How has IAM changed the cybersecurity landscape?

With the advent of modern technologies and solutions, security has become a prime concern with password and network hacking become an increasing reality. It has become an easy task to hack an alphanumeric password in less than seconds.

Unprotected data or data not stored on a private server can be compromised and large-scale breaches can cause reputation damage, financial losses and, most importantly, exposure of sensitive clientele information.

Hence, IAM has become a priority for organizations to add that extra layer of security to the business network and a necessity if your organization has numerous departments with team members holding unique roles.

Through Identity and Access Management, organizations can keep a record of employee activity, moderate access to programs and applications thus denying unauthorized access and detect suspicious patterns, transactions and errors.

Putting the spotlight on IAM

The 2020 Identity and Access Management report puts a spotlight on primary challenges, gaps and what works for organizations and security operations teams when it comes to confidential data, information and workflows:

1) What are the biggest challenges to manage and regulate access in organizations?

• Lack of automated processes – responsibility to manually create and define access roles and regulations
• Dearth of skilled employees
• High usage and dependency on mobile devices
• Minimal availability of budgets
• Unavailability of proper resources and technologies

2) How has unauthorized access been a major cause for concern?

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges with cybersecurity organizations face is with respect to unauthorized access which leads to

• Hindrance in business activities, workflows and daily work
• Decline in employee productivity
• High system downtime
• Increased tickets and support for troubleshooting
• Considerable loss in revenues

3) Which are the leading aspects of IAM employed by organizations?

• Role-based, limited access control
• Provisioning of automated users
• Single sign-on method
• Monitoring of workflows and application access
• Audit reporting

4) What have been the leading factors to adapt an IAM program?

• Cybersecurity
• Minimizing data breaches
• Enhancing operational efficiency

5) Which area is predicted to be a high priority for IAM investment by organizations?

Organizations are carving out funds in annual budgets to leverage:

• Privileged access management
• Identity management and governance
• Multi-factor authentication program

6) Which authentication methods are popularly used and preferred?

• Username and password
• Software tokens
• Out-of-band authentication

How does IAM help your industry?

Right from finance to healthcare, IAM solutions have been offered to secure and manage identities while providing convenient, seamless, and real-time access that consumers demand.