As employees and consumers, we’ve all faced similar access frustrations, from being pestered with prompts for passwords we couldn’t remember to responding to authentication requests sent to devices that we didn’t happen to have in hand.

While strong authentication is great for security, it leaves a lot to be desired from an end user’s perspective. Frustrating user experiences lead to less productive employees, and research shows that consumers will ditch a site entirely to do business elsewhere rather than jump through authentication hoops.

On the flip side, we’ve all had the distinct pleasure of interacting with a website that made registration a breeze, allowed us to login with a social profile and never asked again for credentials, no matter what device we were using or where we were logging in from.

Do these great digital experiences fundamentally lack security? Not necessarily. Since most users and customers have good intentions, security is done best when it’s silent, working behind the scenes to provide seamless access and only intervening when something is wrong.

Read the Report: Need strong security? Go silent

The Best IAM Is the Kind You Don’t Know Is There

IBM has been a leader in providing identity and access management (IAM) solutions for decades, offering millions of employees and consumers seamless access to the applications they need. Chances are great that you’ve interacted with an IBM IAM solution without even knowing it. Perhaps you’ve securely accessed the innovative cloud, hybrid or on-premises applications you need to do your job or, as a consumer, you’ve enjoyed services from your favorite supplier. In the background, IBM IAM empowered you to do so, ensuring that you were who you said you were and that your credentials had not been compromised. That’s the way we operate: behind the scenes, using behavioral analytics and risk-based algorithms, and only intervening when something is wrong.

When security is silent, IAM administrators can achieve visibility through analytics into internal and external users and their access, enabling them to establish trust across their organization. The attack surface is reduced because only the right people have access to sensitive information.

Silent Security in Action

Although most employees and consumers have good intentions, accounts can be compromised and identities stolen. That’s where silent IAM steps in with sophisticated multifactor authentication options to verify your identity or automatically shut down bad actors in an instant.

So, what does this look like in practice?

In the first scenario, the user is prompted for a password on entering a site. Of course, she doesn’t remember the password and must keep trying until she hopefully gets it right.

In the next scenario, we see strong security and seamless access with a silent, risk-based approach.

A strong security posture and a positive digital experience do not have to be mutually exclusive. You achieve both with IBM IAM as our silent security goes to work for you and your customers.

Read the Report: Need strong security? Go silent