Cook County is one of the largest county governments in the United States, supporting millions of residents through a wide range of public services. With employees, contractors, and vendors accessing county systems every day, the IT team is responsible for keeping access secure while ensuring users can work without unnecessary disruption.
Cook County’s IT team was under constant pressure to secure remote access while keeping daily operations running smoothly. VPN access relied heavily on passwords, which raised security concerns, especially for external vendors. At the same time, password resets and account unlocks made up a large portion of help desk requests, pulling the IT team away from more strategic work.
Cook County Government
Public sector
Illinois, United States
20,000+ employees and external partners
After implementing ADSelfService Plus, Cook County secured VPN access with multi-factor authentication and gave users a simple way to reset passwords and unlock accounts on their own. Password-related tickets dropped noticeably, access security improved, and users no longer had to wait on IT for routine issues. The IT team gained better visibility and control without adding ongoing administrative work.
Internal users and third-party vendors needed reliable VPN access, but password-only authentication was no longer enough. The county had tried other solutions, but they did not fit well with the existing Active Directory setup. The IT team needed something flexible, easy to manage, and simple for users to adopt.
Cook County chose ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus to strengthen VPN authentication and reduce the volume of password-related support requests. Working with ManageEngine’s onboarding team, the IT team rolled out multi-factor authentication for VPN access and enabled secure self-service password reset and account unlock features.
The self-service portal was made available to both remote users and vendors, allowing them to resolve access issues on their own. Authentication methods were fine-tuned to ensure a smooth login experience, and clear enrollment guidance helped drive quick adoption.
The implementation was led by Sreejith, who worked closely with the county’s IT team to ensure the solution fit its environment and delivered value from day one.
ADSelfService Plus is an identity security solution to ensure secure and seamless access to enterprise resources and establish a Zero Trust environment. With capabilities such as adaptive multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, self-service password management, a password policy enhancer, remote work enablement, and workforce self-service, ADSelfService Plus provides your employees with secure, simple access to the resources they need. ADSelfService Plus helps keep identity-based threats out, fast-tracks application onboarding, improves password security, reduces help desk tickets, and empowers remote workforces. For more information about ADSelfService Plus, visit https://www.manageengine.com/products/self-service-password.
OnboardPro is a ManageEngine service that provides solution implementation to clients upon request. This service includes the installation and customized configuration of ManageEngine solutions. It enables clients to seamlessly begin work without worrying about the complexities of product installation, deployment, and use. Every client environment is unique and requires additional support beyond the basic installation and standard features. With custom onboarding, clients have the option to engage a team of product experts to manage the installation, implementation, customization, and training based on their business needs. For more information, visit manageengine.com/onboarding/manageengine-onboardpro-iam-and-siem-professional-service.html.
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