Identity security has become increasingly complex, presenting a formidable challenge for CISOs, security operations (SecOps), and identity and access management (IAM) teams worldwide. It’s not surprising then that a staggering 80% of today’s cyber attacks begin with compromised identities, making them everyone’s business as the most critical attack vector to protect.
Unfortunately, many organizations are struggling to effectively get ahead and stay ahead of malicious attackers and compliance demands. Many times, awareness of an attack comes too late. Even when teams know they’re under attack, response times are too slow, and teams can’t get to the root of the problem fast enough or understand the potential areas of impact.
The Identity Security Complexity Challenge
Complexity makes it nearly impossible to detect and respond to identity threats effectively. Getting to the source of the breach and mapping the blast radius across a complex identity fabric takes too long, leaving organizations more vulnerable than ever.
What makes it so hard? The answer centers around complexity caused by 3 main challenges:
- Scale: The sheer number of identities, human and machine, to manage across an ever-expanding cloud landscape with hundreds of SaaS applications, internal users, third parties, and non-human identities is growing constantly. According to Gartner, non-human identities outnumber human identities by as much as 10 to 45 times.
- Speed: The pace of change for identities operating in this dynamic environment is faster than any human could ever tackle manually. While the adoption of automated IAM tools has made it possible to provision and de-provision automatically, there is a tremendous amount of risk introduced in the “messy middle” of the user’s lifecycle, and access permissions must continuously adapt to risk levels.
- Blind Spots: Organizations operate in silos across disparate systems, processes, and teams. And, many are managing identities in siloes. This leads to a lack of situational awareness, leaving teams unable to see every identity, and its corresponding risk in real-time creates a lack of situational awareness.
When an identity has been compromised, SecOps and IAM teams quickly must work together to identify and respond to the threat by answering these questions:
- Which identities are impacted?
- Where are we vulnerable?
- Which of those impacted are privileged users?
- What stage of attack are we in?
- How can we stop the attack without disrupting the flow of business?
In the recent attacks on MGM and Okta, we saw that being unable to quickly answer these questions resulted in financial and reputational damage. Organizations must find a way to achieve always-on visibility, superhuman precision, speed, and intelligent insights. This is where AI for identity security can help.
AI – The Newest Ally on the Identity Security Battleground
AI offers hope for SecOps and IAM teams to jointly navigate the intricacies of identity security. From proactive identity threat detection to adaptive identity and access security, AI can revolutionize how organizations defend against these identity-driven attacks and manage the dynamic nature of digital identities by providing them with unparalleled capabilities that transcend human limitations in speed, scalability, and predictive accuracy. Here are some key ways AI can empower SecOps and IAM teams:
1.Reduce the Time of Exposure and Risk: AI-based systems can detect and analyze threats before human analysts are aware of their existence. By continuously verifying and cross-referencing data patterns, AI identifies deviations indicative of potential cyber threats. This early detection is crucial during cyberattacks, enabling SecOps teams to initiate swift response measures to contain and neutralize threats before they inflict significant damage.
2.Operate a Burnout-Free Zone: Unlike humans who require rest and downtime, AI operates continuously without fatigue. This perpetual vigilance allows AI to monitor systems around the clock, detecting threats and anomalies even during non-business hours. Consistent monitoring and response capabilities can reduce the risk of oversight due to human limitations. Cybercriminals are relentless, making slight modifications to their methods with great frequency and even using AI themselves. Hiring someone to take on this defense can become monotonous, leading to fatigue and an increase in human error. AI takes the redundancy out of the equation, deploying a system that doesn’t understand the concept of burnout. It goes above and beyond, handling repetitive tasks while also learning from all data that enters the system.
3.Achieve Faster Response Times: AI-based cybersecurity systems can respond immediately to threats compared to human analysts. Machines process and analyze vast amounts of data at incredible speeds, enabling them to detect and respond to anomalies in real time. While human intuition is invaluable, AI often identifies and addresses potential issues before they escalate, minimizing response times and mitigating risks quickly.
4.Stay Ahead of the Attackers: AI learns and improves continuously through algorithms, enhancing its ability to identify and mitigate risks over time. By analyzing historical data and current patterns, AI-powered solutions evolve to recognize new threat vectors and adapt defenses accordingly. This proactive approach ensures that SecOps and IAM teams stay ahead of emerging threats, leveraging AI’s evolving capabilities to bolster cybersecurity postures.
5.Bridge the SecOps and IAM Gaps: One of the primary challenges in identity-centric security is the disparate nature of data and tools used by CISOs, IAM, and SecOps teams. AI bridges these gaps by integrating data from diverse sources and presenting unified insights into identity-related risks. By establishing a common language of risk assessment and threat detection, AI can enable seamless collaboration and coordination across functional boundaries. Identity security AI assistants can help with natural language processing in complex queries and threat-hunting efforts so that everyone can participate using the terms they regularly use and are comfortable using with AI responding with clear guidance for how to remediate risks most efficiently.
Leverage AI for Identity-Centric Security Now
By harnessing AI’s superhuman abilities, organizations can bolster their cybersecurity defenses, respond swiftly to threats, and maintain a proactive security posture that adapts to the complexities of today’s digital landscape.
As AI continues to evolve, its role in enhancing cybersecurity resilience and mitigating risks will become increasingly indispensable in safeguarding critical assets and maintaining trust in an interconnected world.
