In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, identity has transformed into the foundational perimeter for organizational security. As companies expand and diversify their technology stacks, the number of software, applications, and infrastructures instances in use across an organization is growing exponentially. Managing who has access to what across these workflows is becoming increasingly complex and is further compounded as modern business operations continue to scale and become more dynamic.
With the widespread adoption of cloud applications, the shift towards remote work, and increase in mobile device usage, organizations are experiencing a significant surge in the number of identities (both human and non-human) that need to be managed. These factors, among the top contributors to identity proliferation, underscore the need for robust Identity & Access Management (IAM) systems.
Unfortunately, the majority of security breaches are linked directly to issues within IAM—specifically mismanaged identities, access, or privileges. Despite the deployment of multiple systems to secure identities, alarming statistics reveal that 90% of organizations have suffered identity-related breaches in the past year, with 80% of these attacks involving compromised credentials.
Challenges in Current Identity Security Practices & Gaps in Existing Solutions
Scalability and Usability: Legacy IAM solutions aren’t best suited to scale effectively with organizational growth and lack user-friendliness. These shortcomings present a fertile ground for newer, more agile solutions, although transitioning away from deeply embedded legacy systems remains a significant hurdle.
Silos Between IT and Security Teams: Typically, business units or IT teams manage identity roles, deciding who gains access to what, while security teams are charged with protecting these identities. This separation of responsibilities often leads to a disconnect between managing access and securing it, which then creates gaps in an organization’s security posture.
Need for Dynamic Approaches: Traditional Identity Security solutions are built around static, group-based policy management using Role Based Access Control (RBAC). This becomes inadequate in today’s fluid business environments where users belong to several groups and their roles change dynamically. Modern enterprises require more dynamic, context-rich approaches to access management that can adapt to changing conditions and user roles and do it automatically.
Identity Security Extends Beyond Human Users: It's not just about keeping people safe – we also need to make sure that machines and devices are secure. Today a company’s assets extend beyond traditional security perimeters with implementation of policies like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Additionally, with migration to the cloud, software, applications and infrastructure are all interconnected through APIs. It’s essential to precisely control which services or workloads can perform specific tasks within this digital ecosystem, making workload identity security a critical aspect for an enterprise.
Ideal State: Comprehensive and Dynamic Identity Security
Looking ahead, the ideal state for IAM involves a comprehensive system capable of managing all aspects of the security lifecycle - discovery, assessment, monitoring, and automation of all related workflows. This system would integrate:
- Context-Rich Decision-making: Making real-time, context-aware decisions about whether access should be granted or revoked, by considering current conditions and historical interactions.
- Automating Access Workflows: Streamlining processes that allow or deny access based on dynamic criteria, ensuring that only the right entities have the right access at the right time and for the right amount of time.
- Continuous Monitoring: Technology and workforce transformations warrant the need for a continuous monitoring solution that can detect and prevent anomalous activity in the current dynamic conditions.
