Across the globe, identity-related incidents are on the rise. This makes identity management all the more important. This article takes a closer look.
Across the globe, identity-related incidents are on the rise. This makes
identity management all the more important. This article takes a closer look.
Generally speaking, identity management makes sure that individuals have appropriate access to IT resources within an organization’s domain. It has become a standard practice for end user entities across the globe, due to various identity-related incidents. A 2022 report by the Identity Defined Security Alliance indicates that 84 percent of respondents had experienced an identity-related breach in the past year, and 78 percent cited direct business impacts as a result.
This makes identity management more relevant and critical than ever. “Identity management is the one of the cornerstones of cybersecurity. Indeed, Gartner states that 75 percent of cyber insurance providers will mandate the use of just-in-time identity and privileged access management principles by 2025,” said Ketan Pyne, Identity and Access Management Expert at Thales. “There are several components that can be incorporated to create a credible cybersecurity solution including identity and access management, endpoint monitoring and protection, endpoint geo locating and geo fencing data, role-based access control, and encryption.”
“The ultimate outcome to a sound identity management is to provide dependability and trust, ensuring that only properly authenticated users, whether individuals or devices, are granted access to specific portals or applications, and systems for which they are authorized. It is a key component to thousands of systems we use daily in our lives,” said Alex Tan, Regional Sales Head for ASEAN at IDEMIA.
Growth drivers
The growth seen in identity management solutions is expected to continue. According to Grand View Research, the global identity and access management market size was valued at US$15.93 billion in 2022 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 12.6 percent from 2023 to 2030. Below we look more closely at what’s driving demand and growth for identity management.
Increased cyber threats
Indeed, the rampancy in
cyberattacks has been a major driver. “Software vulnerabilities are not the only path to successfully exploit a resource. The second attack vector is poor identity management. There are no software patches for poor identity management but rather meager organization hygiene from improper least privilege configurations all the way through faults in joiner, mover, and leaver processes that can allow threat actors to compromise resources just as effectively as the most critical vulnerability. This is why identity management is so important today and organizations of all sizes should consider identity security as their next strategic initiative to protect their resources and assets,” said Morey Haber, Chief Security Officer at BeyondTrust.
Rise of the remote work phenomenon
According to Pyne, the rise of the
remote work phenomenon also contributed to the identity management trend. “With many organizations now having disparate and remote workforces, they need to validate individual credentials to make sure users are who they say they are,” Pyne said. “This verification of workers when connecting to enterprise systems – whether that is on-premises and/or in the cloud – has been by far the biggest driver of demand for identity management services.”
Compliance
The rise of data compliance standards, governance and privacy, meanwhile, has also been a huge driver. “Governments around the world are beginning to embrace the cost and effect and benefits of digital-led transformational initiatives to their national development program and thus has made identity trust a paramount enabler in delivering services correctly and efficiently to the rightful stakeholder. The same is for the business enterprises in private sectors in streamlining their operations and efficiencies for business agility,” Tan said.
Verticals that can benefit
Due to identity management’s growing importance, it’s pretty much needed in all industries. “While identity management is essential across all verticals, sectors like energy, critical infrastructure, financial services, and healthcare can derive unique benefits due to the sensitive nature of their data and operations. However, every industry can leverage the benefits of integrated, converged solutions for enhanced security, compliance and automation,” said Willem Ryan, Senior VP for Marketing and Communications at AlertEnterprise.
Yet different identity management policies and tools should be implemented according to the size of the organization. “As an employee joins the company, changes roles, or leaves the organization, the small business should ensure their accounts are created, modified, and deleted in a timely fashion in addition to any rights, permissions, and privileges that might be assigned. For a large organization, this simple process and security best practices can be incredibly labor intensive and prone to error. This is where Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solutions come into play, and Identity Security solutions identify the risks and threats that arise from employee activity and potential misconfigurations,” Haber said.
Addressing end users’ challenges
Finally, a good identity management solution should address end users’ common challenges and pain points. These include siloed systems, complex access rights and constantly changing regulations.
“A good identity management solution provides a unified view of an individual or entity’s access rights across the organization, ensuring security and compliance as well as automating error-prone and time consuming manual processes. It spans across the total workforce including employees, contractors and visitors. It is cloud software-based and converges cyber-physical security, deeply integrated with other systems including physical access control (PACS), HR and IT systems like SAP and ServiceNow and operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems,” Ryan said.