In the aftershocks of the pandemic, it’s clear the world is continuing to navigate the new normal of hybrid work and IT environments. Most organizations – enterprise, finance, manufacturing, and educational, to name a few – have reached a digital transformation turning point and are prioritizing a digital-first strategy to stay ahead in this ever-changing landscape.
Data security, confidentiality, integrity, experience, and availability are now critical imperatives to remain competitive. Identity-based cybersecurity is also moving to the forefront as a strategy to address these new enterprise requirements. As your organization moves into the new year and toward new strategic initiatives, these predictions for 2022 will help your IT and security leaders stay one step ahead.
Prediction #1 – Identity-Based Security Becomes the New Perimeter
Identity-based security solutions — with a powerful combination of identity access management (IAM) and privileged access management (PAM) toolsets — will become the new cybersecurity perimeters for many organizations. The proliferation of identities and privilege abuse (a leading cause of hacks and data breaches) make identity-based security necessary to stay out of the crosshairs of cybercriminals.
Identity alone is not enough and hacking via stolen credentials is the new avenue attackers seek to breach, making privilege a crucial part of this new perimeter.
Prediction #2 – Privileged-Access and Centrally Vaulted Access Are the Next Frontiers
Many industry analysts argue identity access management (IAM) and privileged access management (PAM) are converging, and you can conquer both with just an identity-focused solution. To be clear, privileged access management and identity access management are not the same – but they are highly complementary. Suppose your convergence comes at the cost of privileged access management's unique and next-level benefits. It can be detrimental to your access management efforts because you could lose powerful tools (such as credential vaulting), which can effectively combat privilege abuse, a common tactic of ransomware hackers.
That’s why privileged and centrally vaulted access is poised to become pervasive. Enterprise has recognized the proliferation of identities across the cloud and hybrid infrastructures requires the power and finesse of privilege. Privileged access management with centrally stored, managed, and encrypted credentials and secrets – like passwords or productivity apps – will become the new defacto for access management. In response, IT and security leaders will shift mindshare away from identity to privilege and move from singular identity-focused cybersecurity solutions to holistic, dynamic, and integrated implementations.
Prediction #3 – Hybrid Cloud Security Becomes a C-Suite Priority
The acceleration of the move to the cloud and the growth of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions is sure to continue as countless organizations strive for increased efficiency and convenience. Ninety-nine percent of executives say at least part of their security-related digital modernization efforts include a move to SaaS. More than a third say the majority of their cybersecurity approach consists of a move to SaaS, according to a recent Bravura Security survey.
The mass adoption of multiple cloud platforms and increased organizational understanding of hybrid cloud complexity will bring about inflated expectations of Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) in 2022. With modernization, the rise in remote and hybrid work environments has opened organizations to broader access and a heightened risk of attack from all angles, inside and out. C-Suite IT and security leaders have recognized these risks and identified the need for a strong SaaS cybersecurity strategy and holistic solution to decrease the vulnerabilities and tackle the multi-cloud.
What’s next?
If the past few years are any indication, organizations require a digital-first approach and an assertive modernization effort to remain competitive. Hybrid cloud infrastructure brings time and cost efficiencies and asks many IT and cybersecurity professionals to rethink strategies.
Identity-based security is the trend analysts are seeing first and foremost as the solution to the dissolution of traditional VPN and perimeter-based security’s effectiveness. Identity combined with privilege is a powerful combination that eliminates privilege abuse and other vulnerabilities that ransomware and hackers exploit. Organizations’ next phase will be to saturate these hybrid cloud security infrastructures with Zero Trust.
Discover more of the benefits of Zero Trust and how to implement a Zero Trust architecture with our eBook: Zero Trust Access Management: A Journey, Not A Destination.
