According to the majority of respondents, adopting an identity-centric approach to security both protects and enables business in today’s multichannel, multiplatform world, where identity is the perimeter. UK organisations record a 39 percent increase in customer satisfaction and a 38 percent increase in revenue from new business.
“Security has always been about protecting the business, compliance, and efficient business operations; this study is proof that security also contributes to business growth,” says Paul Briault, Sr Director, CA Technologies. “In the application economy, customers want failsafe security and a frictionless experience. Identity-centric security applies consistent security measures across channels, allowing organisations to improve how they protect and support business operations while driving customer confidence and business growth.”
Identity-centric security helps ensure an organisation’s security practices do not infringe on the overall user experience. It requires organisations to implement more adaptive identity and access management (IAM) controls, and to take a more proactive and predictive approach to preventing and detecting data breaches.
Owing to their security practices, 74 percent of UK organisations report an improvement in customer experience, 71 percent increased competitive differentiation, and 87 percent confirm that their security practices help them attract and retain talent (the highest figure in Europe). UK organisations also report a 46 percent increase in employee productivity and 38 percent increase in operational efficiency.
Identity-Centric Security Contributes to Success in the Application Economy
The study findings support the view that identity-centric security needs to do more in today’s environment than protect the business: it needs to help build the trusted digital relationships that are critical for competing in the application economy and growing the business.
· 93 percent of UK organisations view security as critical to protecting their brand and as a competitive differentiator (the highest figure in Europe).
· 81 percent of respondents said they need to balance strong security with business enablement.
· 80 percent said that security needs to be frictionless and not over burden the user.
· 83 percent said identity-centric security is critical to the business (second highest score in Europe, after Italy).
Data Breaches Remain a Concern among UK Organisations
According to the study, one third of UK organisations report an increase in IT security breaches over the last 12 months, while 20 percent have seen a decrease. Additional investment in security (cited by 67 percent), coupled with the implementation of strong, step-up authentication (cited by 40 percent), have led to a decrease in IT security breaches.
Proactive and predictive processes can greatly enhance an organisation’s ability to detect and prevent data breaches. However, only 24 percent of UK organisations use analytics to proactively detect and prevent data breaches, and just 21 percent can predict the risk of breaches before they occur.
Effective Identity-Centric Security: A Roadmap
The study closes with seven critical actions UK organisations need to take to adopt an identity-centric approach to security, and ensure the strategy improves performance and drives growth. Organisations should:
· Make identity the perimeter of the organisation.
· Treat security as a business enabler
· Focus on creating trusted digital relationships
· Protect experiences, not just data
· Take an adaptive approach to IAM
· Be proactive and predictive
· Never compromise security for speed
The release of these results coincides with European Cyber Security Month (ECSM), taking place during October 2016. The annual campaign, which is supported by CA Technologies, is driven by the European Commission and the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security. ECSM aims to raise awareness of cyber security threats, promote cyber security among citizens and provide up to date security information, through education and sharing of good practices.
