Intelligent CISO Issue 23 | Page 34

P RE D I C T I V E I NTELLIGEN CE system. The fanciest, most high-tech authentication protocols won’t mean a thing if legitimate users are over- authorised. Pretty creepy, right? 3. Biometrics In the authentication framework, biometrics are a factor linked to something you are, and they can be incredibly difficult to steal, spoof or lose. That’s what’s so strong about them. Typically, people think of biometrics as things linked to physical characteristics – like eyes and fingers. They’re something you’re born with, right? Not necessarily. Yes, physical characteristics that you’re born with still account for the largest portion of biometric use cases. But there’s another category: behavioural biometrics. Your voice, gait, your way of typing and a whole host of other unique characteristics are all a part of this group. These ‘life measurements’ are acquired over a lifetime and may change subtly, all while remaining as unique as a fingerprint. 4. Federation and single sign-on To nail down the differences between these two terms, let’s start by explaining the comparatively simple structure of an SSO authentication environment. Single sign-on allows you to sign on once with a service provider for a range of services, allowing that one authentication event to give you access to a suite of services. There are plenty of services that enable SSO and the beauty of SSO is how frictionless it is for users. 5. Federation This works slightly differently, as it isn’t just requesting access from a single service provider. There’s still one sign-on involved on the user’s end, but not on the back end. Instead, federation relies on a trust relationship between multiple service providers, with a single source for that trust. So, the user signs on to the source of the trust relationship (a centralised identity provider or IDP) with all of the necessary credentials once. Attempts to access federated services will involve re-authentication through that IDP. You won’t be using credentials to access those diverse services – the 34  Because it can be devastatingly successful, cybercriminals have continued to innovate. IDP will be sending them out. Same time savings as SSO and similar risks if the IDP is breached. 6. Zero Trust A Zero Trust model says that anything coming onto your network (person or device) has to have a positive identity that’s verified by the system. Put simply: ‘Trust never, always verify.’ That way, access is restricted to licit users and devices: trusted entities. When hundreds or even thousands of Internet-enabled devices are able to come on the network of a large organisation, it’s crucial to give them access rights commensurate with what they need from the network – which shouldn’t be much. So how does a Zero Trust security posture contribute to a safer organisation? Basically, it makes sure that what’s on your network belongs there and heads off breaches by unauthorised devices that may not be properly configured. It also addresses vulnerabilities arising from use of your network’s resources by devices that may be communicating remotely over an insecure Internet connection. Finally, it keeps users from bringing in their own less-secure devices and inadvertently causing a breach. No one wants to be that guy. With a Zero Trust security model, they wouldn’t get the opportunity. 7. Phishing Phishing, as you probably know, continues to be one of the most common security scams. Through email (the usual source), text, phone, or even messaging, social media and productivity apps, crooks attempt to steal user data. Usually, they’ll pose as a legitimate organisation and steal a bit of formatting from licit communications from those organisations. The goal is to get people to click a malicious URL, log in to a fake site or download a virus-ridden attachment. Because it can be devastatingly successful, cybercriminals have continued to innovate. They all want to Issue 23 | www.intelligentciso.com