6 Reasons Access Management is Essential to Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity has become an important part of everyday life for individuals as much as businesses. There are many cyber threats out there, and malware and data breaches are expensive. Attacks can happen in a number of ways, including through the cloud tools you use on a daily basis. In this post, let’s discuss 6 reasons access management is essential to cybersecurity.
On average, an employee uses 36 cloud-based services per day. Controlling who has access to private information and resources is more important than ever. It’s an essential aspect of keeping robust security. Just one compromised account in a business app can have serious repercussions.
Login passwords are a huge profit generator for hackers. Various online accounts are seen as valuable on the dark web. For example, an administrator’s login can bring in anywhere from $500-$140,000.
Make sure that your cybersecurity strategy takes access management into account. If not, you can face severe financial repercussions not to mention the risk a data breach causes to one’s reputation.
We’ll examine six reasons that make access management crucial to good data security. It plays an essential role in maintaining data integrity and protecting valuable assets.
Reasons to Make Identity and Access Management (IAM) a Top Priority
Reducing Insider Threats
Unintentional mistakes or malicious behavior lead to insider threats. These threats can originate from employees or their breached accounts. Businesses can use IAM solutions to implement granular access controls and permissions. This ensures employees are only accessing information necessary for their jobs.
Organizations can lessen insider threats by reducing excessive privileges. Plus, access controls can give insight into user behavior. Businesses can use this data to quickly identify and address unusual activity.
Strengthen Data Protection
For businesses, data breaches can have dire repercussions. They may result in the following:
- Reputational damage
- Financial losses
- Regulation penalties
- Business closure for those who can’t recover
Robust access management strengthens data security. It does so by limiting access to private data. As well as implementing a strong authentication protocol.
User authentication, encryption, and multi-factor authentication restrict who may access what in a system. Data transfers can be monitored and managed by companies with the help of access management systems. This contributes to ensuring data security during its entire lifecycle.
Improving Regulatory Compliance
For many businesses, it is a main priority to stay compliant with a number of data privacy laws. IAM solutions are a huge part of ensuring regulatory compliance. They offer necessary controls and audit trails.
IAM tools also assist businesses in implementing best practices, like:
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Least privilege principles
- Contextual multi-factor authentication
Businesses can use access management to demonstrate regulatory compliance. IAM solutions make it possible for businesses to keep precise records of user access and permissions.
Streamline User Provisioning & Deprovisioning
It can take a lot of time to manually manage user accounts and access credentials. Manual entry is also prone to human error. The possibility of an account breach rises with just one incorrect entry.
Access management solutions streamline the process of allocating and removing users. This guarantees that workers have the proper access privileges for the duration of their job.
Access management streamlines the onboarding procedure upon an employee’s hire. Depending on their role, it quickly creates the required user accounts and permissions.
IAM technologies make ensuring that accounts are promptly de-provisioned when an employee leaves the company in addition to the removal of access privileges. This reduces the possibility of unused or dormant accounts.
Do you recall Colonial Pipeline’s significant data breach from a few years ago? An outdated and underutilized business VPN account was the source of the breach. One that had never been appropriately de-provisioned.
Simplifying the process of provisioning and de-provisioning users boosts operational efficiency and security.
Enable Secure Remote Access
Because of the dawn of remote and hybrid work, organizations now need secure remote access because of this modification.
For faraway users, IAM systems offer safe methods of authorization and authentication. They can now safely access company data and resources thanks to this. IAM is there whether staff members are working remotely, traveling, or using a mobile device to access data. Access control makes sure that they can accomplish this without jeopardizing security.
It includes features like:
- Virtual private networks (VPNs)
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
These help secure remote access. While also maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of corporate data.
Increasing Work Output
Productivity can be increased by utilizing an identity and access management system. Just consider the amount of time your IT or HR staff has to spend setting up user accounts. A lot of time may pass before adding all those login credentials. Not to mention choosing which tools’ user access permissions to grant.
This entire process is automated by IAM systems. They are able to instantly assign the appropriate level of access by utilizing role-based access protocols. In the event that an employee departs, access can be instantly revoked by the system. Your administrative staff will save a ton of time and effort by doing this.
Get Help Setting Up a Robust IAM Solution
Over time, access control has become an essential part of cybersecurity. It improves regulatory compliance, fortifies data protection, lessens insider threats, and accomplishes much more. We can assist you in setting up an IAM system that functions well for you.
Give us a call today to schedule a chat about enhancing your access security.
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