It’s Time to Take Identity Management Seriously
Tuesday, April 11th is Identity Management Day, a day of awareness to educate business leaders, IT decision makers, and the public about the importance of digital identity management.
What is that importance, you ask?
According to the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA), “Cybersecurity incidents involving compromised credentials continue to be the most common cause of a data breach for enterprises and account takeover for individuals.”
IDSA reports “84% of organizations have suffered an identity-related breach in the last year, with 78% reporting a direct impact on the business” from a recent study. In addition, “22% of US households have been a victim of account takeover, with an average financial loss of $12,000.”
What’s more, Dashlane, a password manager and digital wallet app, reports that “the average internet user currently has 240 online accounts that require a password.”
Think of how many employees you have.
Think of how many friends and family members you are connected to through various networks and online services like email.
Now think of the odds that every single one of those people is using proper password hygiene and multifactor authentication to protect every single one of their 240 accounts.
It very quickly becomes clear why the IDSA says “the need to secure our digital identities remains one of the most urgent tasks facing our digital ecosystem.” And that’s why Infinity, Inc. is proud to champion this initiative and help businesses and individuals understand the importance of digital identity protection and how to be more secure.
Chuck Brown, President of Infinity, Inc. says, “I want business owners and well, everyone really, to know two things: 1. that identity management is a very real and important need nowadays and 2. what they can do to protect themselves. Because that’s the real point here. There are simple steps we can take to strengthen the protection of our business networks and personal accounts. But we have to actually do them, not just know we ‘should.’”
Practicing some of these identity security basics can make a huge difference:
- Create strong passwords or passphrases
- Never share or reuse passwords
- Recognize and report phishing
- Keep your software up to date – at home and at work
- Enable multi-factor authentication on every account that offers it
- Use a password manager
So join Infinity on April 11th as we spotlight the importance of securing our employee, partner, and customer identities on Identity Management Day. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube and look for the hashtags #IDMgmtDay2023 and #BeIdentitySmart to get useful information to help protect yourself personally and professionally.
About Identity Management Day
Identity Management Day, which is held the second Tuesday of April each year, was established by the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) in partnership with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA). This initiative aims to raise awareness about the dangers of casually or improperly managing digital identities and presents actionable best practices to inspire individuals and organizations to act. Identity Management Day 2023 is co-chaired by IDSA members Saviynt and Semperis. To learn more visit www.identitymanagement day.org. To join the conversation on social media, use #BeCyberSmart and #BeIdentitySmart.
About the Identity Defined Security Alliance
The IDSA is a group of identity and security vendors, solution providers, and practitioners that acts as an independent source of thought leadership, expertise, and practical guidance on identity centric approaches to security for technology professionals. The IDSA is a nonprofit that facilitates community collaboration to help organizations reduce risk by providing education, best practices, and resources. For more information, please visit www.idsalliance.org.
