New technology means: new threats

Every employee who wants to work effectively in any organization, needs to have fast and easy access to the systems and information, no matter where they are (at home, in the office or on the road). Most of the organizations do recognize the need for this access, but they also realize that they should be able to handle  the risk of security breaches. This demand for secure access means a big challenge for the IT team of the organization. They must meet the demands of a great diversity of employees on numerous platforms.

Different demands

For example, a new fellow worker is hired and needs to be able to login quickly. Or: the access rights of a departing employee have to be revoked within 24 hours. Transfer of employees within departments also require change of access rights. That is why every organization needs a flexible and agile identity and access management (IAM) solution.

IAM solutions

A solution which can:

  • handle access rights for different categories of users who are using different devices to access various types of data and workloads.
  • integrate with a wide variety of  information systems. They allow users to access the information they need, no matter where it is stored.
  • control risks related to cloud computing, in which the information is spread over a much wider area, reason to protect the organization’s data even better.

Even though systems like firewalls and intrusion detection still play a vital role in network security, organizations cannot depend fully on them to protect confidential data. As the threats change, so must the organization’s security strategies.

Authentication and authorization

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a solution that allows users to access appropriate organizational resources, at the right time. It works on authentication and authorization. The combination of the two processes makes sure that only specified users have access to the needed resources, while keeping away the unauthorized users from confidential information.

When a user tries to access a system or data, the system must first verify the claim of identity, using an authentication process. This can be prompting for a password, or advanced technologies like facial recognition, biometrics, token-based authentication etc. Once the authentication process is complete, the system must ensure that the user is able to access data or resources only within his scope of authority.

Reducing risks and costs

Without a centralized IAM solution in an organization, IT staff usually manages authentication and authorization on various technical platforms. These platforms may support different business functions.  They can range from internally used data sources to customer, facing critical applications. Considering the risk of human error and the cost of operations and maintenance of such a model, it is way effective and secure to have a centralized IAM solution. An effective Identity and Access Management solution can help an organization with secure, efficient and controlled access to the resources at diverse platforms. IAM provides important benefits e.g.:

  • Reduced risk of security breaches:
    A single platform, incorporating authentication as well as authorization functionality, provides administrators with a consistent method for managing access rights of the users. It also helps the administrators. They are in control of access rights of those who leave the organization. Because the system can automatically revoke accesses from all the integrated systems. Automated revocation of rights reduces the risks of security breaches drastically.
  • Reduction in security costs:
    If an IAM solution is integrated with other systems within the organization, it is even more cost saving and efficient in terms of man power and manual effort.
  • Enhanced Business Agility:
    When employees receive access rights via a centralized platform, they can easily use single sign-on (SSO) technology that reduces the number of interactions with systems, which saves time and will be more successful!

Navaio can help you to develop the IAM-solution that fits your business!