The Majority of Security and IT Professionals Are Taking IAM More Seriously

A majority of security and IT professionals are serious about solving identity and access management (IAM) problems, according to a new study by the CyberRisk Alliance (CRA).

CRA researchers looked at what security and IT professionals think about how their organizations are deploying IAM programs. Are they satisfied with the progress they have made so far? Are they confident that they are giving their users the right level of access? Will I be able to access my data?

Conducted from December 2022 to January 2023, the study surveyed 203 security and IT professionals from the CRA’s Business Intelligence Research Panel and yielded four key findings: .

1. Organizations are paving the way for IAM adoption

Just under half (44%) of respondents have already partially or fully implemented IAM, 19% are developing an IAM strategy, and 26% are seriously considering it now. In total, 98% of his respondents have implemented or are considering his IAM strategy. Respondents who made progress with IAM chose different paths to deployment. 22% chose an on-premises configuration, 24% chose a cloud-based setup, and 25% chose a hybrid model combining on-premises and cloud his solutions.

2. Enterprises are experiencing shadow IT and technical complexity along the way

Many future IAM implementers don’t expect an easy time. Shadow IT and affordability of his IAM products are the biggest expected challenges for at least his four to ten of his IAM adopters and implementers in the future. And at least one-third of future IAM adopters and implementers consider the lack of budgetary resources and the adoption of Zero Trust his architecture as the biggest challenges.

3. The IAM program focuses on user verification and authentication

Advances in IAM have been primarily motivated by a desire to anticipate the growing pains of transforming today’s workforce. Respondent said his IAM efforts today prioritized multi-factor authentication (84%), unique passwords (82%), single sign-on (77%), and role-based access control (67%). says that

4. Security teams struggle to make IAM deployments easier

Respondents are concerned about the complexity of IAM products and how they weigh down the user experience. 56% of respondents say they are focused on improving the user experience, which is often cited as a major pain point in implementing IAM.

One respondent said:

Looking ahead, businesses should carefully consider how to improve their organization’s security posture and deploy IAM in a way that respects user needs and preferences.

CRA’s advice for security teams: Have an IAM game plan, put user experience at the center, focus on iteration, embrace the remote work trend more effectively than solving it all at once, zero trust Bounds IDs based on . .

Click here to download the report.