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Unified Endpoint Management- A Software Solution!

Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) is a software solution that allows organizations to monitor and manage all devices like computers, mobile devices, scanners, network devices, IoT, etc. connected to their network using a single management interface. UEM treats all end-users or devices as “Endpoints”.

The Evolution of UEM – Unified Endpoint Management is replacement and upgradation for various traditional tools like Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Client Management Tools (CMT).

  • Client Management Tools were used to handle client systems and various tasks like software delivery, patch management, and remote control. However, CMT lacked the ability to manage new devices and technologies like mobile devices and the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) System.
  • As a result, Mobile Device Management (MDM) started being used in situations where the company owned and managed every device solely for security reasons. MDM is the process of remotely managing the utility of mobile devices and allocating functions like corporate functionality, supportability, security while also allowing users some freedom and flexibility. MDM solutions worked at the device level and they lacked control of other external applications, it was difficult to overcome the obstacles posed by BYOD.
  • The limitations visible in MDM solutions, however, led to development of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) which includes features Mobile App Management, Mobile Content Management, Containerization, and Identity Management in a centralized solution. This provides a comprehensive approach that addresses all aspects of the device. EMM now allowed employers to remotely manage all devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc., and applications used by organization’s employees. With the introduction of these versatile applications, allowing organizations to communicate and access business resources seamlessly, the emphasis shifted away from application visibility and control towards streamlining worker productivity.


UEM Removes the Need for Multiple Tools

As stated above, there is a shortage of expertise with the use of different tools. Since, administrators must perform a variety of tasks like operating system updates, security measures, and remote monitoring, and it is difficult for administrators to educate themselves on different tools, their negligence may lead to costly mistakes. Therefore, organizations felt the need to avoid multiple solutions. Enterprise firms wanted a solution that brought the management of all end-users and endpoints together on one unified solution.This led to the development of Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Solutions. UEM solutions are the most recent iterations of software applications that control and track all devices of employees and clients throughout their life cycle. Clients appreciate the right to use their own devices, and employers appreciate the risk minimization and increased productivity that comes with knowing that employees can safely access and use company’s resources.


Features of UEM Solutions

Integration with Multiple Platforms – Unified Endpoint Management is designed to work with multiple platforms like Android, MacOS, Chrome OS, Windows, Linux, etc. It can update, monitor, control, configure and help in migration of device or OS from a single management dashboard.

Compliance – The first step in ensuring system enforcement is deciding which types of devices UEM will allow to enroll as endpoints in company’s network. With user and endpoint compliance UEM establishes perimeter-based security to protect company’s assets. Endpoints are subjected to routine compliance tests to ensure that they are up to date on security fixes, operating system updates, patches and how to treat devices that have been compromised. After a user registers and uses the organization’s network services, the endpoint user must comply with user compliance policy.

Mobile Application Management (MAM) – MAM applies security controls and policies to applications with an option to block dangerous apps. One of the key reasons for failures in a company’s security system is differences in security and management policies for controlling entities, security applications and operating system maintenance. Corporate applications that have been developed in-house can be deployed and controlled through MAM. They can also be isolated from personal applications to protect private information – so an employee does not need to separate their work and personal device but also can maintain distance between their personal and professional lives.

Identity and Access Management – Endpoints are the subject of identity and access management, which ensures that only trusted individuals or devices have safe access to organization’s data. By associating registered devices (endpoints) with users’ credentials with various services like application signing and Single Sign-On (SSO), UEM assesses an endpoint’s behaviour to calculate certificate management risk. This helps indicates whether a user is to be granted or refused access to a particular resource.

Data Stripping – Data stripping is a security technique that removes company’s information from standard applications and redirects it to protected ones. It is a security feature of UEM. It provides a secure and isolated approach to protect organization’s sensitive information.

Devices are becoming more advanced; employees and work policies are changing, and the security environment is constantly changing. These factors are pushing businesses to implement a single endpoint management system (UEM) to handle and protect all endpoints, their users, applications and information in an efficient manner.

Features of identity and Access Management (IAM)!

IAM (identity and access management) is a set of organizational rules, procedures, and technology that make handling electronic or digital identities easier. Using an IAM architecture, IT managers may control user access to critical information within their organizations. IAM solutions include single sign-on, two-factor authentication, multifactor authentication, and privileged access management, to name a few. These technologies also enable the secure storing of identity and profile data and data governance features that ensure that only necessary and relevant information is shared.

Some of the important characteristics of identity access management are:

Prepared for New Security Trends

Cybersecurity and IAM trends are constantly changing. Current patterns might be considered as indicators of greater changes to come, from the gradual extinction of passwords to the rising use of zero-trust security. Enterprises will require adaptive, responsive IAM solutions as new devices join the market and users begin to access systems in new and varied ways. As a result, while selecting identity management software, flexibility is crucial. Not only must solutions be able to meet today’s business needs, but they must also be able to meet future enterprise access requirements. This includes IAM protection for changing user access patterns and technology, as well as the sensitivity to recognize and guard against new risks.

Eliminating weak passwords

Over 80% of data breaches are caused by stolen, default, or weak passwords, according to studies. IAM solutions enforce best practices in credential management, effectively eliminating the danger of users using default or weak passwords. They also make sure that users change their passwords on a regular basis. Insider threats—insiders are causing an increasing number of breaches. IAM can help to prevent the damage caused by malevolent insiders by ensuring that people only have access to the systems they need and that privileges cannot be escalated without oversight.

Integration and compatibility

Any new software that is introduced into an enterprise system has the potential to cause platform conflicts. To ensure compatibility and avoid potential difficulties caused by ineffective access management, IAM systems must be verified. If a disagreement arises, a new approach may be required. Alternatively, current systems may need to be upgraded to embrace newer IAM technology and close security flaws common in legacy systems. Another crucial factor to consider is relevance. More than just supporting a specific sort of login method or sending security alerts to the IT department is required for identity and access management solutions.

Access Control that is Mobile-Friendly

The quantity of user-owned devices accessing corporate networks is still a challenge for companies. These devices pose serious security risks, especially in the hands of employees who are unfamiliar with security best practices. While staff education is still critical to any cybersecurity plan, identity management solutions can help to limit vulnerabilities by enabling detailed behavioral and contextual access control. The ability to utilize a mobile device “anywhere, anytime” involves the implementation of secure access parameters.

Analytical Reporting

Many enterprise systems, including identity management, rely on analytics. Identity analytics show how people access and interact with networks, which is useful for defining roles and fine-tuning access regulations. Any weaknesses or possible dangers that are discovered can be addressed right away. Analytics demonstrates direct relationships between user identities and security events when it comes to breach activities. This information can be used by businesses to improve security frameworks and address issues such as employee ignorance and malicious insider threats. Because preventing a breach is less expensive than repairing the damage after one, using analytics in this way can be a substantial cost-cutting tool.

The realm of identity and access management has dramatically increased as remote work has become the standard and mobile device usage has reached its peak. Unsecured networks, combined with high user expectations, resulting in an influx of new device connections, a frenzy of demands for remote access to sensitive data, and the looming possibility of phishing and other web-based assaults as users visit rogue sites. Since AI has the potential to discover patterns and develop knowledge exponentially at the same rate as risk it will be critical in the future of IAM.

ForgeRock Autonomous Access Against Attacks

ForgeRock Autonomous Access prevents identity-based cyber-attacks and fraud by monitoring login requests in real-time to block malicious attempts, adding authentication steps for anomalous behaviors, and streamlining access for known users.

Peter Barker, Chief Product Officer, ForgeRock commented, “We continue to invest in AI to make the authentication process safer and smoother for users. What makes our approach distinct is the unique combination of AI, machine learning, and advanced pattern recognition. This triple-threat gives enterprises the ability to strengthen their identity perimeter, thwart bad actors, and even catch threats we didn’t know to look for, all with the click of a button.”

Reducing risk for ForgeRock customers, 82 percent of organizations believe they have experienced at least one data breach because of their transformation. ForgeRock believes that AI-powered solutions can protect businesses and their customers from costly security breaches. In 2019, the company first integrated AI into its platform to automate identity provisioning, ensuring that users had the appropriate level of access within an organization.

ForgeRock Autonomous Access eliminates the need for costly deployment and integration of disparate point solutions. Furthermore, it enables IT, administrators, to create an unlimited number of personalized user access journeys using a simple drag-and-drop, no-code interface. 

For IT administrators, it is both powerful and cost-effective. It enables IT administrators to create tailored experiences for each login attempt based on the level of risk. A known user with a low-risk score, for example, can proceed with options such as passwordless authentication, whereas a known user exhibiting anomalous behavior, such as an unusual location or device, may be subjected to additional authentication steps. High-risk login attempts can be blocked or routed to different journeys for further analysis and remediation.

Martin Kuppinger, Founder and Principal Analyst of KuppingerCole stated, “ForgeRock’s continued investment in AI across its platform helps customers with what they need — the ability to make intelligent decisions quickly and with confidence. Anti-fraud capabilities are important and need to complement existing services that customers use. Autonomous Access is a complementary solution that comes fully integrated with ForgeRock’s user journey orchestration.”

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Identity and Access Management

Identity and Access Management in 2022!

IAM (identity and access management) is a set of corporate procedures, policies, and technologies that makes managing electronic or digital identities easier. Information technology (IT) administrators can regulate user access to key information within their organizations using an IAM architecture. Single sign-on systems, two-factor authentication, multifactor authentication, and privileged access management are some examples of IAM systems. These technologies also allow for the secure storage of identity and profile data, as well as data governance capabilities that ensure that only necessary and relevant data is exchanged.

Why Do You Need IAM?

IAM is required by businesses to boost employee productivity and ensure internet security.

Productivity: Once you’ve logged into your primary IAM portal, your employee won’t have to worry about having the correct password or access level to complete their tasks. Not only does every person have access to the best tools for their profession, but their access can also be managed as a group or role rather than individually, saving time and money.

Security: The password is often the single point of failure in traditional security. Your firm becomes vulnerable to attack if a user’s password is compromised – or, even worse, if the email address for password recovery is compromised. IAM services reduce the chances of failure and provide tools to spot problems as they happen.

Top 5 Benefits of Identity and Access Management

Improved safety

IAM solutions aid in the detection and mitigation of security threats. Without having to hunt through various distributed systems, you may utilize IAM to identify policy violations and eliminate incorrect access privileges. IAM can also help you meet regulatory and audit obligations by ensuring that security safeguards are in place.

Sharing of information

IAM provides a centralized location for access and identity management data. You can utilize the same security policies across all the organization’s operating platforms and devices. IAM frameworks can help you enforce user authentication, rights, and validation policies.

Usefulness

For application owners, end-users, and system administrators, IAM streamlines the signup, sign-in, and user management processes. IAM makes providing and managing access simple, which increases user happiness.

Gains in productivity

IAM centralises and automates the identity and access management lifecycle, allowing for scenarios such as new hires and role transitions to be handled automatically. This can speed up access and identity changes while also reducing errors.

IT Costs are Lower

IAM services might help you save money. When you use federated identity services, you don’t need local identities for external purposes, which simplifies application administration. Cloud-based IAM services can eliminate the requirement for on-premises infrastructure purchases and maintenance.

Access to company resources is under rising regulatory and organizational pressure for business leaders and IT teams. As a result, they can no longer allocate and track user credentials using manual and error-prone processes. IAM automates these processes and allows for extensive access control and auditing of all company assets, whether on-premises or in the cloud. IAM is perfectly suited to the rigors of the current security landscape, with an ever-growing list of features such as biometrics, behaviour analytics, and AI.

Axiomatics Orchestrated Authorization helps businesses adopt native screen technology!

Axiomatics introduced Orchestrated Authorization, a state-of-the-art ABS-based access control system that enhances market maturity of identity and access management (IAM) to address more complex access challenges.

The company added new enhancements and capabilities to deliver on the promise of Orchestrated Authorization, focusing on further accelerating the delivery of accreditation to cloud-based environments. This builds on the existing Axiomatics support of organizations that use traditional cloud deployments with low-utility facilities and Kubernetes, to meet the needs of modern businesses.

Axiomatics also embraces the open-source community around OPA by creating integration that allows organizations to benefit from the OPA ecosystem. Through this integration, Axiomatics will give clients the opportunity to use ALFA, a target language for authorization, while creating the first patent protection strategy for the entire organization.

Jim. Gerken, director of Novacoast ID services said, “A rich history of Axiomatics in delivering authoritative solutions for even the most complex businesses makes them highly relevant to our data-driven ownership solutions, particularly for customer ownership and access control (CIAM) and Zero Trust spaces. We are excited to extend their solutions as part of our Identity Practice.”

AuthenticID and 1Kosmos partner to deliver identity proofing and authentication solutions to customers

AuthenticID and 1Kosmos have established a cross-product strategic partnership to provide governments, organizations, and individuals with a comprehensive suite of identity proofing and authentication solutions.

Organizations may use AuthenticID and 1Kosmos together to validate a user’s identity for new account creation, accelerate customer onboarding, decrease expenses associated with manual document checks, and provide a quick and simple customer experience for password-less access deployment.

CEO of 1Kosmos, Hemen Vimadalal said, “This partnership provides customers with integrated end-to-end identity verification and proofing on a global basis. The 1Kosmos and AuthenticID standards-based solution have received every major market certification, including FIDO Alliance, NIST 800-63-3 IAL-2 / AAL-2, iBeta Biometric PAD-2 Liveness, GDPR, and SOC-2 for interoperability, security, and reliability.”

“Our combined products now allow us to support every identity use case for the physical, digital, blockchain, and metaverse ‘Web3.0’ economies and become the first identity platform to achieve both highest level certifications in the areas of proofing, verification, and authentication of Digital Identity. The combined platform leverages blockchain for credential verification keeping privacy by design principle at the core,” said Jeff Jani, CEO of AuthenticID.

The organizations will now collaborate to provide frictionless KYC onboarding and authentication to the workforce, end consumers, and citizens. The combined benefits of AuthenticID’s proofing and 1Kosmos BlockID password-less authentication technologies are also helpful in expanding use case support, lowering operating expenses, and enabling speedy and cost-effective scalability, all while adhering to worldwide privacy rules.

Alcor launched AccessFlow, an IAM Product with Automated, Centralized, Seamless Integrations

Alcor, a leading and global provider of cloud solutions, security, and implementation services, launched its IAM product, AccessFlow. It is an automated, self-service access management product built on the Service Now platform that helps organizations in achieving automated, centralized, and seamless integrations with different platforms. As a Built on now application, AccessFlow provides the performance, Security, and GUI of the Service Now platform – designed and tested for fast, agile, secure, resistant, and allied digital transformation. 

To automate access provisioning, improve visibility, and optimize process compliance, AccessFlow now enables businesses to relish the benefits of: 

  • Assembled Access Management: Seamlessly verifies and manages crucial tasks such as – access provisioning, de-provisioning, license management, visibility into third-party integrations, and also offers a single source of information with consolidated reporting and dashboards.  
  • Secured Compliance: Automation of the entire access management lifecycle ensures secure operations. This helps organizations maintain data integrity, extend audit support, and proactively identify, monitor risk-based roles and leaves no place for error. 

Chairperson, and Senior Principal at Alcor, Monisha Singh says, “The updated version of AccessFlow takes access governance to a new level by providing efficient third-party integrations, ServiceNow GRC collaboration, and SOC1 Compliance with effective internal controls for data protection. This automated and unified approach of managing access over extended integrations with other robust features like SoD, Role-Based Access Matrix, Training Prerequisites, Dormant Account Alert, and more will enable organizations to significantly reduce time, cost, and effort. The all-new AccessFlow is bigger, better, and bolder with a single view of accesses, compliance assurance, and multiple brand-new features curated to meet the IAM needs of modern organizations.”  

AccessFlow Product Manager, Jenifer Rubavathy adds, “Over a past few years, we have seen a big increase in the demand of automating the access management processes for granting authorizations in accordance with compliance requirements. As a result, AccessFlow has collaborated with ServiceNow GRC and also extended Integrations with Azure AD and middleware platforms. Some of the essential holistic approaches to IAM that enable you to develop your cyber security posture include preventive Segregation of Duties into the access request process, effectively controls for permission level risks, and offering enterprise-wide access visibility increases the organization’s security, process efficiency as well as avoids the penalties for noncompliance.”  

RevBits Announced Zero Trust Network Security To Protects Digital Assets

RevBits, a firm providing complete 360-degree cyber defense, announced release of RevBits Zero Trust Network (ZTN). RevBits ZTN is an application providing authenticated access for remote users and devices to applications, services and data, with complete network security.

The remote employees and access to third parties increase the risk for companies. RevBits ZTN isolates and protects internal assets, without using complicated network segmentation, by moving network protection to endpoints. RevBits ZTN offers in-transit data security via encryption, secure access to apps and services and network security through user and device authentication to support a default no-trust security stance.

“As enterprise threat levels rise, rethinking cybersecurity and perimeter control is paramount. It is no longer a matter of ensuring data encryption for remote users through a VPN as a complement for network security; organizations must adopt a default no-trust posture,” said David Schiffer, CEO at RevBits.

Based on technological innovation in the market for access management, RevBits ZTN extends access management and control to user level with unified visibility and analytics to the individual user level through RevBits Privileged Access Management (PAM).

RevBits ZTN offers data security by authenticating all users and devices with encryption and granular access control. “Based on our unique architecture and patent-pending technologies, RevBits ZTN provides best in class protection. By combining the principles from our PAM solution, RevBits ZTN delivers data encryption, comprehensive obfuscation, granular user and machine access control, and monitoring to protect digital infrastructure,” said Mucteba Celik, CTO at RevBits.

Managing Insider Threat in the era of Work From Home Policy

The COVID-19 pandemic forced organization to work remotely. By allowing employees to work remotely, they put themselves at greater risk of being exposed to insider threats. Staff could be distracted by personal online activities and mix them with work-related ones due to today’s global state of affairs. Because of this, tailored phishing campaigns and other cybercrime attacks are more effective. While working away from the office, employees are more likely to neglect cybersecurity protocols, exposing remote devices to cyber attacks. Working remotely increases the risk of being a target for cyber criminals because of the additional technical vulnerabilities it introduces, such as insecure network connections. However, security professionals must encounter threats or attacks from the insiders. Dissatisfied or angry staff members are exploiting the fact that many companies do not provide secure access to off-site networks. They are also taking advantage of their co-workers who may unknowingly cause damage.

New methods of prioritizing and reducing cyber risk are needed because of the insider threat phenomenon. A process improvement plan is needed for security teams to resolve deliberate or accidental misuse of resources. They should be equipped with better and specific solutions like insider threats to deal with threats and gain insight into attacks.

Malicious insider activity poses the following risks to firms:

Data loss or corruption — Insider activities can include making changes to or deleting confidential information. Trying to recover deleted or corrupted files can be time consuming and frustrating.

Financial loss — This includes costs for cleaning up after an attack like system upgrade and making restitution to those who were harmed like clients and vendors. The more damage an attack causes, the more money a company has to spend to fix the damage it causes.

Brand Image loss — Customers’ confidence in a firm will be disturbed if it fails to protect their data, and that trust is difficult to restore.

Employee Monitoring

As part of an insider threat risk mitigation program, companies should limit and control user access. Organisations should restrict and minimize access by only authorizing employees the level of privilege required for them to do their tasks. Likewise, businesses should reassess staff members’ access rights on a regular basis and remove access that are not required for staff to fulfil their work roles. 

Employee Access Restrictions and Control

It is important for companies to incorporate controls for restricting staff access and managing insider threat risks into their overall risk mitigation strategies. Businesses should restrict and minimize access by only authorizing staff members the access required for them to do their functions and carry out responsibilities. The implementation of the Zero-Trust model can benefit the organisation. Likewise, organisations should reassess staff members’ access rights on a frequent basis and remove any access that are not required for staff members to fulfil their work tasks.

Teleworking Policy

Businesses should begin by creating a proper teleworking policy that outlines network and data security issues. Developing a strong teleworking policy is an effective way to prevent insider threats, especially those that arise from negligence. It is essential for teleworking policies to include several key elements. Teleworking policy must tackle the problem of remote access. Employees working from home should be able to connect to business networks using company-owned systems as long as they follow remote access rules that define permitted BYOD practices like the use of multi-factor authentication (MFA) passwords.

Employee education and training

Staff members must be extensively trained and educated about using, organisational resources securely as part of their work. Staff members must also be equipped with knowledge of the latest cyberattack techniques, like phishing and social engineering. They should be taught the best practices to avoid cyberattacks.

To detect insider threats effectively, companies must have centralised security visibility and management to monitor their remote and distributed staff.  The crux of detecting an insider threat lies in the ability to clearly define “normal” in the new scenario of work from home policy. User behaviour analysis can help a company better mitigate insider threats and protect its key resources when used with zero-trust access.

PwC Acquired Avaleris Cybsecurity Consulting Company

PwC Canada has acquired Avaleris Inc., Canada-based boutique cybsecurity consulting company.  Avaleris, a security, identity, and access management company, was founded in 2006 and specializes in the Microsoft cloud. The company’s services include identity and cybersecurity strategy, IT security policies and procedures, solution design and deployment, security training, and managed services.

With the acquisition of Avaleris by PwC, the firm’s cybersecurity division, which employs about 300 people nationwide, will be strengthened. Rapid digitalization and cloud migrations have expanded cyberthreat surfaces, driving up demand for cybersecurity services.

“PwC is thrilled to welcome the Avaleris team to PwC. Their work has proven to build a strong reputation with clients, as well as a longstanding strategic partnership with Microsoft,” said Saj Nair, partner & national technology & cloud leader, PwC Canada.

This year, the worldwide PwC network announced its “New Equation” strategy, aiming to invest $12 billion over the next five years and to add 100,000 people to its current 284,000 employees to the “New Equation” workforce. ESG and digital capabilities – such as cloud, AI, virtual reality, and other new technologies – are key areas of focus for the organization.

“Our team of talented and innovative cybersecurity professionals are thrilled to join the PwC team and take on new challenges and opportunities for growth. Given the strong alignment of our culture and values, PwC clients will continue to benefit from the innovations and unparalleled capabilities they have come to expect,” said Ron MacDonell, president and CEO, Avaleris Inc.