Bolster Remote Work Security with Access Management

With remote work here to stay, robust access management is a lynchpin for your security.

And while employee education around security hygiene is more important than ever, training is not enough when it comes to safeguarding the organization against threats that are even more pronounced with remote work. No matter where your employees are working, access management is critical for minimizing and mitigating security threats, especially those caused by people, either due to human error or malicious intent.

More attack surfaces increase chance of unauthorized access

With the rise of cloud computing and the proliferation of endpoints, including smartphones and laptops, the attack surface of every organization has widened significantly and it’s up to your IT team to protect it – that means tracking and protecting every device that connects to your corporate network and accesses sensitive business information.

But even with all the security tools in the world and policies to govern remote work, threat actors continue to exploit human perfection to gain access to systems – you must secure people just as much as you secure your IT infrastructure.

Access management is an essential tool for warding against common techniques for gaining unlawful entry into IT systems like phishing and other social engineering tactics that exploit the people using software and various devices for workplace productivity. No matter how well trained, people are the weakest link, in part because they are unable to keep up with the pace of technology.

If you are to account for the human factor, you need robust access management, especially as passwords have proliferated. It’s hard for people to keep up with the sheer number of passwords they must remember to accomplish their tasks at work, so they take shortcuts. They use the same passwords for multiple platforms, and they keep them overly simple so they’re easier to remember. Employees may even install their own password managers without understanding the best practices necessary for using them effectively and securely.

Combating “password fatigue” means you need a smart approach that allows streamlined access for employees without compromising security.

Access management must be streamlined for everyone

Access management isn’t a new concept – single sign-on (SSO) is a common approach to enable employees to quickly access applications, data, and resources to get their work done. But these solutions must scale up as attack surfaces widen and catch up to the reality of the hybrid workplace.

It must also be simple and straightforward to use, otherwise employees will find workarounds and your organization will be back to square one.

If you want to reduce the burden on your IT team, you need a comprehensive access management solution that will be easy for them to manage. Any platform you adopt should provide you with centralized management of access and passwords that’s simple for you IT people to manage while also being intuitive for end users – if it’s easy for them, they won’t find ways around it, and better security habits will be the result.

An effective access management platform accounts for human behaviour while also keeping pace with the modern hybrid workplace.

There are many ways artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning already impact cybersecurity. You can expect that trend to continue in 2024 – both as tools for data protection as well as a threat.

Balancing Cybersecurity Innovation Amid Evolving Threat Landscapes

Even as you implement AI and machine learning into your cybersecurity strategy through the adoption of tools like Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR), so are threat actors. They will continue to update and evolve their own methodologies and tools to compromise their targets by applying AI and machine learning to how they use ransomware, malware and deepfakes.

With small and medium-sized businesses just much at risk as their large enterprise counterparts, SMBs must take advantage of AI and machine learning as mush possible. AI-directed attacks are expected to rise in 2024 in the form of deepfake technologies that make phishing and impersonation more effective, as well as evolving ransomware and malware.

Deepfake social engineering techniques

Deepfake technologies that leverage AI are especially worrisome, as they can create fake content that spurs employees and organizations to work against their best interests. Hackers can use deepfakes to create massive changes with serious financial consequences, including altering stock prices.

Deepfake social engineering techniques will only improve with the use of AI, increasing the likelihood of data breaches through unauthorized access to systems and more authentic looking phishing messages that are more personalized, and hence, more effective.

Countering Cyber Threats and Harnessing Innovation in 2024

If hackers are keen on leveraging AI and machine learning to defeat your cybersecurity, you must be ready to combat them in equal measure – just as AI and machine learning will create new challenges in 2024, they can also help you bolster your cybersecurity. While regulations are being developed to foster ethical use of AI, threat actors are not likely to follow them.

AI will also affect your cyber insurance as your providers will use it to assess your resilience against cyberattacks and adjust your premium payments accordingly. AI presents an opportunity for you to improve your cybersecurity to keep those insurance costs under control.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of doom being predicted around the growing use of AI and machine learning. And while it does pose a risk to your organization and its sensitive data, you can use it to bolster your cybersecurity even as threat actors leverage AI to up the ante. A managed service provider with a focus on security can help you use AI and machine learning to protect your organization as we head into 2024.

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