Life’s unpredictable and risks are inevitable. And, when you put projects, people, and technology together, you are bound to be surprised – and seldom are such surprises pleasant. Unpredictable risks are, by definition, unpredictable. The best one can do is to work towards minimizing damage were a risk to materialize.
Often enough, risk management has a series of approaches documented to help stakeholders put the broken pieces back together.
Avoidance
Tell a project manager that you have a totally risk-proofed project, and she will laugh. If you want the Gods to laugh, tell them your plans!
For example, BYOD policies make it virtually impossible for a business to protect its users’ devices. Even if you are conservative about your BYOD policy, the connected world that we live in makes risk avoidance impossible.
Transference
Risks that can’t be avoided are often transferred to another party. Insurance is a classic example. There are presently no practically viable risk-transference policies that cover most IT risks, including those due to IAM lapses. ‘
Acceptance
This is the only option available, and the best course of action begins with minimizing risks so that potential damages are manageable.
But how can you minimize such risks?
The IT Security landscape has been at the cusp of ‘digital transformation’ for a long time now. Even as the term sounds tired and overused, the transformation has not been completed, in the sense that reliance on people is often deemed enough.
People continue to be the weakest link within a business’s security system. Despite being the lynchpin of the security posture of a company, IAM tends to be more of a compliance measure than an actual security necessity.
Minimizing risks associated with your Identity and Access Management program begins with ensuring that employees have access only to information that they need.
Further, this is an on-going process that should be managed when people move within the organization or leave it.
Here’s a closer look at what it takes to make the system regulated–
- User access request and approval
The process should provide access to all the applications and information that employees need to be productive. At the same time, the approvers need to understand the requirements of their team members’ duties and be able to evaluate the levels of data access they really need and regulate it when the need subsides. - Resolution
Imposing the agreed-upon limitations of data access is easier said than done. For example, managers tend to give employees more access than they require to simplify their own delegation duties. Besides, visibility into the role authority in tandem with the accesses granted is a challenge when the business is not invested in a competent IAM solution. - Review and Certification
Further, periodic reports and certifications ensure that the access provided remains regulated. Besides, given the agility of today’s organizational structures, these reviews ensure that accesses are aligned to the new roles and responsibilities assigned to people.
Enter Actionable Intelligence
The need of our hyper-connected world is an IAM solution that can help you assess your decisions in line with the risks that are associated with those decisions. A Risk engine will typically find, analyze, and grade risks on the scale of their severity so that you can make educated decisions based on its implications.
The Risk engine evaluates a considerable volume of identity data and further analyses the outcome such data has had on the user behavior. Overall, this becomes the firm footing for a business to keep adding layers of security.
For a mid-market business, a sound Risk Engine not only saves money but also brings a good night’s sleep. The engine is a crucial necessity to be able to have Gartner’s CARTA (Continuous Adaptive Risk Approach) approach in place – which is the wave of the future in risk management.
CI is the only IAM solution you’d need – a Risk Engine integrated with Access Management and Identity Governance.
Economical, straightforward and truly contemporary, CI is worth serious consideration.
Write to us for more details and an exclusive consultation on minimizing IT risks
