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New tech steers identity and access management evolution
This article is part of the Information Security issue of August 2019, Vol. 20, No. 3
As a global infrastructure solutions architect at ThoughtWorks in 2013, Phil Ibarrola estimated he spent as much as 80% of his time supporting and troubleshooting the company's on-premises single sign-on service. "Identity service is crucial to everything the business does," said Ibarrola, now TechOps head of technology at the Chicago-based software consultancy. "If it is down or compromised, people can't get to their applications and services, and it's very difficult for them to do their jobs." For a consulting firm like ThoughtWorks, that adds up to forfeited billable hours. "Every second we were down, we were essentially losing revenue," he said, describing their legacy single sign-on (SSO) application as brittle and complex. "It was a nightmare." As the organization moved toward a cloud-first, SaaS strategy, the ThoughtWorks team found itself writing glue code to get new applications to properly authenticate with the SSO -- pushing the launch of new tools back four to six weeks, or even more. Repeated attempts to improve the...
Features in this issue
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New tech steers identity and access management evolution
IAM is evolving to incorporate new technologies -- like cloud-based services and containerization -- promising more secure, granular management of access to company IT assets.
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IoT cybersecurity: Do third parties leave you exposed?
IoT's vast vendor landscape drives innovation, but working with so many third parties also comes with baggage in the form of third-party cybersecurity issues.
News in this issue
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Is your identity management up to the task?
IAM is an organization's best defense for its weakest link, end users. Make sure you're following the right framework and keeping your tools honed and ready for battle.
Columns in this issue
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For board of directors, cybersecurity literacy is essential
For boards of directors to meet their business goals, CISOs need a seat at the table. Through her initiative BoardSuited, Joyce Brocaglia aims to pave the way.
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The must-have skills for cybersecurity aren't what you think
The most critical skills that cybersecurity lacks -- like leadership buy-in, people skills and the ability to communicate -- are not the ones you hear about. That needs to change.