Access Control In The Digital World

We cannot deny the importance of the digital world. From mobile devices to login systems, its use is practically everywhere! But with amazing technological advancements comes the fear of increased data breaches.

As we also know, every network requires some sort of access to gain entry into its system. Whether you use a face lock ID to open your phone or put in the security code to enable the house alarm, access control is just about everywhere.

So, what exactly is ‘Access Control’ you may be wondering?

Access control is the physical or digital ability to deny, approve, or restrict access to anything. This could be accessing your bank account through the digital app, using the key fob to unlock the car door, or using any app on your digital device. Access control is widely used in the digital industry. With this advanced digital transformation, there are numerous risks to consider. The most considerable of these risks include identity theft and access to information.

Stolen credentials and passwords led to more than $10 billion in business losses from 2015 to 2020. For businesses to prevent these attacks, a foolproof zero-trust security model should be adopted.

The Zero-Trust Model – Always Verify and Authenticate!

The zero-trust model requires authentication no matter how legitimate a user you are. This involves verification every time you log into an organization’s applications and resources. As a result, everything on the system remains secure, eliminating any potential threats.

This model also grants limited access to specific roles or users. For example, a first-level employee may only access the CRM system, while an executive may access multiple systems. Most of these big enterprise apps have legacy protocol methods integrated into them.

Having an access solution in the form of a zero-trust model is critical to establish modern authorization capabilities such as MFA (multifactor authentication) for each app the enterprise uses, including the legacy apps. However, modernizing apps with legacy or custom authentication methods can be costly. But taking advantage of the digital world with IDaaS providers, OAuth, and OIDC frameworks is a game changer, as it doesn’t require modernizing all the apps immediately.