Compromised user credentials represent one of the greatest risks to modern organisations. They form a direct gateway for cyber attackers to breach your network and access critical sensitive data. This is partly because identity access issues deal directly with the human element of your business – the aspect that is most at risk of poor decision making and compromise, whether malicious or accidental. Managing your user identity health and access is a pillar of a strong security posture. It is therefore imperative that organisations address identity management as part of the overarching security strategy.

In a digital marketplace, we now see employees accessing networks and assets from mobile devices, via the cloud, and remotely. This means that safeguarding your network via a perimeter is no longer enough. With changing approaches to how people work, it is essential that you have a robust system in place to manage identity and access consistently across your organisation.

Further challenges exist for internal IT and IT security teams in managing the ebb and flow of staff turnover. They must establish new identities for new staff and ensure that access is revoked for departing employees. This constant fluctuation can be time consuming and, without an appropriate solution, lead to major vulnerabilities.

Another fundamental concern relates to password management specifically. According to the LastPass Global Password Security Report in 2019, employees reuse the same password on average 13 times. Strong password management policies, the use of multi-factor authentication, and building your journey to passwordless can all help to negate some of the risks associated with poor password hygiene by employees.

By employing effective identity protection solutions, organisations can address one of the cornerstones of their cyber security needs. Having effective identity and access controls across your organisation – and beyond – can aid greater collaboration without threatening confidential or sensitive data, improve productivity, and most importantly, reduce the risk of credential theft or abuse leading to a breach. According to IBM’s 2016 Cyber Security Intelligence Index, approximately 60 percent of all data breaches are caused by an organisation’s own employees – 75% of which were malicious and 25% accidental.

Given identity and credential theft continue to be one of the top threats to organisations, having a robust identity protection and access strategy is a critical layer to your security. Effective identity protection solutions will also ensure easier adoption of a Zero Trust model. The key principle of Zero Trust is to assume breach in every scenario and verify all requests as though they were from an open network – even in the case of typically trusted devices. This approach ensures that all user access is thoroughly assessed and authenticated providing organisations with a more secure perimeter than just a traditional firewall.

Between risk of breach, reduced employee productivity, and password management administrative costs, it’s easy to see why modern organisations are choosing to invest in effective solutions and methodologies for addressing their identity and access requirements.