Why Identity Is the New Digital Security Perimeter

 The modern cybersecurity world is transforming with the changing security mechanisms, rising sophisticated attacks, and shifting business dynamics.

A few years ago, network firewalls and antivirus software programs were enough to create a protective dome for organizations to function securely. And keeping the security perimeter safe and maintained with these technologies was the only concern as all the business processes happened inside that perimeter.

However, the present business infrastructure is different. Employees, contracts, and vendors work from anywhere they like using the available network. Hence, the perimeter does not exist, or you can say it has extended globally.

As a result, securing an organization’s network, apps, devices, and data has become a huge concern.

Cybersecurity has become vastly more complicated in recent years. The days when antivirus software and a network firewall were enough to get the job done are behind us — if they were ever really here at all. In the past, many IT professionals felt that defending the perimeter really well would go a long way toward keeping digital assets safe. But in today’s IT environment, such a perimeter does not exist.

With the rise of cloud computing, DevOps, the IoT and employees accessing systems with an array of devices from all over the world, the network “perimeter” has become difficult to define. In response, enterprises are shifting their attention toward authentication, moving away from traditional perimeter security methods in favor of strong identity-focused technology like public key infrastructure (PKI), most often in the form of digital certificates.

The answer to securing the new perimeter lies in rethinking how we authenticate and validate identities in the era of digitization.

The ways in which employees access corporate systems have changed dramatically. The shift to remote working, alongside the sheer volume of devices being used to access private networks, must be the wake-up call to reevaluate and modernize security strategies.

The security perimeter has shifted from the office to user end-points, and now finally to the end-user itself and their identity. The question being asked is not whether or not identity is the new perimeter, it’s how can it best be protected?

How can companies ensure that on-premise and cloud services are safe, while employees and third parties are suddenly requesting access to private systems from all over the world?

The answer to securing the new perimeter lies in rethinking how we authenticate and validate identities in the era of digitization.

Unfortunately, in the online domain identities are too commonly guarded with weak credentials like email addresses and passwords. These methods are inherently insecure, leaving companies and their users susceptible to privacy and security threats.

Not only are login credentials at extremely high risk of being compromised in breaches, (Computer Weekly reports that there are over 15 billion credentials for sale on dark web) , users also still disregard password best practices, insisting on sharing passwords, PINs, and other login data, despite the known risks.

In an increasingly connected world, weak credentials expose organizations and individuals to large-scale threats. To make matters more complicated, criminals are exponentially adept at using compromised email addresses and passwords to breach end-points and networks.

Since one set of compromised credentials can enable a bad actor to breach an entire network, it’s imperative that we rethink authentication and identity management.

Conclusion

Identity is the new digital security perimeter for various reasons that you can understand from the above pointers. It will help you secure your systems, networks, apps, and data from intruders by declining access to them and allowing only legitimate users and devices. Thus, enable an identity management solution today for your organization to stay protected.