You're concerned about the security of your company's IAM. What's the best way to protect it?

Assess Your IAM Risks The first step to secure your IAM is to identify and assess the risks it faces. These risks can come from internal or external sources, such as malicious hackers, disgruntled employees, human errors, or outdated policies. You should conduct a regular and comprehensive risk assessment of your IAM, covering aspects like user identities, access privileges, authentication methods, authorization policies, audit logs, and compliance requirements. Based on the results, you should prioritize and mitigate the most critical and urgent risks.

Garantir a seguran?a do IAM requer uma abordagem multifacetada. Inicialmente, é essencial implementar autentica??o multifator robusta e revisar regularmente as permiss?es de acesso. A monitoriza??o contínua, utilizando solu??es de detec??o de anomalias, ajuda a identificar comportamentos suspeitos. Além disso, investir em treinamentos de conscientiza??o para a equipe e realizar auditorias periódicas fortalece a postura geral de seguran?a do IAM, assegurando a integridade e confidencialidade das informa??es críticas da empresa.

If you don't know where to start, I'd suggest to use some industry framework to guide you to perform this assessment. I specifically used CIS controls (now on version 8) to check those boxes and review where you need to make improvements. Some risks might be on decentralized environment which either you have multiple identity solutions or no IAM at all. Keep in mind that the weakest system will be used to compromise your network, so start by reviewing ALL your systems and their authentication controls (including non-production as they can easily move laterally). Isolate critical and non-critical environments and try to centralize your identity management

There are steps you can take for an identity and access management risk assessment. 1. Establish your entire IT and cloud environment. Specifically note the applications or data that are business critical or extremely sensitive 2. Have a risk assessment workshop with involved stakeholders. Identify threats and determine the consequences 3. Define your overall risk picture including what risks are acceptable and what are in violation with your internal goals or industry regulations 4. Plan and implement risk reduction and prevention with proper Identity and Access controls

3 Reasons to Implement MFA: Over 80% of data breaches caused by hacking in 2019 involved brute force or the use of stolen or lost credentials. Systems with simple username-and-password combinations are hacked at an alarming rate, causing them to be incredibly vulnerable. If passwords are stolen but MFA is enabled, the thief won’t be able to penetrate the system without the additional authentication needed to access the account. There are several ways to implement MFA, allowing you to make the best decision for your employees and your IT environments.

Implement MFA and SSO Two of the most effective ways to enhance IAM security are multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO). MFA requires users to provide more than one piece of evidence to verify their identity, such as a password, a code, a fingerprint, or a device. This makes it harder for attackers to compromise user accounts or credentials. SSO allows users to access multiple applications or services with one set of credentials, reducing the need for multiple passwords and simplifying the login process. This improves the user experience and reduces the risk of password reuse or loss.

I completely agree that MFA and SSO are powerful tools for enhancing IAM security. By requiring multiple factors, attackers need to compromise more than just the password, significantly increasing the difficulty of unauthorized access. Even weak passwords become less potent with MFA in place. SSO reduces login fatigue and frustration. Simplifies credential management and reduces the risk of password sprawl. Allows for easier tracking of user activity and potential security incidents.

Estamos falando, nesse caso, de um caso onde a seguran?a encontra a experiência. Ter uma estratégia de SSO para equalizar a experiência e fortalecer a seguran?a - principalmente - daqueles sistemas legados que n?o permitem autentica??o forte é um diferencial importante atualmente e se juntarmos a isso, controles de MFA, os riscos passam a ser mitigados de maneira mais efetiva. Sabemos que já existem técnicas de bypass para algumas implementa??es de MFA mas ainda assim, isso n?o é algo totalmente trivial. Se pensarmos na mitiga??o de riscos, a dobradinha SSO + MFA te deixará na frente de muitas outras organiza??es e o cliente interno poderá ser um grande promotor se a experiência for satisfatória.

Benefits of adopting SSO are: ? Reduced administrative costs- helpdesks resolve fewer password reset requests because it’s simpler. ? Leverage existing investment- legacy LDAP and Active Directory deployments exist in many organizations ? Time savings- users don’t have to continually open their own “password database” ? Increased user adoption- applications that are easy to access are more likely to be used ? Increased security- follows LDAP and AD architectures. SSO allows users to integrate web services with an authentication method that can integrate authentication with LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) server, or perform single sign-on by authenticating using a token instead of a password.

Best Practices for Implementing RBAC Implementing a RBAC into your organization shouldn’t happen without a great deal of consideration. There are a series of broad steps to bring the team onboard without causing unnecessary confusion and possible workplace irritations. Here are a few things to map out first. 1. Current Status 2. Current Roles 3. Write a policy 4. Make changes 5. Continually Adapt A core business function of any organization is protecting data. An RBAC system can ensure the company's information meets privacy and confidentiality regulations. Furthermore, it can secure key business processes, including access to IP, that affect the business from a competitive standpoint

Another sophisticated use of RBAC is the integration of Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) elements. ABAC can use a range of attributes, such as the time of access, location, and the sensitivity of accessed data, to fine-tune access controls. The integration of both (the hybrid approach using RBAC + ABAC) allows for more nuanced, context-sensitive access decisions.

The implementation of RBAC should be based on security policy and, at high level, be: ? Cost effective ? Scalable ? Granular ? Easy to administrate ISO 27001 (Standard for Information Security Management Systems) underscores two objectives for user-access management. They are to ensure authorized user access and, prevent unauthorized access to information systems.

RBAC is the best you can do to automate access provisioning based on the functions and access required to perform that function. Using the least-privileges or zero-trust, you would map the strictly necessary access and correlate with that role. Although, it's simple to say and very hard to implement - just list number of positions your company has, you will need to map accesses required on each roles and each systems and you will understand that. Also, keep in mind this is not a one time activity, you will need to have an access review routine/process in place to validate if those access makes sense for each roles, make reviews on new systems deployments, etc.

Use Role-Based Access Control Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a method of granting access to resources based on users' roles and responsibilities, rather than their individual identities. This makes it easier to manage and monitor access permissions, as well as enforce the principle of least privilege, which means giving users only the minimum access they need to perform their tasks. RBAC also helps prevent unauthorized or accidental access, as well as comply with regulatory standards and policies.

Monitoring is definitely important. you can have the best tools and processes, but if you don't monitor it, you will suffer a breach. You may need to consider bringing the IAM logs into a SIEM solution and create some detection alerts to let your cybersecurity team know when some possible malicious activity were identified, so they can review and action whenever necessary. On my experience, even if you have MFA, you can detect attack attempts which can indicate that you became a target, staying vigilant. You can also correlate with other log sources to identify potential breached accounts or devices, so the incident response team can isolate and prevent major issues

Monitor and Audit IAM Activities Another important way to secure your IAM is to track and review activities and events related to it. This includes logging and auditing user actions, access requests, policy changes, system settings, security incidents, and anomalies. Monitoring and auditing IAM activities can help you detect and respond to potential threats, breaches, or violations, as well as identify and fix any errors or weaknesses in your IAM system. You should also use tools and metrics to measure and report the performance and effectiveness of your IAM.

Regularly involving your IAM staff in security drills and simulations is a highly effective method to ensure they are well-prepared to tackle emerging challenges. These exercises can assist individuals in gaining a deeper understanding of potential threats and perfecting their response strategies in a controlled environment. In addition, promoting a collaborative environment is crucial for IAM staff to freely exchange knowledge and experiences. It is important to encourage active participation in professional cybersecurity forums, attendance at relevant conferences, and engagement with external IAM experts and communities.

Update and Train Your IAM Team Finally, you should ensure that your IAM team is up-to-date and well-trained on the latest IAM technologies, standards, and best practices. Your IAM team is responsible for designing, implementing, maintaining, and improving your IAM system, as well as supporting and educating your users. You should provide them with the necessary resources, tools, and guidance to perform their roles effectively and securely. You should also encourage them to stay informed and aware of the evolving IAM landscape and challenges.

When implementing an IAM solution, security should be top of mind. Also, the entire data should be encrypted both in transit and at rest.?Use strong authentication methods, such as two-factor authentication or biometrics, to protect sensitive data and systems. And make sure all users have the appropriate levels.

While there are numerous recommendations to improve IAM. It is important to categorise and enforce these measures. 1. Preventive Controls: ? Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) ? Strong Password Policies ? Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) ? Least Privilege Principle and Secure Configuration ? Encrypting Data in Transit and at Rest. 2. Detective Controls: ? Regular Audits of User Accounts and Access Permissions ? Continuous monitoring tools. 3. Corrective Controls: ? Robust Incident Response Plan ? Regular Software Updates 4. Compensatory Controls: ? Employee Training (While primarily preventive, it can compensate for potential human errors and enhance overall security posture)

While the 5 actions already mentioned are equally important, Continuous IAM Threat Modelling and implementation of effective preventive methodologies can also help address the risks.