INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security
not as effective – passwords can be guessed, or even broken
with the right technology – indeed, an experiment by Ars
Technica demonstrated how easily this could be done, with one
hacker cracking over 14,800 passwords in less than an hour by
using a computer cluster.
Part of the emerging advancements in biometric security
include thumbprints being accompanied by retinal scanning
as well as facial and body language recognition. And while we
may be some way off the biometric identification technology
that was central to the recent film X-Men: Days of Future Past
– in which the mutant population could be identified with a
remote scan of their genetics – biometrics technologies are
gaining increasing traction in the industry. Indeed, Google has
vowed to use the technology to kill passwords – and it wants
to do so before the end of the year.
All this means that while data will be stored securely, access
will be easier than ever.
Bringing it to the business
Identity management will always be crucial, and biometric
authentication is just one method that we will see
organisations using in the future. There are, however, other
software-driven systems – such as key-stroke tracking – which
can bridge the gap and help change an organisation’s culture
in preparation for a more fluid and dynamic IT system. While
Deepak Narain, Regional Presales Manager, MENA, VMware
www.intelligentcio.com
the enthusiasm and desire for improved accessibility may be
there, the technical know-how is not always present. With
many organisations operating with legacy infrastructure, it
can be a challenge to bring newer technologies into the IT
estate. Businesses need a technology partner that can help
them bridge this gap.
In the cloud era, identity management needs single sign on so
that IT can continue to manage the one-to-many relationship
between a user’s corporate identity and all the other identities
they carry across the cloud in both SaaS and mobile apps.
When a user arrives, or more importantly leaves a job, access
should be granted or revoked immediately. And for time-
strapped IT departments, this should be streamlined and
automated, eliminating the manual – and error-prone – ticket
processes typically used to provision and de-provision users.
The old world of perimeter defence is dead, now a CIO will
find that their organisation’s applications and information
are everywhere, both inside and outside the walls of the
data centre. At its heart, modern identity management is
about understanding and controlling the sprawl of data and
applications. For employees, it is about having an access to an
identity that is ‘consumer simple, enterprise secure’; an online
version of themselves that the organisation’s infrastructure
will recognise and let into the system quickly.
You know who you are, so should your business. n
"In order to
stay compliant
with industry
guidelines,
businesses must
place their data
behind more
complex barriers
as a protection
against external
threats."
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