New Era’s top predictions for IAM in 2021

2 Minutes Read

Following up on our top predictions for IAM in 2019, we have put together a list for 2021 – the year of hybrid working.

Cloud-only is the future

In May 2019 we spoke about Clod vs. Hybrid options.  Hybrid solutions designed to integrate seamlessly with cloud-based applications and legacy on-premises software were predicted to be the main players in the IAM marketplace. And then 2020 happened. Now we are looking at a future where many companies will choose to not go back to the office and instead focus on remote working, and therefore less of a requirement for traditional on-premise network access and security controls. In practise this should mean cloud-only architectures as the number one choice of 2021.

Zero-trust

With zero trust architecture, the security of the session does not rely on the presence of a trusted network. Instead, it relies on the integrity of the endpoint and user identities. When employees are based remotely in a hybrid workplace, trusting a physical address or IP address is difficult, zero-trust will grant access rights based on user information, data, applications and devices.

PAM

Privileged Account Management (PAM) will prevent mistakes as employees change roles and acquire new privileges. It’s important for any business to understand and condense their attack surface to help prevent external attacks, as well as potential insider negligence. PAM is now more important than ever with more people working remotely.

SSO & MFA

Single sign on (SSO) can be used to avoid repeating authentication. A user must only remember one password at all times and extra security can be added when combined with strong authentication or multifactor authentication (MFA).

MFA can be used to secure users’ SSO credentials from misuse, if compromised. This will help protect your company by identifying the following:

Something you know (password, personal identification number or login name)

Something you have (security token, a smartphone app that generates one-time passcodes, an SMS or some other authenticator)

Something you are (biometric security factors such as fingerprint or face detection)

SSO and MFA can be perfectly combined, especially in your SAP environment using PAM.

Want more information?

If you would like more information or want to discuss your IAM strategy, visit our Able+ pages or contact us for more information.