July 20, 2015 By Nick Oropall 2 min read

The Importance of Identity Governance

Make no mistake: In virtually every environment around the world, someone has access to data or applications that they should not have access to. And without the proper identity governance in place, this inappropriate access poses a security risk.

A recent study by IBM reported that only 45 percent of all attacks come from outsiders, which implies the majority of breaches are caused by users with organizationally provided access privileges. To reduce the security breaches related to malicious inside actors (who are responsible for 31.5 percent of attacks) or inadvertent actors (responsible for 23.5 percent), it is vital to ensure that your users have access to the proper applications they need to do their jobs — and nothing more.

Finding the Weak Spots in Security

To uncover security vulnerabilities within your organization, you need to think like a detective and examine the evidence. When it comes to identity governance, there are three key security suspects tied to inappropriate user access: failed audits, segregation of duties violations and entitlements creep.

An organization’s governance security posture can improve immensely if they can better control these three areas. If you look at the infographic below, you can learn more about the key suspects as well as three ways to solve the case by reducing audit risk, preventing toxic combinations and certifying access. By adding more visibility, information and controls to the world of user identities, organizations are saving time and money while securing their environments.

 

 

Read the white paper: Protect your critical assets with Identity Governance

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