Identity and access management, or IAM, is essential for business security. This framework of technologies and strategies allows organizations to control access to user systems and data. By regulating access, you increase security for company systems and documents. Robust IAM strategies and solutions can prevent unauthorized people from misusing data.
Staying updated on identity access trends helps you protect your company data most effectively. As technology progresses, attackers find new ways to break through defenses. Shielding your data from unwelcome attacks requires finding new techniques tailored to meet these emerging industry challenges.
Learn more about current and future IAM trends and how they could impact your organization.
What Are Emerging Trends for IAM in 2024?
As the demand for remote and hybrid work increases, the IAM industry creates new strategies to shield data more effectively. Here are four leading identity and authentication trends as we move into 2024.
1. Behavioral Biometrics
Increased use of biometric authentication is a notable trend for 2024. This advanced cybersecurity process verifies user identity with distinctive biological traits, like fingerprints or facial features. Biometric authentication is often more secure than other authentication measures because it’s challenging to replicate these unique features. This authentication type is also common in other technological devices, like smartphones.
Users scan in the requested feature and the system stores it, associating it with their account. Each time the user requests access, the system compares the provided sample with the stored one.
Biometric authentication can take many forms.
- Facial recognition: This type gathers details about a user’s facial features, including their nose, chin or eye placement.
- Fingerprint recognition: This type records an employee’s unique fingerprint and prompts them to scan the digit whenever they need access to company systems.
- Eye recognition: Eye recognition sensors require users to look into an eye reader.
As biometric authentication use increases, developers discover new ways to optimize the technology and increase its security. Biometrics provide significant benefits, including the inability to lose or steal scans. Many scanners are also intuitive, making it easy to sign into company systems.
2. Zero-Trust Architecture
2024 is also likely to see more organizations adopting zero-trust structures. Zero-trust architecture is a cybersecurity approach that emphasizes validation in every step of security procedures. The technique eliminates implicit trust in any security configuration by requiring users to revalidate their identities each time they access company data.
By closely monitoring and requiring validation for each access request, organizations can quickly identify threats, vulnerabilities and attacks. Every validation request and instance of granted access creates a detailed user activity record, making it easier to track attack sources.
For instance, an employee would have to use their user credentials, multifactor authentication, biometric authentication or another form to access their account, any company application, stored documents or similar materials. That way, the organization increases its security on every level. If an attacker manages to break through one defense, they would continuously have to prove their identity to get further into the company systems, which could halt their attempts.
Experts expect the zero-trust industry to grow exponentially in the upcoming years, with a predicted market value of $60 billion in 2027. More companies integrate this method to maintain strong defenses against attacks like ransomware.
3. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in IAM
Like other global industries, artificial intelligence continues to shape and advance the IAM field. This form of advanced technology streamlines manual tasks, analyzes user behaviors, detects suspicious activity and performs many other vital actions. As AI advances, IAM organizations continue to use the tools to optimize efficiency, increase accuracy and boost security.
For instance, AI technology can often identify vulnerabilities or suspicious behavior before employees can. The technology continuously monitors the system and alerts you to abnormal activities. AI can also assist with threat response by automating specific responses. For example, an AI tool might block malicious activity or isolate impacted systems before the attack spreads to other areas.
4. Privacy-Preserving Identity Management
In addition, the IAM industry should continue using more privacy-protection technologies. As people use the internet, various organizations collect personal data. The more data they gather, the more privacy concerns grow. It’s increasingly challenging to track which organizations have your data and how they plan to use it.
The IAM field addresses these concerns by balancing privacy-preserving technologies with access management requirements. For example, they might limit the data they retrieve from users when they sign into company systems.
How Do These Trends Impact Businesses and Users?
All these emerging technologies in IAM and trends can benefit businesses in various ways. Implementing these new advances can take significant time and resources, but the advantages allow your company to work more securely.
- Enhanced user experience: Many advances in IAM technology build a more intuitive user experience. The updates streamline access to company systems, so users can work more efficiently and without friction.
- Improved security posture: Robust authentication methods mitigate cybersecurity risks even further. You can take the strictest protection against malicious attacks by adopting the latest security technology. The ability to proactively detect threats helps you identify and resolve risks before they grow more severe.
Challenges and Considerations in Adopting Future IAM Solutions
Organizations should also stay aware of these potential challenges or concerns as they adopt new IAM technologies or strategies.
- Shifting from a legacy system: Does your company use a legacy system for various daily operations? It might be challenging to integrate modern IAM technologies with outdated systems. The technology may be incompatible or take significant time to integrate, which impedes efficiency.
- Accepting new technology: Employees might resist new technologies or strategies, especially if they’ve used current techniques for many years. It could take time to gain user acceptance and train them to use the new solutions.
- Scaling solutions to meet unique needs: Growing organizations have specialized requirements because they need the software to expand with them. Fortunately, many IAM solutions providers offer scalable features that increase as necessary.
Contact Optimal IdM Today
The future of identity and access management continues to evolve. Staying aware of identity access trends helps your organization remain as secure as possible. From increased AI tools to biometric authentication, you can implement these trends into your IAM structure.
If you need comprehensive identity and access management solutions, choose Optimal IdM today. Our advanced solutions help you secure company systems, increasing security across all platforms. We work closely with all clients to define the best fit for their preferences and needs. Our solutions are also scalable and able to meet your initial and future goals.
To learn more about our products and solutions, contact Optimal IdM today.
