access to shared accounts, with multiple levels of permission-based roles assigned to users based on their job titles and responsibilities. IT teams can track user access activity in those shared accounts in real-time with comprehensive audit trails and reports. 

With SAML-based SSO, Zoho Vault will now also provide highly secure, federated access to cloud applications, without users having to enter their credentials, skipping the login screen altogether. The authentication will take place in the background automatically. 

How it works:

  • Administrators configure Single Sign-On for various applications in Zoho Vault by providing the details of all the applications and setting access permissions for users. 
  • Users log into Zoho Vault and click on any of the applications from the Apps page.
  • Users are automatically logged into the application without entering password, skipping the login screen altogether
  • The entire authentication process takes place automatically in the backend without any interruption to the users.
  • In this process, Zoho Vault is technically the identity provider (IdP) and the respective applications acts as the service provider (SP).

Zoho Vault leverages the most secure and widely-used industry-standard, Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), for this SSO configuration. So, Single Sign-On can be readily integrated with any service provider that supports SAML 2.0. Zoho Vault SAML supports a growing list of popular applications at present. If you use an application that supports SAML 2.0 that we don't already support out-of-the-box, you can add them manually with our custom option.

How can single sign-on  help?

  • Unified login experience: Users can log in to Zoho Vault once and gain access to websites and enterprise cloud applications without additional logins.
  • Out-of-the-box integration with popular cloud apps: Zoho Vault offers out-of-the-box SSO support for popular cloud applications, including Salesforce, Microsoft Office 365, Zendesk, Lucidchart, PagerDuty and Box. New app integrations are being added every week.
  • Custom support for SAML-based apps:  Zoho Vault readily integrates with any SAML-based service provider. Users follow a few simple steps to enable SSO access for apps that aren't supported out of the box.
  • Centralized admin control: IT admins can easily manage user access activities and grant or revoke SSO access to SaaS applications.
How to get started?

To get started with single sign-on, first you need to be enrolled in our Enterprise Edition, which now comes with the following capabilities:

  • All the features available in Professional Edition +
  • Active directory integration and user provisioning
  • Password access control (request-release) workflow
  • Notifications on password events 

If you are interested in purchasing our Enterprise Edition and test-drive the single sign-on feature, get in touch with us at  support@zohovault.com.  Also, don't miss to share your honest feedback in the comments section below.