Although millions of business owners around the world continue to invest in their companies’ cybersecurity, they’ve failed to introduce the necessary identity-based access controls.
We say this because at least 88% of all companies experienced phishing or scamming attempts in 2019. With the arrival of the pandemic and the increase in remote working in early 2020, it remains to be seen whether this number stays the same, decreases or increases substantially.
To prevent this percentage from increasing, cybersecurity specialists recommend that IT leaders apply identity-based access controls to protect their companies from potential scams.
Why implement identity-based access controls?
The reasons are more than enough to prevent cybercriminals from carrying out identity theft. Here are four essential causes that’ll convince you to implement identity-based access controls in your company.
Workforce identities are on the rise
Over the last decade, the number of companies that have turned to the digital environment has increased considerably. This change is due to technological factors, of course. They could be the digital transformation, the use of mobile devices, or even the Internet of Things (IoT) influence.
As a result, the mass of workers working on the web is increasing every day. In fact, the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) claims that, by the beginning of 2020, the world’s work identities had increased fivefold by 52%.
There’s currently a greater risk of identity-related breaches
This explosive growth in digital workers has a direct impact on companies’ identity management. This means that, as more web-based workers are available, new interdependencies are created between platforms. Also, the number of users, applications, and human devices accessing business systems is increasing.
Therefore, it’s right to say that the digital work mass increase in the last years has caused the amount of identity-related digital attacks to increase.
This has led 74% of identity and computer security professionals, according to the IDSA, not to trust their company’s overall ability to effectively manage and secure all types of identities.
Digital identity breaches can occur on many fronts
Despite the fact that 66% of the identity-related breaches in 2019—and part of 2020—came from scams or phishing, there are other attack fronts that Internet scammers tend to take to undermine companies’ identities.
That being said, in addition to the aforementioned phishing, social engineering schemes, theft of credentials, mismanaged privileges, and brute force attacks, among others, are other means which cyber attackers use can cause all kinds of fraud and identity theft.
Almost all identity-related breaches are preventable
According to the IDSA, 99% of identity security specialists working in the United States believe that identity breaches in their company were entirely avoidable.
This is perhaps the reason that has the greatest impact on the cybersecurity industry. At the same time, it shows that IT teams require better awareness training in implementing identity-based access controls.
Moreover, these experts point out that the necessary measures to prevent these identity-based attacks from happening, which are:
- Security for users
- Improving internal processes
- Better integration of existing technology
- Improved internal identity and security expertise
- Better or wider application of the technology already in place
- The purchase and deployment of new technology
What kind of software can help you improve your company’s identity security?
At this point, secure access software is necessary to protect your company’s assets. At GB Advisors, we recommend you to take advantage of the BeyondTrust’s solutions.
This cybersecurity tool provides a Universal Privilege Manager that offers visibility and control over all accounts and privileged users. In addition, it also provides a Secure Remote Access system and a Password Manager, which protects your entire organization’s users, assets, and sessions.
Finally, our team of specialists is always careful about your needs. Don’t hesitate to contact us in case you require specialized advice on identity-based access controls. Not to mention if you want to try a BeyondTrust demo or free trial.
To read the IDSA full report click here.
