Over the past couple of years, online businesses have come to recognize the importance of robust access controls to limit the potential for data breaches. Covid-19 has only accelerated the need for such controls. What was already a migration to the cloud over the past few years has ramped up considerably during the pandemic to enable access to critical infrastructure for employees working remotely . The speed of these necessary transitions has, in many cases, made security an afterthought.

Online business models have often included monetizing user’s data. It’s a good marketing strategy, but often skirts the privacy implications of storing that data. Shawn Keves, of the Forbes Technology Council, points to a shift in perception. Companies are coming to understand that how they protect their user’s information online correlates directly to the trust those users place in their brand. Legislation such as GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in California indicate that more attention is being paid to how data is used and stored.

Covid-19 Impact

Identity and Access Management is key to safeguarding that data from third-party attacks.  It limits the potential points where an attack can occur by regulating who has access to sensitive data. By taking these necessary precautions, businesses also protect the trust that clients place in their business. A data breach is debilitating for a company, but the use of encrypted identity management can ease the impact by reducing the costs arising from fines, breach notification, and remediation.

Susan Morrow, contributing writer to CSOonline, points out that identity and access management is particularly necessary in the wake of Covid-19. The surge in unemployment creates an opportunity for attackers to access accounts that have not yet been turned off. Additionally, the surge in remote work has fundamentally changed the boundaries of our infracture, incorporating home networks and even personal devices. Cyberattacks have spiked in recent months to take advantage of these weaknesses.

Identity Management solutions, such as TozID, offer a way to manage these risks while ensuring that data security is front and center. Identity management offers many benefits. Here are just a few.

• • Identity Management features including multifactor authentication, single sign on, and zero trust models offer a way to make security controls simple and robust
  • Centralize Permissions Management so that as access needs change credentials are decommissioned quickly, easily, and completely. TozID adds another layer of security through our cryptography-at-the-edge approach, so that control is centralized without also centralizing risk
  • Protect Against Liability Privacy laws are going into place all over the world. Identity and Access Management offers protections against attackers. Adding an encrypted IdM, such as TozID, offers protection against potential fines in the event of a breach.

Risk management is a top concern in the second half of 2020. Encryption and a good IdM system offer layers of security that significantly reduce risk and cost by protecting identities, access to critical infrastructure, and the data that infrastructure and applications contain.

If you are interested in learning more about how Tozny’s Identity solutions can work for you, please drop us a line!