February 2022 Summaries

Inversoft, Inc., the parent company of FusionAuth and CleanSpeak, has announced the appointment of Andy Grolnick and Kendall Miller to its board of directors, aiming to leverage their expertise in cybersecurity and technology business growth to foster organic development for its software products. Andy Grolnick, formerly of LogRhythm and currently CEO of Graylog, brings over 30 years of experience in scaling technology companies, while Kendall Miller, the president of Fairwinds, offers a strong background in Kubernetes governance and security software. These new board members are expected to guide Inversoft through its next phase of growth, building on the significant achievements of the past year. Inversoft is based in Denver, CO, and its products, FusionAuth and CleanSpeak, cater to developers and online communities worldwide, focusing on user security and content moderation.

The provided text explains Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in the context of Kubernetes, specifically how to implement it using FusionAuth as an OpenID Connect (OIDC) compliant auth server. The article covers the key points of implementing RBAC in a Kubernetes cluster with FusionAuth, including setting up the necessary certificates, configuring OIDC authentication, and creating cluster roles and bindings for administrators and viewers. It also provides examples of how to use the `kubelogin` plugin to authenticate with FusionAuth and run Kubernetes commands as an authenticated user.

FusionAuth has released version 1.33, which includes a ton of bug fixes, official Docker support for multiple architectures, and improvements to the multi-factor authentication (MFA) process. The new release officially supports Docker images for various CPU architectures, allowing users to run FusionAuth in Docker on newer Macs with the M1 chip or in container-based systems like Kubernetes using ARM-based virtual machines. Additionally, there are localization improvements, including automated translation updates and locale ordering for users with multiple locale preferences. Other notable changes include improved messaging around licensing, a breaking change related to security in the Change Password API, and numerous bug fixes and enhancements throughout the release.

Jean Rousseau Franco, the CTO at Maila Networks and Mai Telecom, discusses the integration of FusionAuth into their operations, highlighting its role in addressing authentication, logging, and searching challenges. Maila Networks, a service provider in southern Brazil, aims to deliver exceptional customer experiences with a focus on security. Initially used to replace the Coovachilli hotspot, FusionAuth is now being tested for broader applications such as integrating logins for various WiFi hotspot applications and email servers. Franco appreciates the centralized functionality of FusionAuth, which has streamlined their processes by consolidating multiple servers and applications into a single platform, and emphasizes the cost-effectiveness of FusionAuth as a key reason for its adoption. The implementation is run on an OpenStack cluster with an Nginx server, and Franco notes that FusionAuth has saved considerable time and resources compared to developing a custom application.

Amazon Cognito is a serverless CIAM service with deep AWS integration, offering authentication and authorization through various OAuth grants. However, it has limitations such as inflexible user interfaces, lack of data control, and high costs for SAML accounts after the free tier. Potential customers may want to migrate away from Cognito due to these limitations. A bulk migration involves forcing all users to reset their passwords, while a slow migration allows users to log in with their existing credentials before the old system is shut down. Both methods have pros and cons, with bulk migrations offering speed but requiring downtime and user password resets, and slow migrations minimizing impact on users but taking more time and complexity. Ultimately, the choice between bulk and slow migration depends on specific use cases and requirements.

FusionAuth, a Customer Identity and Access Management platform built for software developers, reported record 168% growth in annual recurring revenue, with FusionAuth alone experiencing a 314% increase. The company's CleanSpeak platform, an intelligent profanity filtering and moderation platform, also saw significant growth. Inversoft, the parent company of both products, exceeded its goals in 2021, adding team members across various departments to support its rapid expansion.