This ‘ identity transformation ’ is the natural next step in meeting modern challenges with a comprehensive , centralised approach .
FEATURE
Businesses of all sizes have had to accelerate digitisation across the entire business in recent years , as the adoption of hybrid working practices forces them to make changes to ensure operational continuity . By digitising processes and embracing the cloud , businesses have delivered faster , more flexible and more resilient services for employees and customers .
The rate of cloud adoption shows no signs of relenting . Gartner forecasts worldwide public cloud end-user spending to reach nearly US $ 600 billion in 2023 . This growth presents a multitude of opportunities , but the compounded cyber-risk that comes with a widening digital footprint presents IT and security teams with an immense challenge .
IT teams now need to manage and secure a domain of on-premises and cloud resources , corporate-owned and personal devices , and employees working across various operating systems such as Windows , iOS and Linux . This ‘ tool sprawl ’ necessitates a step-change in security strategies to manage an organisation ’ s entire estate of devices . However , the natural next step is to instead focus on identities rather than devices ; this ‘ identity transformation ’ is the natural next step in meeting modern challenges with a comprehensive , centralised approach .
A robust approach to identity management
Despite large-scale cyberattacks filling the headlines and the growing emphasis on security in the boardroom , instilling good cyber hygiene into an organisation ’ s culture remains challenging . As organisations increasingly rely on digital technology to manage day-to-day operations and take advantage of working on cloud and hybrid environments , IT admins handle a number of users , devices and applications . The doors for data and systems to exist anywhere and allow organisations to adopt work-fromanywhere practices also leads to cracks appearing and creating security risks for businesses .
Employees demand flexibility , operational efficiency from their IT stack , and robust security . Despite being widely accepted among CISOs and IT admins as the best threat mitigation strategy , the Zero Trust framework is rarely implemented with this in mind . The patchwork of point solutions and MFA applications used in many modern businesses creates a headache of fragmented identities that IT admins struggle to manage centrally . The core ethos of ‘ never trust , always verify ’ only adds friction to a user ’ s day-to-day workload .
This ‘ identity transformation ’ is the natural next step in meeting modern challenges with a comprehensive , centralised approach .
As we advance , organisations should put identities at the heart of their IT security strategies , leading to IT departments moving from patchwork solutions and on-premises Active Directory environments . A robust Identity and Access Management ( IAM ) strategy is the most effective way to protect organisations ’ wider attack surfaces .
Changing the definition of identity
Contextual access policies go further than the traditional definition of an ‘ identity ’, combining the standard features of employee name , device and access privileges with behavioural and geographic data . For example , an employee in London who rarely travels and never works on the weekend should be challenged if they try to access a www . intelligentciso . com
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