What Is Identity Security?

Identity security is more important than ever as cybersecurity threats continue to rise across the globe. Depending on your business model, companies may need to address the matter from two perspectives: customer identity and access management (CIAM) for those serving external customers, and workforce challenges for those who have multiple staff members (and external vendors) who need to access your digital platforms.

Identity security ensures the right users have the right access to the right digital resources at the right time. It protects identities by detecting threats and implementing appropriate responses. Not only do identity security solutions mitigate risk of data breaches, they also contribute to better employee productivity and a more personalized customer experience. 

There are several overlapping disciplines within identity security, including identity management, access management, identity governance, customer identity and access management, and non-person entity identity management, which includes IoT devices.

Both internal and external threats highlight the need for a robust identity security solution. Failing to put these safeguards in place leads to unauthorized access and exposure of sensitive data.

For example, a recent Ping Identity study revealed that in 2022, unauthorized access accounted for 91% of breached records. In total, 1.4 billion people were impacted during this time period. 

On the customer side, 33% of consumers across the world have reported becoming a data breach victim, and 83% of consumers say they think about whether they trust a company to keep their information safe before doing business with them. That means there is a clear expectation that companies are implementing proper identity security measures to protect customers.

There are multiple components of a robust identity security plan.

Managing Identities

Identity management (IDM) best practices depend on the user's place in the identity lifecycle. IDM processes automate the management of identity data and access permissions at these different points in time for both employees and customers. Here are some examples:

• Registration: Simplify the process of signing up to improve customer conversions.

• User provisioning: Make it easy to gain access to multiple applications with permissions linked to specific types of employee profiles.

• Joiner/mover/leaver (JML): Automate access controls for employees who move departments or leave the organization altogether. You can use HR data changes to trigger permission changes as well.

On the customer side, relationship management grows as the company collects more data, like browsing history, purchase information, and payment details. All user details should be housed in a directory to store and scale identity profile data.

Managing Access

Access management protects identities in two layers: authentication and authorization. A sound authentication process should include single sign-on (SSO), which prevents breaches due to weak or stolen passwords. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) can also be used to confirm identity by requiring at least two pieces of evidence during the sign-on process. 

Role-based access control (RBAC) is an authorization process that relies on user roles to enable access to certain resources. This can include details like job title, department, or location. Taking this one step further, organizations can deploy fine-grained, dynamic authorization which allows for policies that take real-time data, including fraud and risk signals, into account before making authorization decisions.

Governing Identities

Identity governance allows transparency at the organizational level to view user access and comply with regulatory requirements. It includes access requests review, access certifications and recertifications, and implementing segregation of duties checks. In addition to increasing security, identity governance also reduces administrative tasks and operational costs.

Defending Against Threats

There are many threats addressed with identity security measures, including insider threats and B2B breaches. Identity fraud is a major issue, with threats including account takeover (ATO) fraud, new account fraud (NAF), and authorized push payment (APP) fraud.

Orchestrating User Journeys

A smooth user journey creates a frictionless experience for both employees and customers. Addressing all of these identity security measures under one overarching strategy lets you track and optimize your organization's digital experiences. Ping Identity provides a no-code orchestration engine to personalize each step of the way.

Identity security is the first pillar of Zero Trust, which focuses on continuous assessment of users, devices, and applications. It requires identity authentication and authorization for every session. 

As discussed in the “Managing Access” section above, implementing a dynamic, fine-grained authorization process is the most robust way to protect organizational resources. With fine-grained authorization, you can set permissions based on multiple attributes, including role, location, and time, as well as any real-time risk signals.

Let's walk through how identity security works for a fictional employee named Chris. She may not realize it, but digital identity security best practices are working to protect her in nearly every aspect of her life — both personally and professionally.

Employee Onboarding and Access

Chris has just been hired at ACME Company. As she enters the onboarding process, a user account is automatically created for her. It includes identity verification as well as rights and permissions. The system uses user provisioning to determine appropriate access for Chris based on her role and department.

Access Request 

Part of switching to a new job involves getting new health insurance. Chris needs to update her medical provider to an in-network doctor. She logs onto her new provider's website to register an account and manage her privacy settings. Because healthcare organizations have strict compliance regulations, Chris is required to log on using multi-factor authentication, which includes her password as well as a one-time code via text.

Sharing Health Information

Chris regularly accesses her health dashboard in the months ahead. She logs on to schedule appointments, view bills, and get lab results faster. She can even chat with her healthcare provider and feel confident that her data is kept private and secure with additional authentication steps when she wants to review sensitive health data.

Making a Purchase Online

After her first few months at her new job, Chris has saved up some money and is ready to purchase a new wide-screen TV. She opens her favorite retail app and is already signed in. She adds the television to her shopping cart and checks out with a few taps. Chris doesn't realize it, but the retail app has assessed her activity and decided she does not need to re-authenticate her session. The reason? The retail app's backend is constantly assessing risk signals, which are low in this scenario – she’s using a trusted device, logging in from a familiar location, and behaving normally. As a result, Chris enjoys a secure, frictionless checkout experience.

Enabling Remote Work Access

Back at work, Chris has been onboarded into the organization's systems according to her role. But in addition to logging on at the office, Chris also works from home two days a week. Despite being offsite, an adaptive authentication authority intakes all the risk signals Chris shows when attempting to log in in the morning and makes a decision in line with policy as to whether she is, in fact, who she says she is.

Identity security enables better talent acquisition for this reason, keeping remote work secure.

Role Changes and Access Review

Chris has been working hard and six months later gets a promotion! Her new responsibilities come with additional access requirements.

The group known as JML (joiners, movers, and leavers) are a core feature of modern identity lifecycle management, which removes access from Chris's initial role, and grants access to the resources she needs in her new role.

As part of this, managers need the ability to review the set of credentials and apps their employees have access to. This ensures that as roles change, managers (and other approvers if needed) can review all the access their employees have so no unnecessary access is granted. This upholds the principle of least privilege.

Applying for a Loan

The new job is going great, and Chris wants to take out a loan for a new car. She logs into her preferred bank's website and completes biometric multi-factor authentication. She applies for the loan digitally, and completes a quick and easy digital identity verification at loan origination.

A New Opportunity

After a year in the new job, Chris gets an amazing new job offer with a different company. Once her final day at ACME Company is complete, access to the internal systems is revoked. The offboarding process is absolutely critical from an employee experience perspective and organizational risk perspective.

Once someone leaves (whether they're fired or quit), they need to be fully deprovisioned to ensure no set of credentials exist to be exploited. This also ensures that potentially disgruntled employees can't become an insider threat before they leave.

While identity security should be a priority for any organization with staff, vendors, or customers, there are some challenges to navigate.

Integration Challenges

Having multiple identity systems in place can cause a disjointed user experience, whether it's staff-facing or customer-facing. And integrating new identity security solutions with existing IT infrastructure can be challenging without the right tools.

Ping Identity eliminates issues caused by siloed identity systems using dynamic workflow triggers across different vendors.

Elevating Security and User Experience

Existing employees and customers may be resistant to change when it comes to increasing security, especially for logging on and authenticating users. It may feel like the organization is adding friction to the overall user experience. You can combat this by designing identity experiences specifically tailored for your risk thresholds and educating users throughout the process.

Scalability

Identity security measures have to scale with business growth, which can be challenging. As an organization forms new departments, acquires a smaller business, or expands sales to global locations, authentication and authorization processes may need to change. 

It's smart to schedule periodic scalability assessments as well as cloud-based solutions that don't need to be re-installed when changes occur.

Data Privacy

Data privacy offers you the chance to gain a competitive edge, especially when working with online customers. Plus, there are several regulations that must be met in order to avoid costly penalties. An enterprise-grade identity security solution ensures your organization meets (and even exceeds) GDPR, CCPA, and CDR regulations.

Part of this strategy is customer consent and communication preferences. These processes can be automated through a frictionless experience to ensure data retention and privacy best practices.

Regulatory Compliance

In addition to data privacy compliance, there are also specific laws regulating payments (PSD2), healthcare privacy (HIPAA), and financial services (KYC and AML). It can be challenging to align identity security practices with these diverse regulatory frameworks. 

Having the right system in place allows your organization to be proactive with compliance management. It's also helpful to have periodic audits and collaborate with legal experts.

Identity Security in the Cloud

Another consideration is identity security in the cloud. Every organization has its own requirements for varying levels of isolation and security controls for identity data. A multi-tenant architecture allows multiple clients to share a common app, database, and server. This makes onboarding easier and allows organizations of all sizes to scale. There are also lower costs involved, along with free maintenance and upgrades.

Overcoming the initial challenges of incorporating a robust identity security solution is worth it. From creating frictionless user experiences to ensuring data privacy for customers and employees, there are many benefits that compound and scale over time. 

Ready to connect all of your existing security measures and figure out what's missing in your identity security plan?