by Rebeca | May 26, 2021 | News, soffid
Imagine this scenario – If you are the CEO of a mid-sized organization with branches in different continents and three thousand employees, how efficiently could you monitor logins?Perhaps, on a bad day, an employee would have lost their Smartphone or lost the paper in which they wrote the password.In such a case, would you identify that one illegal or criminal login from all the 3000 logins that day?
This is why Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions are gaining increasing prominence in 2020 for businesses to protect their interests and sensitive data from theft and violation.While decentralized identity is yet to become a full-blown practice, passwords are still the prime source for protecting data, and IoT devices are continuously being hacked. In this scenario, we are yet to find a universal solution to manage online identities in both the government and the private sector.
Since the IAM space is continuously evolving, organizations identify new trends in Identity and Access Management to minimize data-breaches, meet regulatory requirements, and manage user identities to the utmost extent.
Years of data breaches stemming from credential theft, attacks targeting privileged user accounts and poor password practices have led to a major evolution in identity and access management technology designed to protect enterprise data.
Five IAM trends are addressing the need for greater user account and network protection. They are meant to mitigate the damage that could be done as network perimeters are erased, organizations move more applications to the cloud and enterprises increase overall complexity.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) has the attention of cybersecurity professionals around the world. The identity and access management market growth has roughly quadrupled over just the last three years, and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the visibility of identity & access management (IAM) due to the high priority in getting remote access secured and the increased protection needed around digital transformation initiatives.
In an effort to make organizations more secure, agile and resilient, IAM leaders must improve governance and strengthen privileged access management (PAM) practices to prevent breaches, establish more robust and agile authentication and authorization, and enhance consumer IAM to prevent fraud and protect privacy.
In this rapidly changing business scenario, here are upcoming trends that promise to revolutionize the IAM sector:
1) Adapting Biometrics
As per Global Market Insights, the global biometric market would reach an estimated value of USD 50 billion by the end of 2024. Perhaps one of the rapidly emerging trends in the IAM sector, biometrics like retinal scans, facial recognition systems, and fingerprints, is highly preferred for ensuring authorized users in networked systems. While this might come across as a fool-proof strategy, there is a security risk involved with this technology.
With various types of cyber-attacks possible, biometric information can be stolen and used for fraudulent operations. While a regular password can be changed if compromised, a user’s biometrics can’t be changed and permanent.
To counterbalance this threat, the future trend would involve IAM, which relies on biometric data, to get an additional layer of security for protecting the biometric information.
2) Blockchain
An ideal solution to protect biometric data is that Blockchain has come a long way from being valued at USD 706 million to an estimated USD 60 million by 2024. Blockchain offers features like transparency, reliability, and integrity, making it a popular choice for ensuring data protection with both public and private sectors.
While talking about Blockchain in the context of IAM, the two aspects, the come into play are – Audit trail and self-sovereign identity. Self-sovereign identity is the concept of an individual protecting their entire identity as their personal property rather than let an organization or third-party provider manage it. By keeping the individual’s information protected by encryption in a permanent blockchain across a distributed network system, this concept offers complete individual control over their identity data.
Through the Self-sovereign identity system, the idea is to replace centralized identity providers and instead let each individual take control and decrypt the data only when required.
Audit trail, a user’s entire login history, access request, permission grants, changes performed, or engagement is recorded. This is helpful for an organization in monitoring activities, detecting fraud, and also meets compliance requirements.
3) Single Sign-On Systems and MFA
While MFA is one of the most popular IAM practices, there is still plenty of scope for its improvement as data breaches still occur and cause substantial revenue losses. Adaptive Authentication is the advanced version of MFA, which relies on machine learning capabilities to detect malicious user behavior or illegal entry.
Adaptive Authentication pulls in all the details of user login in terms of login time, device, location, browser, and other data, which helps analyze a login attempt’s authenticity. Based on the analysis, if a login attempt turns out to be fishy, the system will ask the user to fill in an MFA to be authenticated.
Another popular IAM industry trend is Single Sign-on (SSO System) usage with MFA that helps users leverage a unified, singular set of credentials to gain access to networks, data, applications, web, and the cloud.
4) IAM and the Internet of Things (IoT)
With the arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT), there is a massive requirement for Identity Access Management service. Whenever an IoT based device is added to a network, there increases the need to mitigate security risk. Based on a report developed by Microsoft, IoT is increasingly being used across all major sectors, and by 20201, 94% of businesses will use IoT.
Hence, the current priority is to ensure secure identity access management on these IoT devices for restricting the entry of hackers into the network. Devices that can pose a threat could feature smart TVs, security cameras, and smart bulbs.
Another technology that could prove to be a breakthrough is working on IAM systems, which require the system to authenticate a user’s access through numerous devices.
Also, in numerous cases, securing IoT devices would be achieved by embedding the device identities in the processing chip and being an integral part of the hardware.
5) Artificial Intelligence in IAM
An aspect of Identity Management, Context-based identity, is responsible for comparing data about a user who needs to be vetted to authenticate an identity. This data includes numerous behavioral patterns like physical location, IP address, usage, preferences, and machine address.
Leveraging AI programming algorithms for data mining helps discover data patterns that are extremely helpful in reducing fraud and identifying risks. This technique has been highly useful in banking systems across the globe.
6) Identity Access Management for Cloud Services
Since the cloud is in great demand, organizations have been shifting to cloud services to provide advantages such as efficiency, scalability, and flexibility. While the cloud brings many benefits, few security concerns should not be ignored.
Soffid approach to IAM services and solutions is built on core activities, namely, Access Management, Identity Management, Access Governance, and PAM. We help you elevate your organization’s goals towards digital transformation and help develop data strategies in line with revenue maximization and achieve customer satisfaction.
(1) Gartner
(2) Search Security
by Rebeca | May 19, 2021 | open source, soffid
Today’s business leaders face enormous pressure from markets, competition, and the current pandemic, which is radically changing the way we do business and engage with customers. Organizations need to adapt, imagine new revenue models, innovate as never before, and attract a new generation of talent to fuel this evolution and help the business stay relevant.
In the last few decades, organizations large and small have started leveraging the benefits of open source at unprecedented levels. One of the benefits of working with open source technologies or projects is the free sharing of ideas. Open source brings people together to brainstorm and develop a common piece of technology.
The open source web frameworks offer an alternative that shifts the company focus from the centralisation of resources – which has become of little significance – to the adoption of more internationally widespread technologies. The technological exclusive and the supposed guarantees of a private supplier are exchanged for a transparent shared standard.
In the past technology ownership guaranteed a competitive edge over the competition and money could also be made from licensing. The source code of the software in question was a company secret to be protected.
With the growth of the web and the spread of technologies to support the online services, the IT sector has experienced the formation of a very fragmented situation.
In this scenario the big digital service companies have played an important role, at times determining with their economic weight the growth of some of these technologies and the consequent decline of others. New international standards have been set.
At the same time, many cases of successful open source frameworks have emerged which have ridden the wave of the community-driven technologies, i.e. developed and maintained by international teams of independent developers.
The source code of this software is not secret in any way and any part it is composed of is accessible, encouraging ethical transparency and 360° customisation.
In light of the success obtained by these frameworks, today privatising the technologies on which to base their services and products means companies run the risk of reinventing the wheel, rather than concentrating on activities that create solid value. A similar argument could be made for companies that have old assets, spending energy on maintaining obsolete solutions that are going out of use rather than preparing for the migration to modern methodologies.
Compared to open source frameworks the owned ones are more expensive and risk becoming outdated more quickly in a world in constant evolution.
The value of ideas has increased
A shared technological standard on an international level, helped by an open source philosophy, has a superior value compared to the in-house alternatives. The ability to integrate programming languages and different tools effectively and using the resources already created by other developers increases the competitiveness of the web-based platforms.
Considering the rise of open source frameworks the question is not how to centralise control over technology, but how to adapt these resources to our advantage, participating in their progressive enhancement while developing components for company use.
Technology is the tool that allows us to drive value, but this comes from positive ideas to digitalise the company resources available.
With freemium solutions like Soffid, the customer get all the benefits from both sides, from the traditional product and from the open source product. They get a good support, they get a development roadmap and quick security fixes.
Soffid is one Single product, release like open source and including all the features about Identity and access management, priviledge account management and identity governance.
Shall we talk?
by Rebeca | May 13, 2021 | soffid
We have the pleasure to share with you Identity and Access Management Snacks by Soffid, our best topics in Identity and Access Management.ç
Come along to our new friendly “snacks” focused on the latest trends in digital identity
Learn how your users can securely take control over sharing their data and how identity can not just solve these challenges but be a business enabler too.
We’d love to hear your ideas for topics to discuss as well!
We’re always on the lookout for new trends in Identity and Access Management, so follow our Youtube channel and if you like this page, share it now!
by Rebeca | May 12, 2021 | soffid
Digital transformation, Competitive advantage and saving money are driving factors for any organization moving to the cloud.
However, many organizations still need to support their business-critical applications that are running on premises.
To support and secure this reality and enable a smooth migration to the cloud, you need a comprehensive hybrid cloud IAM strategy today.
Hybrid is the reality of a lot of our customers. However, it is also a relative term.
For some customers, who have a lot of complex legacy and mission critical systems running on prem, hybrid cloud simply means moving from physical data centers that they manage to co-location data centers where they no longer manage the facilities and environmentals, but still handle everything inside the cage.
These are typically the customers that are at a scale where the cost of public cloud is more expensive than continuing to manage on their own. Or they are very risk averse and conservative in their approach to IT because they have regulatory or other security concerns.
And then we have customers who have a public cloud-first business mandate. Customers who are focused on delivering value to their users and want to leverage cloud fully to reduce their time to market for any new services.
These customers have fully embraced cloud and are looking for solutions with a cloud-first attitude.
No matter where a customer falls on the spectrum, to trends we discussed on the prior slide hold true.
Digital identity plays a huge role in all of these trends, and I would submit to you that not any old identity solution will do.
You need an identity solution that can be put in the heart of your business, that is flexible enough to meet a broad array of needs across the business, that can fuel exceptional digital experiences for customers, partners and employees, and that has the power and scale to handle Balck Friday volumes of digital traffic every day.
Customers need a true hybrid identity platform that can deliver on the needs of today, as well as in the future, as the technology landscape continues to evolve.
In fact, I ran a poll during Soffid identity live events last year, where a global audience was polled on this exact topic.
When asked how long that they see themselves running in such a hybrid cloud model, more than 86% of the respondents said that hybrid will be their reality for five years or more. These are all customers who are adopting cloud actively.
So what are the challenges that they face and why are they not able to move 100% to the cloud sonner? Well, for these customers they’re ready to get the cost and the security benefits from cloud by moving their business-critical applications. But the biggest challenge is how to transition to the cloud from on premises, which they’ve invested in so heavily over many years, while still maintaining full functionality.
We believe we have a solution that helps you rise to the challenge of our new normal driven by digital transformation, Zero Trust, and hybrid cloud, as well as solve some of the associated problems that our teams are really struggling with.
A recent study found that more than 70% of IT leaders expect benefits from hybrid IAM, primarily in the areas of customer and employee experiences and security. This is important because, as discussed before, our belief is that organizations need an identity platform in order to address all the opportunities and challenges that our current environment presents. And furthermore, organizations need IT delivered from the cloud so that you can focus on meeting all the new demands, while resting assured that you have a solution that meets the needs of today, tomorrow and as well as into the future.
You need a platform that will be there for you as you grow and as your needs evolve. A true identity platform delivered as a service.
Soffid IAM Cloud offers cloud without compromise, no surprises, and great experiences for your customers, partners and employees. A platform that will be there for you as you grow and as your needs evolve. A true identity platform delivered as a service.
Let’s explore what I mean by cloud without compromise. With one subscription, you get complete freedom to meet your full hybrid needs. Not only does this include our cloud solution but also powerful downloadable components that you can deploy into your enterprise to integrate all of your applications, no matter where they are, including on prem and that’s hybrid, which is a maximum deployment flexibility. And you don’t need to compromise on getting a true identity platform.
And no surprises here is what I mean, with one flexible subscription, you get predictable pricing, which means no surprise overage charges because your user logged in more than what was originally projected. You are protected.
You also get complete control of your data with complete isolation of your environment. You choose where your data is stored geographically so that you can comply with regulations. Your data is never commingled with other customers’ data and complete isolation means, no noisy or nosy neighbors affecting your service.
No surprises also means you get the power and scale of providing a consistent service to your users.
Finally with Soffid IAM Cloud you can deliver unparallized and optimized journeys for your users with our advanced intelligent access orchestration capability. With this you can go passwordless or even usernameless to provide the ultimate convenience for your users.
We support any identity type, customers, partners and employees and also devices which are becoming first-class citizens with IoT.
Now let’s take a look at how Soffid IAM Cloud can deliver real business value and benefits that are tangible. It can help you reduce your application development times by 25% to 95% and we can help you reduce your architecture design and planning time by 25% to 80% and we can help you reduce that IAM operations overhead by 40% to 80%
And that enables you to grow your business and it makes your life easy and saves money. Who wouldn’t want that? It means you can focus your energies providing great user experiences.
It means your applications developers can focus on what they do best, which is building great apps rather than worrying about IAM protocols like SAML and OAuth 2. They can quickly add capabilities like passwordless or even usernameless to the experiences with just a few clicks and focus their time on building your business IP.
It means that you can spend less time designing the security features of your apps because your identity and access management needs are handled by a single trusted vendor. This way you don’t have to worry about stitching together multiple products from different companies but rather reduce operational risk and you can meet security regulatory and compliance requirements and we do all of that while reducing your infrastructure needs.
You spend less time running systems and more time delivering value to the business and that’s just undeniable.
And you can do all this while leveraging Soffid IAM Cloud. However, if taking a different path to the cloud journey including your hybrid needs, we have another options as well and that includes our self-managed option. You can deploy this very rich platform on premises in any public cloud or in a hybrid fashion.
by Rebeca | May 6, 2021 | cybersecurity, News, soffid
Today is World Password Day. Every year on the first Thursday in May World Password Day promotes better password habits. Despite what is going on in the world this might be the most important Password Day there has been.
With so many of us working from home our cybersecurity will be stretched to the limit. The basis of great cybersecurity is using strong passwords. So to a good way of improving your security is making sure employees are using strong passwords for all accounts your business uses.
Why is World Password Day so important?
Well despite all the warnings about using the same weak passwords on our accounts, we are still doing it. We are still making it easy for cybercriminals to hack into our accounts. If a hacker gets access to one account and you use that password across different accounts, they now have access to all of them.
A survey held in the UK by password manager LastPass found some shocking behaviours around using the same password.
- 92% know that using the same or a variation of the same password is a risk, but:
- 50% of us do it regardless!
Passwords are now an expected and typical part of our data-driven online lives. In today’s digital culture, it’s not unusual to need a password for everything—from accessing your smartphone, to signing into your remote workspace, to checking your bank statements, and more. We’ve all grown used to entering passwords dozens of times per day, and because of this, we often take passwords for granted and forget how crucial they are.
With that in mind, what steps can you take to ensure that your personal data is protected at all times?
Consider a password overhaul—at home and at work
We know… just the mere thought of coming up with (and remembering) yet another new password is daunting. The average person has about 100 different passwords for the various tools, apps, websites, and online services they use on a regular basis. With so many passwords to keep track of, those familiar “Update Password” prompts tend to get bothersome.
But, unfortunately, we live in a world of constant hacking attempts and security breaches. While changing passwords may be inconvenient at times, following this password best practice can help prevent the following data catastrophes:
- Giving hackers easy access to your most sensitive accounts
- Breaches to multiple accounts that share the same or similar passwords
- Attacks by keystroke loggers who steal common login credentials
- Loss of data through shared (and easily stolen) passwords
Although it requires time and patience, password protection is one of the most important things you can do to safeguard your personal, professional, and sensitive data. The list below includes four easy and practical tips for creating better password policies.
1. Increase the complexity and length of each password
There’s a reason that websites and online services provide so much direction when prompting users to create new passwords. Variation in both the complexity and length really does matter when it comes to protecting your accounts. Always incorporate both upper and lowercase letters, numbers, special characters, and symbols into each password you create.
When used in combination, complexity and length make passwords much harder to guess at random. This tactic also prevents users from relying on common phrases or personal identifiers (such as date of birth) when making new passwords. A password that contains only lowercase letters of a simple phrase is much more vulnerable than a complex combination of different characters.
2. Use a password manager
Password management software takes some of the brunt out of remembering the many different combinations you use around the internet. Generally, a password manager requires the creation of one master password. Then, you’ll be given the option to connect different logins that are then placed into your password “vault.”
Many password managers also encrypt passwords to create an additional layer of protection. This means that once you’re logged into the password manager, you may be able to login automatically to different websites, but the exact characters of your unique passwords aren’t always visible.
3. Never store passwords in plain sight
Although it’s tempting, you should never record passwords on paper or in plain sight somewhere on your desktop (such as on a notes app). These methods are easy to spot, which makes them even easier to steal. Additionally, it’s not very difficult to lose, misplace, or throw away passwords that you store on paper.
If you ever need to share passwords or login credentials with another individual (perhaps a family member or an approved coworker), always choose a secure method. Password management software also comes in handy when you need a secure way to share passwords.
4. Use multi-factor authentication wherever possible
Strong passwords make a big difference, but sometimes, additional security is necessary. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is the process of protecting your digital password with a physical form of identification. For example, when you enter your password into an online account like Gmail, you may receive a code to your mobile phone that you’ll have to enter for an extra line of security. MFA is an effective way to prevent cybercriminals from accessing passwords via third party online systems.
Multi-factor authentication can be conducted in a variety of ways—it might include a quick fingerprint scan, a phone call, a text message, or a code. While MFA does add another roadblock to accessing your account, it’s a simple, yet powerful way to strengthen data security.
Enhancing your unique passwords is just one of the many ways that you can lock down any potential vulnerabilities and prevent cybercriminals from accessing your information.
Sources:
(1) Infotech
(2) Techsecurity
