Providing a foundation for identity and access management
Comprehensive identity and access management (IAM) systems help track user activity, block unauthorized access to network assets and enforce granular permissions so that only the right users can access the right resources.
Authentication and authorization address two critical questions that organizations need to answer to enforce meaningful access controls:
- Who are you? (Authentication)
- What are you allowed to do in this system? (Authorization)
An organization needs to know who a user is before it can enable the right level of access. For example, when a network administrator logs in, that user must prove they are an admin by supplying the right authentication factors. Only then will the IAM system authorize the user to perform administrative actions such as adding and removing other users.
Combating advanced cyberattacks
As organizational security controls grow more effective, more attackers are getting around them by stealing user accounts and abusing their privileges to wreak havoc. According to the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, identity-based attacks increased in frequency by 71% between 2022 and 2023.
These attacks are easy for cybercriminals to pull off. Hackers can crack passwords through brute-force attacks, use infostealer malware or buy credentials from other hackers. In fact, the X-Force Threat Intelligence Index found that cloud account credentials make up 90% of the cloud assets sold on the dark web.
Phishing is another common credential theft tactic, and generative AI tools now enable hackers to develop more effective phishing attacks in less time.
While they might be seen as basic security measures, authentication and authorization are important defenses against identity theft and account abuse, including AI-powered attacks.
Authentication can make it harder to steal accounts by replacing or reinforcing passwords with other factors that are more difficult to crack, such as biometrics.
Granular authorization systems can curtail lateral movement by restricting user privileges to solely the resources and actions they need. This helps limit the damage that both malicious hackers and insider threats can do by misusing access rights.
With IBM Verify, organizations can go beyond basic authentication and authorization. Verify can help protect accounts with passwordless and multifactor authentication options, and it can help control applications with granular, contextual access policies.
