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IBM Cloud account setup

IBM Cloud account setup

An IBM Cloud account is needed to provision and manage IBM Cloud services that make up the reference architectures of the IBM Cloud for Financial Services. Along with the high-level steps to follow, we describe some of the best practices for account setup that will help you satisfy the requirements of the IBM Cloud Framework for Financial Services. In addition, the most relevant control requirements are provided.

  1. Create an IBM Cloud account. For more information, see Create your account.

    It is highly recommended that you use a functional ID that is owned by your company rather than an employee's personal ID. A functional ID is a company-owned email address (such as ibm-cloud-admin@domain.com) used to represent a functional user. This allows for uninterrupted administrative access by the account owner as employees leave the company or are reassigned to other projects.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  2. Set up the Activity Tracker Event Routing service as described in Audit logging for IBM Cloud events. This enables IBM Cloud platform events to be recorded for auditing purposes. Setting this up early in the process is important so that all platform events that occur during the rest of these steps are available in the audit logs.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  3. Upgrade your account to either Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription. For more information, see Upgrading your account.

    It is highly recommended to upgrade to a Subscription account so that you can set up an enterprise. Enterprises offer significant advantages in your ability to scale your environment over time as described in Enterprise account architecture.

  4. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users in your account. Choose MFA devices that align with the defined requirements. This can include hardware tokens (U2F), like FIDO2-compliant security keys, smart cards, or software tokens (TOTP). FIDO U2F standard offers the highest level of security.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  5. Restrict IP addresses from which a user can access the IBM Cloud account. For more information, see Allowing specific IP addresses for an account for more information.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  6. While optional, it is recommended that you enable authentication from an external identity provider (IdP) to securely authenticate external users to your IBM Cloud account. This provides a way for your employees to use your company's single sign-on (SSO) solution.

  7. Enable the IBM Cloud for Financial Services Validated setting in your account. With this setting, you can filter the catalog for services that are designated as Financial Services Validated and indicates that your account stores regulated financial services information. If you enable Financial Services Validated, your account still has access to the full public catalog. For more information, see Enabling your account to use Financial Services Validated products.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  8. Set the session inactivity timeout to 15 minutes. For more information, see Setting the sign-out due to inactivity duration.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  9. Update company profile details.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  10. Set email preferences for notifications. You can receive email notifications about IBM Cloud platform-related items, such as announcements, critical events, security notices, billing and usage, and ordering.

    The following table shows the controls that are most related to this step.

  11. Choose a support plan. For more information, see Basic, Advanced, and Premium Support plans.

Next steps