You may think your business is protected through the standard solutions, like firewalls and rigorous antivirus software. Even with these protections in place, however, vulnerabilities and security gaps are still present, inviting the bad guys to come in and take a tour of your network. Your business needs an identity and access management solution, a critical step to protect your devices from weak passwords, bad actors, and even disgruntled or negligent employees.
It’s estimated that 92% of SMBs deal with identification issues within their organizations, while 82% of their IT departments admit that these issues pose a significant challenge to the overall security of the business.
What is Identity and Access Management?
Your devices can’t discern users and can’t know if the person attempting to log in is who they claim to be.
Identity and access management systems takes the guesswork out of the process by storing and securing user identities, granting access only to members in your team who are authorized. This stops unauthorized users from accessing resources, files and applications and only allows those with administrative privileges to use them.
An IAM will restrict some permissions from users while allowing them full access to files and applications they need to work.
Identity and access management includes platforms like SSO (single sign-on) and MFA (multifactor authentication). Multifactor Authentication can include any combination of identification measures such as facial recognition, fingerprints, one-time passwords, and pushes to a separate device such as a cellphone.
These combined security strategies are effective whether the employee is sitting in the office or accessing data through the cloud on a mobile device.
Compliancy with Local and Federal Regulations
As privacy laws and data access governance regulations continue to change, it can be hard for your organization to maintain compliancy. By providing control over access permissions and authorizations, an identity and access management system keeps your organization well within these ever-evolving rules and regulations. An IAM allows your business to designate exactly what employees can access which programs, increasing the privacy of sensitive data and information by restricting it only to those who need to see it.
Many regulations, like HIPAA, have been ramped up to meet the new potential security issues posed by a remote workforce, and an IAM system can help you meet these requirements.
IAM Balances Permissions and User Needs
It’s hard to find middle ground. How much access is too much, hampering your employee productivity, and how much is too little, where employees have permissions to access apps and programs they don’t need to do their jobs?
An identity and access management system is fully customizable, allowing users access to only those files and applications most pertinent to their job duties. You can restrict employee access to financial data to only those employees in the financial department, for instance, or sensitive employee data from any users except those in Human Resources.
An IAM allows the flexibility and balance to grant permissions to users depending on what they need for their job duties, including limited access to shared applications and programs based on the employee’s role in the organization.
An IAM Decreases Your Odds of a Security Breach
Your employees sign into multiple devices and apps every day. They may become lax with passwords so they can have a password routine they can easily remember.
When using a single sign-on or multifactor authentication platform, your employees can access files, data, applications, and programs without having to remember complicated passwords. With an IAM, a user’s identity is verified by far simpler means, such as personal security questions.
Identity and Access Management platforms feature encryption tools as well, protecting user credentials and further decreasing the odds of a breach due to compromised credentials.
Happier Customers and Employees
Your customers are making a shift from relying on customer service to doing thigs themselves online. This requires flexibility from your organization, including third-party applications and cloud options. Meanwhile, your employees need the freedom to access files and data wherever they are so they can work remotely outside of the office.
An IAM allows single sign-on, which provides customers with the self-service features they want and your employees with the flexibility they need.
Let Integris Help You Set Up an Identity and Access Management System
Integris can help you choose an identity and access management system that balances your users’ freedom and ease of use with the security features you need. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation network audit see how an IAM can bring you peace of mind about cybersecurity, and let you get back to what you do best: grow your business.
