By 2025, the consumer identity and access management market is projected to grow to $15.3 billion, representing a 15.1% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) increase from 2020. Of course, with this growth comes cybersecurity challenges. In fact, we are witnessing the rapid evolution of passwordless authentication to:

  • Sign up for a service or get a subscription
  • Allow consumers to log in to their online accounts
  • Make a secure payment online

Passwordless login facilitates the safe storage of user information and the implementation of tighter security measures. Passwords are an access tool of the past, vulnerable to phishing attacks and brute force attacks from hackers, which is worsened by the fact that most users often reuse the same authentication credentials on different accounts.

Here are some common cybersecurity challenges that businesses face:

Phishing attacks:
As organizations hunker down on security, cybercriminals have stepped up their game to using more sophisticated phishing attacks than ever before. By leveraging AI and machine language, they’re delivering believable false messages to recipients with the intent of breaching their organizations’ networks, systems, and corporate databases.

Cloud vulnerability:
When you compare the versatility and costs associated with legacy data centers versus the cloud, one can understand why many businesses have made the switch. In fact, according to RightScale’s 2019 State of the Cloud Report from Flexera, 91% of businesses used the public cloud and 71% used a private one. However, the cloud doesn’t come without its share of new challenges and vulnerabilities, including account hijacking, DDoS attacks, data breach insecure interfaces and APIs, malicious insider threats, and misconfiguration. That is why it is important to implement identity management best practices for your organization, such as

  • Implementing a zero-trust security model
  • Use multi-factor authentication (MFA)
  • Applying the Principle of Least Privilege
  • Enforcing a strong password policy
  • Conducting routine audits

Electronic Medical Records:
With the surge of hospitals and medical facilities digitalizing patient records, Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are quickly becoming the next target for cybercriminals due to the confidentiality of the records they hold.

Bring-Your-Own-Device-related challenges:
While it’s true that allowing employees to work on their own devices cuts back on operational costs, the numerous data leaks and malware infections already detected pose an increasing strain on security systems. Moreover, it’s been much harder to track and manage different types of devices.

Internet Of Things (IoT):
Although the IoT streamlines processes in an organization thanks to the interconnectedness of the technology, it also means that companies are becoming more dependent on an infrastructure that’s vulnerable to the exploitation of attackers. As a result, security threats like DDoS and ransomware are becoming a more recurrent occurrence.

As we enter a new decade, the consumer identity and access management market will not only be more relevant than ever, but it will look different than it did a few years ago. Are you prepared to implement identity management best practices for your organization?

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