5 IAM Trends Shaping the Future of Security

Identity and access management (IAM) trends are addressing the need for a greater user account and network protection than ever. With advances in modern technology, stealing passwords and hacking into enterprise networks is easier than ever. Years of data breaches stemming from credential theft, attacks targeting privileged user accounts, and poor password practices have led to a major evolution in IAM technology designed to protect enterprise data. Consequently, with the rise of cyber-attacks, the scale and the scope of Identity and Access Management (IAM) will continue to grow healthy.??

Since the IAM space is continuously evolving, organizations identify new trends in IAM to minimize data breaches, meet regulatory requirements, and manage user identities to the greatest extent possible. In this blog, we will go through five major IAM trends shaping the future of security. These trends address the need for a greater user account and network protection . They are meant to mitigate the damage that could be done as network perimeters are erased, organizations move more applications to the cloud, and enterprises increase overall complexity.

1. Moving beyond passwords

One of the major IAM trends shaping the future of security is moving beyond passwords. The call for the elimination of passwords has echoed through the information security world for years, but the technology to make it a reality needed time to catch up. Biometrics has become popular and enables the use of one's fingerprints, face, eyes, or voice for authentication. While this might come across as a fool-proof strategy, there is a security risk involved with this technology. Concerns include what happens if someone's biomarkers can be stolen and realistically mimicked. With various types of cyber-attacks possible, biometric information can be stolen and used for fraudulent operations. While a regular password can be changed if compromised, a user’s biometrics can’t be changed and permanent.

Two-factor and multifactor authentication (MFA) options are becoming far more user-friendly, which is boosting adoption. MFA is also becoming more secure by moving past easily intercepted one-time codes sent via text to the use of physical keys or other devices (often a smartphone) to validate one's identity. Adoption of the Fast Identity Online 2 (FIDO2) standard, including the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) specification, by major web browsers and smartphone manufacturers, is making the implementation of MFA easier on the web and in apps.

2. Privileged access management

The principle of the least privilege is fundamental to IAM , but new privileged access management models include not just monitoring privileged accounts, but also just-in-time access. Long-term over-provisioning, or privilege creep, is often a source of accidental and malicious threats, and a lack of tracking employees' IT access as they change roles is often the root cause of the issue. A just-in-time provisioning model minimizes these risks by determining access based on multiple contextual factors, monitoring privileged account activity, and creating an audit trail to track sensitive data.

3. Cloud IAM models

Another key IAM trend shaping the future of security is the evolution of cloud IAM models. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the priority of getting remote access. Since the cloud is in great demand, organizations have been shifting to cloud services to provide advantages such as efficiency, scalability, and flexibility. More employees work remotely, so enterprise applications and services are increasingly cloud-based. As this trend accelerates, enterprises have sought out Cloud Access Service Brokers (CASBs) to manage logins for cloud technology services, track user activity, receive alerts about potentially malicious activity and ensure compliance with various privacy regulations.

The evolution of this trend has already begun with the rise of Secure Access Service Edge, which combines the functionality of CASBs with other security tools, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), SDWANs, and web access firewalls. While the cloud brings many benefits, a few security concerns should not be ignored.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in IAM

Moreover, AI and ML integrate the list of the major trends shaping the IAM landscape. All these trends are augmented by the addition of InfoSec’s favorite combo: AI and ML. AI and ML are increasingly being used to track user behavior, add context to the ID verification process, and to detect when to block access if that behavior appears anomalous. For instance, leveraging AI programming algorithms for data mining helps discover data patterns that are extremely helpful in reducing fraud and identifying risks.

5. Decentralized identity

Another popular IAM trend here is the decentralization of identity. The main idea here is to replace centralized identity providers and instead let each individual take control and decrypt the data only when required. Privacy concerns over the amount of personally identifiable information being gathered by vendors are pushing the desire for a more secure way to validate user identity.

Blockchain could provide the answer with self-sovereign identity (SSI) capabilities, where individuals control their own personal data. Blockchain offers features like transparency, reliability, and integrity, making it a popular choice for ensuring data protection in both the public and private sectors. By keeping the individual’s information protected by encryption in a permanent blockchain across a distributed network system, this concept offers complete individual control over their identity data. Turning that into reality could prove tricky, however, because the decentralized nature of blockchain makes simply creating the data repository for SSI a difficult undertaking.