Written by David Morimanno, Director, IAM Technology at Xalient Group.Cybercriminals have been using familiar tricks for years – like phishing – and despite all our progress, they remain as effective as ever. Now, with technologies like GenAI supercharging these old tactics, it’s clear that businesses need to step up their game. The answer? A strategic approach centred around Identity Security to tackle phishing risks and minimise threats.
Human error is a major risk
Human error remains a major weak point in security. Simple mistakes like weak passwords, reusing credentials, or falling for phishing emails can compromise even the most secure systems. Social engineering plays on our natural tendency to trust, tricking employees into sharing sensitive information or granting unauthorised access. Despite awareness campaigns, these attacks continue to succeed, exposing a gap between what people know and what they do.
Companies often implement tools like multi-factor authentication (MFA) or mandate frequent password changes, but users can find these measures frustrating. This leads to shortcuts that undermine security. Balancing security with usability is an ongoing challenge, and organisations need to prioritise solutions that are robust but user-friendly.
Protecting the organisation
Securing customer and employee data isn’t just about technology – it’s also about understanding human behaviour. Cognitive biases, stress, and overconfidence can lead to risky actions. Employees might think they know better, or simply get distracted and fall into bad habits. That’s why effective security training needs to address both the human and technical sides of things.
Creating a culture of security awareness is crucial. Organisations should put Identity Security and Phishing Risks at the heart of their strategy. Relying on traditional defences alone leaves gaps. But by focusing on identity security, businesses can significantly reduce the risks and minimise the potential impact of breaches.
Machine identities are a risk too
It’s not just people who have identities – machines do too, and the growth of these machine identities is staggering. From cloud services and IoT devices to APIs and microservices, each requires its own authentication and authorisation. This creates a vast attack surface, with every machine identity becoming a potential point of entry for cybercriminals.
Managing these identities can be a headache. Many organisations don’t even know how many machine identities they have, making it difficult to keep track, secure, or audit them properly. This lack of visibility can lead to serious vulnerabilities.
Security teams need to view machine identities with the same level of scrutiny as human ones. Once an identity- whether human or machine – is compromised, attackers effectively have the keys to the front door. They don’t need to break in; they can just walk right in.
Unlike human identities, which are often linked to specific roles or behaviours, machine identities can be harder to monitor. Their interactions with systems and data are more complex, making it tricky to spot unusual activity. Many organisations lack the tools or processes to properly monitor machine identities, which means potential threats can go undetected for too long. Implementing advanced monitoring solutions to track machine identity activity is crucial for early threat detection and response.
Automation and orchestration add new risks
Automation and orchestration are game-changers for efficiency, but they bring their own risks. These processes rely heavily on machine identities for tasks like provisioning resources and deploying applications. If these identities are compromised, attackers can exploit automated workflows to cause serious damage. That’s why it’s critical to secure the machine identities involved in these processes.
Effective governance and clear policies are key to managing machine identities, yet many organisations struggle here. Without consistent policies, it’s hard to ensure that machine identities are handled securely across the board. Establishing governance frameworks and enforcing policies consistently is vital to reducing the risks.
This is where Zero Trust comes in. It’s a security framework that assumes every user, device, and connection could be a potential threat. And the first step in any Zero Trust journey? Identity security.
Starting the Zero Trust journey
Zero Trust is built on the idea that nothing should be trusted automatically – whether it’s a human user or a machine. To start this journey, organisations need to focus on Identity Security and Phishing Risks. First, assess the current security posture and identify where the gaps are. Look at the threats, the potential impact of a breach, and where processes might be falling short.
There’s no one-size-fits-all tool for security. Zero Trust is a comprehensive approach that starts with identity security and works its way through infrastructure and beyond. A solid understanding of identity risks lays the foundation for a robust, long-term security strategy.
In the end, Zero Trust is a journey, and like any journey, it needs to start with the basics. And in this case, that means focusing on identity security – everything else comes after.
