Identity Management – Closing the Gaps in State & Local Cybersecurity

 

Identity management, the process of identifying individuals in your system and controlling the access they have to certain resources, is an area of cyber security that state and local government employees have quite a bit of confidence in. Yet data shows there’s room for improvement.

A 2017 survey by DLT partner, Symantec, and the Government Business Council found that 70% of respondents agree or strongly agree that their organization can ensure appropriate access to critical data. Yet, they also reveal gaps in identity management processes.

  • Nearly 25% say their organization doesn’t plan to leverage analytics to combat fraud, waste, and abuse.
  • While just 22% characterize implementing a citizen identity management platform as a high/critical organization priority, although most feel that such a platform could yield a host of benefits – particularly improved customer service and security/privacy.

The fact is that transformational technologies – such as big data/analytics – can help propel fraud detection, threat mitigation, and more. However, organizations need to first overcome structural and bureaucratic hurdles (i.e., budget constraints, lack of IT personnel, and bureaucratic inertia) before they can fully implement and harness state-of-the-art tools and systems, says Symantec.

A proven way to overcome these hurdles is to adopt a single, secure identity management platform. Despite various bureaucratic and structural barriers, respondents are also largely confident that such a platform could be created: over half believe that a cohesive identity management platform could feasibly be achieved within the next ten years.

Where do you start? Check out this infographic for some pointers, plus more on how such a platform can fill the gaps in state and local identity management.