The Role Of Identity And Access Management In Information Security
Today’s digitally empowered world places Identity and Access Management (IAM) at the forefront of any enterprise security plan, as it is inextricably tied to the security and productivity of companies. As more and more companies store sensitive information electronically, identity and access management is imperative to the security and productivity of organizations while ensuring that data remains secure and critical.
In the digital world, rapid changes have impacted all types of organizations and industries. It has changed how organizations manage their workforces and how they provide access to their critical applications and data.
Over the years, the workforce has evolved from a simple to a more complex type of workforce for organizations. In addition to providing access to staff, organizations now also provide access to contractors, vendors, and partners with their own access restrictions
A variety of devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops are used to access data and applications across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid infrastructures.
IAM refers to the discipline of Cyber/Information security that ensures the right people have access to critical systems and resources at the right time. IAM is comprised of three pillars:
- Identification
- Authentication
- Authorization
In order to gain access to any system or resource, the very first step of identity verification into the system is to enter the user’s username.
During the authentication process, the system verifies the user’s identity. The authentication process can be carried out via a simple knowledge-based mechanism, such as a password, or it can be done using more advanced techniques, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) or biometrics.
Following the successful completion of the authentication process, the IAM system initiates an authorization process to ensure that the logged-in user can only carry out the duties that are part of their job function, based on the predefined security policies.
It is not enough for a user simply to prove their identity to gain access. Effective IAM infrastructure and solutions allow enterprises to secure, productive and efficient access to technology resources across these diverse systems while delivering several important key benefits:
Enhanced Data Security
By consolidating authentication and authorization capabilities on a single platform, organizations can maintain user access during the identity lifecycle with a consistent and streamlined process.
As an example, a centralized IAM solution gives IT managers the ability to revoke access when users leave a company with the confidence that the revocation will be effected immediately across all business-critical systems and resources.
It ensures that the terminated users do not retain any access and therefore improves the organization’s Information Security posture.
Reduced Security Costs
The use of a single identity and access management platform within an organization allows IT to perform its work more efficiently. In today’s world, thousands of systems and resources are available to each employee as part of their job duties.
Imagine, if an IT administrator has to grant access to each of these systems manually when an employee joins the company and then again revokes these system accesses manually from each system when the user leaves the organization, it will be a nightmare for IT staff and also a huge monetary overhead for the company to maintain these onboarding and off-boarding processes.
An efficient centralized IAM solution can meet this challenge diligently, saving the organization time and money.
With a comprehensive Identity and Access Management solution, IT costs can be reduced by automating processes that consume IT resources, such as onboarding, password resets, and access requests, which reduce the need for help desk tickets or phone calls
Least Privilege Principle
Least privilege is an important practice of computer and information security for limiting access privileges for users to the bare minimum rights they need to perform their job duties.
With 77% of data breaches involving an insider, it is necessary to ensure access to all your corporate resources is secured and granted using least privilege principle.
In a company, it is common for employees to move across different roles in the organization. If the granted privileges are not revoked as the employee changes the role, those privileges can accumulate, and this situation poses a great risk for many reasons.
It makes that user an easier target for cyber hackers as his/her excessive rights can be an easier gateway for criminals to access the broader part of the company’s critical systems and resources.
Or this can eventually turn into an insider threat where a person gets the ability to commit data theft. Sometimes companies forget to remove these excessive privileges from a user’s profile when he/she leaves the company resulting in security risk where the user can still access the company’s systems freely even after the termination.
A well-designed centralized IAM solution can help organizations eliminate insider threat challenges by utilizing the Least Privilege Principle to a great extent.
A lack of effective identity and access management in the enterprise is a high risk to compliance when considering compliance regulations worldwide such as HIPAA, SOX, and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
Certain regulations prescribe many requirements for the security operations of financial services companies, including the need to monitor the activities of authorized users and maintain audit logs, something identity and access management systems typically do.
Modern IAM solutions and products provide the ability to enforce user access policies, such as separation-of-duty (SoD), and establish consistent governance controls, eliminating access violations or over-entitled users through automated governance controls. This will ensure companies stay compliant with business and government compliance and regulatory standards. Not adhering to these standards could cause companies millions of dollars in penalties.
The world has witnessed an alarming trend in security data breaches (e.g. Yahoo, Equifax, Linkedin, Target, etc.) every year which are both larger in scope and increasingly devastating.
Businesses must be able to guard themselves from these cyber threats within the company and from the unknown exposure points of the internet.
Identity and access management provides a critical security layer against these unknown security vulnerabilities to protect companies from cybersecurity data breaches.
A robust IAM infrastructure can ensure consistent and standard access rules and policies across an organization by providing an important additional layer of protection.
All of these reasons prove the relevance of Identity and Access Management (IAM) for business success and productivity and why should embrace comprehensive IAM processes and infrastructure.
Reading links:
https://www.ibm.com/in-en/topics/identity-access-management
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text above belong solely to the author, and don’t reflect views of the author’s employer, organization, committee, or other group or individual.
