Identity management (IDM) software creates a gated wall that keeps hackers from getting their hands on your business information. This is done by verifying the authenticity of users and managing their permissions to specific IT systems. IAM tools also provide unified access policies, often with single sign-on and multifactor authentication enablement and directory services that provide scalability, optimization, and architectural flexibility.
Unified Access
Unified Access takes the best features from conventional on-premises identity management tools and Identity-as-a-Service offerings to deliver a unified approach to security. It combines authentication, device compliance, and access control functions to create a comprehensive network management platform for wired or wireless environments. Unifying security systems to deliver a cohesive view of users and applications is essential in closing threat gaps. However, the extensive cost of moving legacy systems to new platforms makes it difficult for many businesses to migrate to a new identity security solution fully. A unified approach to identity management increases IT efficiency by folding multiple solutions into one console. This reduces administrative workload and improves user experience.
Data Loss Prevention
Identity management tools help prevent data breaches by ensuring that only the right people can access your company’s files and systems. These tools verify user identities, detect suspicious activity, and report incidents. They also support compliance standards such as Know Your Customer, transaction monitoring for Suspicious Activity Reporting, and the Red Flags Rule. Identity management software will help your business meet uptime requirements, reduce risk, satisfy governance needs, and protect users. In addition, it allows you to control how much access each person has to data and systems while ensuring that everyone with authorized access is actually who they claim to be. Identity management is the IT security discipline and framework for managing digital identities. It encompasses the provisioning, de-provisioning, securing, and authenticating of uniqueness, along with access controls for resources such as devices, network equipment, portals, applications, content, and more. IAM also provides federated identity management, which enables organizations to connect to other businesses via trusted relationships. This approach allows users to log in to their home institution’s system with credentials they already have, eliminating the need to manage multiple sets of credentials.
Multifactor Authentication
Verifying that your employees and third parties are who they say they are is essential when dealing with sensitive information. That’s where multifactor authentication (MFA) comes in. Requiring more than just a username and password makes it much harder for cybercriminals to hack into your systems. MFA combines “something they know” with something they possess or are associated with, such as a phone number or security code sent to their mobile device. Identity management solutions that use MFA will check a login attempt against an existing database of authorized people to access specific resources and services. This information is continuously updated as people join or leave the company and their projects change. Some MFA options will also look at the context of a login, such as the user’s location and the type of device used. Adaptive authentication, which uses an algorithm to calculate the risk of a particular action and then challenges the user with additional verification factors or credentials, is also available. This can help reduce phishing attacks and other threats by blocking unauthorized users before they enter your systems.
Adaptive Authentication
Adaptive authentication allows business security systems to automatically adjust the level of authentication required for different login activities. This will enable organizations to secure their data and procedures while providing a seamless user experience. It does this by deploying granular security policies determining the risk levels for specific locations, devices, and users. For example, you could create a policy that says that if an employee attempts to log in from their home address using their recognized device on their company VPN, they will only require a password. At the same time, other requests will be automatically routed to OTP MFA. These rules can be static or dynamic and may also use contextual indicators like a change in IP, device MAC, geolocation, browser, or other factors to increase security or flag suspicious behavior. In this way, adaptive authentication makes it possible to strengthen login protection when it matters most while minimizing friction, improving productivity, and cutting the number of help desk calls. This can be particularly helpful in financial services or e-commerce industries, where credentials are often compromised through data breaches and sold on the dark web.
Threat Detection
Identity management (IAM) provides policies and solutions that ensure authorized people have access to the technology resources they need for their jobs while making sure systems and data are inaccessible to unauthorized users. It includes provisioning and de-provisioning — onboarding new employees, partners, customers, and other stakeholders — and managing system and network permissions for existing people based on their roles. It also enables single sign-on (SSO) and unified identities that allow people to use one account to log in to different systems at work. Detecting threats that have bypassed prevention is an essential component of any cybersecurity program. This can include common attacks like a denial of service attack that floods systems, servers, or networks with traffic to exhaust resources and bandwidth or ransomware that encrypts files and demands payment to restore access. Threat detection tools use machine learning and other advanced analytical techniques to identify the stealthiest threats. They can also use user behavior analytics to establish a baseline of regular activity to flag deviations that could indicate a breach quickly.
