Humans are known to be the weak link in any organization’s cybersecurity infrastructure. Statistics have shown that human errors like bad cyber hygiene, poor end-user awareness training, misconfigurations, password reuse, bugs, code flaws, and leaked credentials have caused 95% of all data breaches. Human errors cannot be totally erased but can be limited in an organization’s security infrastructure. It doesn’t matter how much an organization invests in cybersecurity; good security is not just a process of reacting to threat by remediating any discovered vulnerability—staying ahead of the curve by following a set of best practices can make an organization less vulnerable to cyber attacks. This article explains in detail the importance and benefit of Identity and Access Management best practices for small businesses.
What is the importance of Identity and access management in small businesses?
Identity and Access Management is an essential component of cybersecurity because of the surge in human-centric data breaches. An interconnected security system is impossible without standard access control through authorization and authentication.
Employees with full access to all types of data, particularly in organizations with little to no user awareness training, can seriously compromise the security and integrity of an organization. Effective Identity and access management considerably lower the likelihood that such an organization will experience serious cybersecurity incidents.
What are the top three IAM best practices for small businesses?
Choosing the best Identity and Access Management policy to fit an organization’s needs can be time-consuming. Still, the following best practice has a solid foundation to support an organization’s infrastructure:
- IAM prevents Data Leakage
Protecting an organization’s confidential information, like login credentials and source code, should be small businesses’ cybersecurity priority. Organizations must ensure that the right approach, threat detection, and monitoring tools are deployed to ensure that credentials are not exposed to exploitation or up for sale on the dark web.
It is essential to put regulations that forbid employees from hardcoding secrets and secret sharing. These duties can be simple using several tools, like establishing private vaults for storing encryption keys and Application Programming Interfaces (API). Additionally, having a strong workplace atmosphere that focuses on security can aid in implementing better security.
- IAM Manages Identities And Enables The Principle Of Least Privilege
Most workplace cultures, especially those in small enterprises and organizations, can obfuscate the boundaries that define hierarchies to maintain a welcoming and informal work environment. While sharing sensitive information is an excellent social practice, an organization must allow for hierarchical division.
Organizations must draw lines to prevent themselves from serious harm. Not every piece of information is for every employee. Roles and responsibilities should be properly assigned, and information given to employees should be based on any given task.
- IAM Ensures Password Security Policies
Implementing data security requires careful password security consideration. Most businesses are now aware of the importance of choosing an MFA solution and reliable password managers, creating layered password protection. However, organizations must use contemporary password security mechanisms, as the conventional password notion has grown very sensitive to attacks.
Conclusion
The cyber-threat landscape is teeming with illicit activity, and maintaining good cyber hygiene can be complex and sometimes exhausting. However, implementing strong standards like Identity and Access Management best practices has become imperative for small businesses as threat actors are becoming more crafty in their operations. Best practices in Identity and access management have, rightfully so, become the cornerstone of cybersecurity since they help in reducing the amount of shared information.
