Series: Trends in Identity and Access Management - Companies are embracing remote work models!
The trend of having remote workers was steadily increasing even before the COVID-19 pandemic. While a number of organizations had well-managed remote working arrangements for their employees, the pandemic has forced almost all organizations around the world to adopt the reality of a remote workforce. Per a recent report, 88% of the companies have encouraged or required employees to work remotely in response to the pandemic.
This sudden, and largely forced, shift of the workforce from working from within the confines of the corporate network to working using personal networks, has caught many organizations unprepared.
For an organization that does not have an IAM program this is both threat and an opportunity. The threat is real - there is increased risk of security breaches, whether through malware, phishing scams, or ransomware, especially because users increasingly use the same endpoint or device for both personal and professional use.
Having an IAM program can help protect organizations against phishing, malware attacks and internal actors. The main aim of an enterprise security program is to protect the crown jewels of the organization, which is the valuable data held in various enterprise systems.
Phishing and malware attacks aim to get regular or privileged credentials from targeted users to gain access to valuable enterprise data. Using technologies such as passwordless authentication (hardware or software based) or Multi-factor authentication (using tokens, mobile apps, text messaging etc.) can protect the organization from a cyberattack, since phishing attacks will not be able to . Similarly, having good password policies (such as periodic password change, mandatory use of complex passwords, self-service password management) help reduce the risk posed by loss of credentials due to a Cyber crime.
Using well-defined, policy-driven access control, including access control for unstructured data elements, can protect organizations against harmful internal actors. A good Identity Governance and Access Management system can be used to define and implement the right policies for Access Control and oversight.
The opportunity to manage Access to the organization’s assets is very real and this is where Formmi can play an important role. We have the experience and ability to quickly help organizations build their IAM program, and develop a IAM roadmap based on their priorities.