Your IAM Framework is Insecure Unless it Protects from this Unknown Threat

Do you ever cover the credit card reader with your hand so no one can see the PIN? Of course you don’t; non-contactless is so 2019. But if you did, you’d do it to prevent prying eyes from viewing your PIN code.

In this story, identity and access management plays the part of your hand, protecting your credentials and data against ransomware attacks, data breaches, and cyber hacks.

The problem is the risk of prying eyes is growing. Thanks to the rise of hybrid and remote working, many people are accessing sensitive information on their own devices, increasing the attack surface. 73% of IT leaders say their organization is more vulnerable to cyberattacks when employees work remotely, and talent shortages in the tech industry mean there is a lack of qualified professionals to step up to the plate and ensure IAM security.

Ransomware attacks hit 37% of organizations in 2021 and continue to rise with new security challenges on the horizon. As organizations grow and become more agile, a robust IAM strategy is the ideal counter-attack. It envelops your systems in a high level of protection while giving users the flexibility they need to access systems.

IAM is More Than Just User Control. It’s Your Wall of Defense

Identity and access management is a framework used to control the authentication and authorization of enterprise assets. It can include tools, policies, and processes to manage and monitor user access to sensitive information. As compliance and regulations get stricter, organizations support more devices, and attacks become more sophisticated, IAM has become a mission-critical business strategy.

Global spending on IAM will increase by 62% over the next five years to keep up with the complex infrastructure and new technologies that organizations are adopting. The following are essential elements in a successful IAM strategy, including:

Account Management

Every user account has different requirements that will change from setup to deactivation. Privileged account management (PAM) is an efficient way to grant access rights to accounts that need them and control what users can do within enterprise assets.

User Activity Monitoring

No, this doesn’t involve checking whether your teammates are Googling ‘cat memes’ and ‘Elon Musk Twitter’ during work hours. The goal of activity monitoring is to prevent data breaches before they happen by tracking and reporting on user activities.

Identification

Upon learning about the internet, most people aged 70+ will warn you, ‘Well, you never know who’s behind the screen.’ They’re kind of right. Identification enables you to confirm the identity of users requesting access to assets. Role-based access tools and authentication as a service (AaaS) vendors can help you implement identity verification.

Compliance and Security

You can protect enterprise assets such as networks and applications from unauthorized external access and ill-intended internal threats by taking compliance seriously. That’s right; breaches can come from within, too.

Secrets Sprawl: The Most Problematic IAM Vulnerability

Six billion credentials were leaked online in 2022, including SSH keys, passwords, and API tokens. As well as standard secrets like unique passwords and pre-shared keys (PSK), other methods of proving digital identity are rising in popularity.

Advanced IAM frameworks include behavior-based analytics. Behavioral authentication and biometrics both use artificial intelligence to recognize users based on their mouse use, keystroke dynamics, fingerprints, and more. While passwordless IAM is effective, the secrets are just as vulnerable. Some would argue that data protection and privacy are even more imperative when dealing with biometric data because it’s harder to change a password than an iris, after all.

Whether you use one authentication method or ten, you’re still at risk of secret sprawl if developers hardcode credentials into source code. If a hacker breaches your IAM tools, your organization could fall victim to a cyber attack, data breach, and financial penalties

Although IAM strategies and digital authentication are constantly evolving, one thing remains the same: authentication always requires secrets. As your approach to IAM changes, your security strategy should as well to avoid secrets sprawl.

Security Best Practices for IAM

It’s impossible for modern organizations and developers to function without IAM. The risk of not having mature IAM capabilities is far greater than the risk of having no strategy at all. If you follow these best practices, you can successfully monitor, audit, and protect your assets.

1. Encourage Employee Training

Most organizations ask employees to change their passwords after an agreed amount of time. So why do 85% of users continue to reuse passwords even after cybersecurity training?

Maybe it’s human error, maybe it’s a lack of understanding, and maybe it’s just plain laziness. Developing a clear policy encourages good password hygiene and reduces the attack vector. For example, each password should contain a minimum amount of letters/characters and an expiry date.

Developers and other IT professionals are usually well-versed in the art of changing your passwords, but your colleagues might not be. A shocking 97% of people can’t identify a phishing scam, meaning you may need to step up and educate them on best practices.

2. Enable Multi-factor Authentication

Hopefully, attackers won’t obtain valid credentials. But if they do, MFA adds an additional layer of security. Instead of creating complex passwords, MFA uses an SSO solution to confirm user identity. Users can’t log in unless they provide an additional piece of information like a one-time password sent from a device, meaning that malicious users won’t be able to gain access even if secrets fall into their hands.

Google made MFA mandatory for over 150 million users in 2021 and saw an awesome 50% decline in compromized accounts. Not bad for a simple addition to the account login process.

3. Take the Least Privilege Approach

You know what detectives in crime dramas always say: ‘Trust no one’. The same applies to IAM. Taking a zero trust approach assumes that every employee only requires access to a limited number of assets and resources to do their job. Rather than having automatic access, privileges are strictly controlled and users need to provide verification.

If users had permissions for all assets, an attacker would have unlimited access to everything, then it’s game over. Zero trust ensures that hackers are locked out of systems even if they manage to compromise the account.

4. Use a Secrets Management Tool

Even if you follow best practices and encrypt your secrets, ask yourself what you plan to do with the decryption tools? It’s not a trick question; it’s one that many devs skim over. That’s why organizations turn to key management tools that generate, deliver, and store keys to keep them safe during the encryption and decryption lifecycle.

A similar concept applies to secrets. Secrets management tools like Kubernetes Secrets and Azure Vault manage sensitive information like encryption, SSL certificates, and tokens to prevent human error caused by hard coded secrets. Instead of relying on manual processes, you can use a secrets management tool to enforce least privilege policies with access controls, alert you about suspicious activity, and securely store your info away from malicious users.

5. Put Compliance First

In most organizations, there’s no way developers would be able to scan for vulnerabilities manually. It’d take too long and be much too expensive. Automating vulnerability scanners helps you identify policy drift in your SDLC and maintain a high level of compliance without investing in manual labor.

Compliance is a minefield if you don’t know what you’re doing, but auditors won’t take ‘Sorry, I was confused’ as an answer. In response to recent high-profile cyber attacks like SolarWinds, the US government released Executive Order 14028 on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. It outlines steps you should follow to secure your software supply chain, including establishing IAM.

6. Use a Scanning Engine to Protect Credentials

Generating ROI on software projects isn’t guaranteed or easy, and developers often feel the pressure to maintain high development velocity. When devs rush to stay on track, the number of hardcoded secrets increases, and teams unfortunately sacrifice security for secrets sprawl.

An automated scanning engine is one of the best ways to remove human error when securing credentials. It identifies and remediates vulnerabilities like unauthorized access without slowing development velocity, so devs can focus on business-critical and software development activities while the scanning tool hustles quietly in the background.

Modern tools monitor high-risk misconfigurations, automate secrets protection, and eliminate blind spots in proprietary code assets. Just be sure you choose a tool that enables you to integrate your IAM playbook and implement the policies across your whole SDLC for flexibility.

Secure Your IAM to Secure Your Whole Organization

A successful IAM strategy starts with well-executed basics. Employing a zero trust model, introducing MFA, and training your colleagues to understand security means you’re well on your way to building a protective wall around your organization’s secrets.

CloudGuard Spectral is available as a standalone solution or as a component of CloudGuard CNAPP.

Spectral’s secret scanning tool safeguards IAM frameworks by identifying and remediating vulnerabilities, giving you peace of mind that your code, assets, and infrastructure are protected from malicious actors.

CloudGuard CNAPP provides a fully integrated developer solution that streamlines cloud security operations from code to cloud. With CNAPP, you have a unified platform that not only identifies security issues throughout your pipeline but also provides in-depth insights and context. This allows you to understand effective IAM permissions and privileges and prioritize risks across your entire cloud infrastructure.

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