The Information Security Malaise

Managing the flow of information has never been more critical or more

challenging. At any point of time, vital information is transmitted

electronically over an expanding array of networks, systems and platforms of an

organization. Today’s business also needs to support whole communities of

users: customers, suppliers, partners and employees. As the reach extends, so do

the information security puzzle become more complex. Can it be made certain that

each user is obtaining only the information he or she is entitled to? Can it be

assured that information provided by users won’t fall into the wrong hands? In

short, can the necessary trust be built for the modern extended enterprise?

There are many security technologies available today. Each of these addresses

a different piece of the information security puzzle. A major challenge for

businesses today is to integrate these security technologies properly and

effectively, as otherwise processes would take longer time, administrative costs

would rise, business opportunities would be lost and–and worst of all–the

security of vital business information would be compromised.

The '‘Identity Management Solution’ is an answer to the challenge.

Identity management is an end-to-end security solution which addresses an

organization’s need for certainty in the areas of authentication, access

control and user management. An integrated IdM solution identifies the user;

determines what the user can do; determines the level of trust the user should

receive; protects the organization’s information and generates alerts if the

information has been compromised.

Why is identity management so critical? It is because customers, vendors,

partners and the entire workforce all need access to the right information at

the right time. Yet, these users are working on many different systems and

accessing data from multiple locations. All have different passwords and

authorizations. Plus, every time a customer, vendor or employee changes, the

cumbersome process of adding or deleting privileges begins, wasting staff time

and driving up costs. No wonder businesses have been clamouring for a feasible

way to manage information access enterprise-wide.

The info-security destination



Identity management is the first information security solution to achieve

the promise of a measurable RoI. It is the answer to a challenge businesses have

been grappling with for years: how to ensure security, increase productivity and

reduce operating costs in an environment requiring a constant, rapid flow of

information within and across company borders via the Internet.

When

it comes to information security, today’s smart businesses are on an important

journey. The destination? Identity management–a total security solution.

An organization can adopt identity management in its entirety or progress

toward it on an incremental basis, depending on the maturity of the organization’s

security systems. And no matter where your organization is today, Identity

Management can be the ultimate goal to ensure your organization’s competitive

advantage.

The author is partner (global risk management solution group),

PriceWaterhouseCoopers India. He can be contacted at mail@dqindia.com