Identity Management Day

A deep dive into the significance of secure identity management

Much like how identity management adapts to emerging cybersecurity risks, cyberthreats are constantly transforming in response to the shifts in the identity management landscape. It's vital for organizations to stay constantly updated on the latest developments. So, every April on the second Tuesday, April 8 this year, Identity Management Day is organized by the Identity Defined Security Alliance in collaboration with the National Cybersecurity Alliance to raise awareness of the fundamental role that identity management plays in the digital age.

On this day, business professionals, IT decision-makers, and the public are given the opportunity to learn about identity management, emphasizing the role of identity awareness in organizational success and sustainability in the modern era.

What is identity management?

Identity management is your organization's first line of defense against threat vectors. It involves creating users, managing, and securing their access to resources, and deleting user accounts when the user is no longer part of the organization, ensuring that identities have only the necessary access permissions. Picture it as a security guard, allowing only those with the proper authorization to access your company's data.

Apart from human identities, identity management also includes protecting non-human identities, such as devices, applications, digital certificates, and cryptographic keys, each of which carries its own risks that need to be mitigated and managed.

But managing identities on such a large scale seems nerve-wracking, right? How do you begin to track thousands of user identities and ensure that each person is granted the right level of access without compromising security? That's where IAM solutions step in.

How IAM keeps you safe

Identity and access management solutions are the first door to open to find a comprehensive tool to secure and manage user identities and their access to various systems and resources. If you're looking for a reliable IAM solution, keep an eye out for these must-have features:

• User life cycle management: Take control of the entire user life cycle, from onboarding to offboarding, including role modifications, across various systems through cross-platform integration.
• Identity federation: Let users leverage a single identity to access resources across different systems, eliminating the need for multiple credentials while ensuring both security and centralized identity management.
• SSO: Make things easier for users by reducing login fatigue, as they only need to authenticate once to securely access a suite of business apps.
• Adaptive MFA: Add an extra layer of security with various authenticators based on contextual factors to protect resources and sensitive data from unauthorized access.
• Role-based access control (RBAC): Grant access based on user roles, ensuring they have only the permissions necessary for their job responsibilities and reduce the risk of excessive access.
• Audit and reporting: Track user behavior and resource access to gain valuable insights, detect potential security risks or breaches at an early stage, and stay in line with various industry regulations.

As organizations grow and evolve, maintaining a strong security framework becomes important. Regardless of their size, all companies should choose the right IAM solution to ensure robust identity management and security—and that’s exactly where ManageEngine shines. Whether it is an on-premises or cloud environment, ManageEngine empowers organizations to streamline identity management while effortlessly safeguarding their critical resources, making it the perfect fit for businesses of any size.

Surge of identity-centric data breaches

A geographically diverse SMB survey notes that 69% report cybersecurity is woven into their culture, but it's usually only discussed when things go wrong. Why wait for problems when you can start focusing on security today?

A staggering 93% of organizations faced two or more identity-related breaches in just the past year. With AI-driven identity fraud on the rise, businesses really need to step up their game in protecting themselves from financial losses, reputation tarnishing, and the loss of customer trust that comes with the cost of breaches.

However, around 98% of businesses say they consider securing identities a top priority, which is a step in the right direction. But how exactly do we secure identities? Can an IAM solution protect organizations against cyberattacks and and provide lasting identity security? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

What you can do for better identity security

While implementing an IAM solution in your organization is essential for securing systems and resources, there are several other practices you should adopt to further strengthen your defenses. When strong identity management joins forces with proactive measures, you can better protect your business against cyberthreats.

• Awareness training

  Train your employees on security best practices and methods to recognize suspicious activity, encourage them to use strong passwords, and educate them on the modes of phishing attacks. This is crucial for maintaining a strong identity management posture in your organization.

• Organizational security evaluation

  Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to identify entry points for attack vectors in your organization. Fix the weak spots and buckle down on emerging threats before they can cause a real problem.

• Temporary access to external stakeholders

  Issue temporary access credentials to contractors and third-party vendors, ensuring they are automatically revoked once their involvement with your organization ends to minimize the risk of extended access.

• Access reviews

  Periodically reassess user access rights and permissions across all resources and applications to reduce the risk of privilege creep and align with the organization's current needs and security policies.

• Compliance with industry regulations

  Stay informed on data protection and privacy laws, and align your identity management practices with legal requirements to avoid fines and ensure proper data handling.

Looking ahead

As we gear up for Identity Management Day 2025, we encourage you to evaluate how your organization addresses its identity management strategy to ensure a strong cybersecurity posture. Businesses can build a robust identity management strategy by following best practices, using the right IAM tools, and staying on top of the latest trends, which will, in turn, protect data and streamline business operations. As the digital world keeps moving fast, we’ve got to keep up. It doesn’t hurt to prioritize identity management to help your organization stay secure, compliant, and prepared for whatever awaits us on the horizon.

As we gear up for Identity Management Day 2025, we encourage you to evaluate how your organization addresses its identity management strategy to ensure a strong cybersecurity posture.