CSLATEST

zero trust
THE IMPERATIVE FOR ZERO TRUST
AS ORGANISATIONS EMBRACE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE CLOUD'S MANY BENEFITS,
COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS ARE FACED WITH EVOLVING INTO BORDERLESS IT ECOSYSTEMS
As we continue to digitally
transform organisations, so
the importance of secure and
reliable digital identities has grown.
According to Scott Silver, CEO, Integral
Partners, part of the Xalient Group,
2024 is poised to usher in a multitude
of innovations and trends in this area,
ranging from advanced biometrics to
the integration of artificial intelligence
and machine learning to meet the
changing needs of businesses,
individuals and governments.
"As organisations embrace digital
transformation, computing environments
are evolving into borderless IT
ecosystems," he warns. "Digital identities
are also evolving at pace and identity
security is now a crucial aspect of
cybersecurity. 2024 will usher in a
multitude of identity innovations,
ranging from advanced biometrics
to artificial intelligence integration
to meet the needs of businesses,
individuals and governments.
"Increasingly, cybercriminals are
creating synthetic identities by combining
stolen personal information from
several people into a new false identity
that doesn't rely on real person-al data.
"They use these identities to build a
shallow history that passes identity
checks with banks and retailers.
To counter these tactics, biometrics,
such as facial recognition, fingerprint
scanning and voice recognition, are
becoming popular as a stronger means
of identity verification."
Despite these countermeasures,
however, the threat is large and
growing, driven by Cybercrime-as-a-
Service (CaaS) that allows criminals to
procure tools enabling them to easily
carry out identity-based attacks.
"This makes it even more important for
businesses to prioritise identity security,
employing policies and tools that also
monitor employees and prevent insider
incidents."
AI and machine learning are important
tools for organisations seeking to combat
identity risk. "AI-powered pattern and
behaviour recognition capabilities can
identify anomalies and detect fraudulent
attempts in real-time. Machine
learning algorithms act as adaptive
detectives, continuously evolving to
recognise new identity fraud tactics,
enhancing the overall accuracy of the
verification process.
"Zero trust architecture is the
foundation of modern cybersecurity,
with secure networking and identity
security as cornerstones. Zero Trust
involves the application of identity and
access management capabilities to
perform continuous risk assessment
every time resources are accessed. It
uses contextual identity information to
optimise access policies, while enforcing
the principle of least privilege."
Zero Trust controls reduce insiders'
ability to access systems and data that
aren't part of their job, adds Silver.
"Now, organisations are seeking
AI-powered identity and access
management in a single solution that
Scott Silver, CEO, Integral Partners.
integrates seamlessly with zero trust
architecture, combined with professional
support. These solutions enable
fast, effective responses to potential
breaches and, alongside identity, will
play a pivotal role in the evolution of
zero trust models."
Identity is seen as the new enterprise
perimeter, and managing interdependencies
between identity, security and
networking to adhere to true zero trust
principles is a considerable challenge -
one that the Xalient Group is addressing,
he says, as a provider of IAM
services and solutions through its recent
acquisitions of Grabowsky and Integral
Partners. "Together, we can develop the
advanced, AI-powered identity management
solutions that companies need in
today's complex security environment."
www.computingsecurity.co.uk @CSMagAndAwards May/June 2024 computing security
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