According to a PwC report, 55% of enterprise executives plan to increase their cybersecurity budgets in 2021 and 51% are adding full-time cyber staff in 2021. The focus of the world is shifting towards cybersecurity and rightly so. All the right reasons to invest in cybersecurity are presenting themselves with the digital shift that happened in 2020 due to the pandemic. Security approaches and operations have seen a clear inclination towards certain solutions and concepts.
Here are 5 cybersecurity trends that we see taking further shape in 2021:
1. Automation of Security Processes
According to a research conducted by the Phonemon Institute, security teams spend 25% of their time heeding to false positive security alerts. Security alerts that go off relentlessly give IT heads sleepless nights when there isn’t much to worry about. In this web of alerts, sorting what is of higher priority might take a considerable amount of time and crucial security alerts that genuinely need immediate action might be missed leading to grave incidents. Automating this process with a solution that deals with most of them on an automatic predefined basis is key to managing threat alerts.
These solutions ensure most of the alerts are sorted automatically whether it is to raise the level of authentication for an application on account of a suspicious login or even block the access altogether. The response might depend on the sensitivity of the application. Only true security threats that require human intervention are notified to the security teams.
Automation can help in simplifying processes as well. When new hires join, their accesses can be managed seamlessly by defining who gets access to what according to their role. Automating onboarding or general access management processes is a clear winner in the market today. It saves time, enables new hires to be productive from day one, setting the tone for their experience in the organization.
2. Remote Work Security and Solutions
There was undoubtedly a ‘work from home’ transition in 2020. Since then it has been realized to be an effective work model as well. However, productivity and cost savings aside, some loopholes require attention. To make this model more effective, smooth access provisioning and identity governance are key. 2021 will see organizations looking into making this model more sustainable and effective.
Identity and Access Management solutions with hassle-free single sign-on to all applications and self-service password capabilities can greatly reduce helpdesk dependencies. Additionally, a smooth workflow for access requests, approval, and revoking can reduce the application usage downtime as well. Identity Governance solutions can help monitor all these accesses even if employees are in different parts of the world.
3. Adopting the ‘Zero Trust’ Way
Zero trust is not an unfamiliar term in the security industry. Quite often, it is looked through the lens of reluctance. However, it is going to see some momentum this year as the dire need for it is becoming more apparent. The security perimeter has extended beyond differentiating external and internal accesses today as the traditional approach results in insider threats and data breaches. With the expanding work perimeters, from office settings to employee’s houses and their personal devices with BYOD culture stepping in, a different security perspective is essential. Zero trust considers every access to be a threat unless verified otherwise. Never Trust, Always verify is its motto, and rightly so. The key is to implement this model well – It has to be done in a way that access is always available to the right people with minimal but effective authentication mechanisms. Passwordless authentication can help with such experiences. Identity and Access Management can help organizations implement a well-defined and robust zero trust architecture.
4. Cybersecurity-as-a-Service on the Rise
From the first three trends, it is obvious that cybersecurity is an initiative that requires dedicated time and effort. However, most organizations are not equipped with a separate security workforce. With the current shortage of cybersecurity professionals, hiring people exclusively for it is not an easy feat as well. Thus, outsourcing security operations to cybersecurity experts is an ideal way of dealing with this, and in the long run, cost-saving method as well.
Identity Centric Security Operations Center provides a one-stop-shop for all security products and services with 24*7 threat monitoring.
Likewise, pay-as-you-use identity and access management solutions will see demand as well. These ‘as-a -service’ solutions provide a metered billing approach as opposed to investing in a license. Authentication, access management, identity governance, identity administration, privileged access management, identity analytics and many more as-a-service options are available from leading providers.
5. Converged IAM
As the need for security solutions grows, complications and cost overruns are inherent. Multiple solutions, vendors, large bills can become an overwhelming reality all too soon. The demand for a single solution that caters to the various needs of cybersecurity with a simple approach is a pressing priority.
Leading analysts have commented in agreement as well that a converged Identity and Access Management solution is the future. With more companies chalking up security budgets with IAM in the picture, stakeholders need to know that one solution can really do it all. Converged IAM solutions bring together Access Management, Identity Governance and Administration, Privileged Access Management, Identity Analytics and so much more on a single platform. No more hassles of managing endless integration or waiting for multiple solutions to generate ROI to retain stakeholder interest. Compact Identity from Ilantus is the only such complete converged IAM solution in the market today that provides the highest ROI and seamless user adoption.
Cybersecurity trends are a testament to the direction of the industry. They tell us of the approach organizations need to take to stay relevant and solidify grounds for digital transformation. The trends of 2021 are all heading towards a holistic approach to security. Be sure to catch up on these trends in a way that complements your organization’s security needs.
