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Identity Management Day: 3 Things MSSPs Need to Know

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April 11 marks Identity Management Day, which provides MSSPs with an opportunity to educate prospects and customers about the importance of identity management.

With a clear understanding of all that Identity Management Day entails, MSSPs can make the most of their efforts to teach prospects and customers about identity and access management (IAM) and other identity security topics.

What MSSPs Need to Know about Identity Management Day

Here are three things that MSSPs need to know about Identity Management Day.

1. Identity Management Day raises awareness about the dangers associated with identity-related data breaches.

Research from the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) shows that 79% of organizations have experienced an identity-related security breach in the last two years. Among these organizations, 99% stated that they believe their identity-related breaches were preventable.

With Identity Management Day, MSSPs can provide prospects and customers with insights into the dangers associated with unsecured identities. From here, MSSPs can help organizations identify any unsecured identities and explain how to protect them.

2. Identity Management Day provides a golden opportunity for MSSPs to share best practices and promote their security services.

The National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) is providing identity management best practices that MSSPs can share with prospects and customers on Identity Management Day, such as:

  • Configure your privacy and security settings across your apps and devices
  • Utilize a password manager
  • Use multi-factor authentication (MFA)
  • Automate your security updates

In addition to sharing these best practices, MSSPs can explain how they can help organizations secure their identities.

3. You can become an identity management champion.

IDSA is hosting a virtual conference that allows cybersecurity professionals from around the world to discuss identity security and how organizations can keep pace with evolving identity threats. Also, NSC and IDSA together are encouraging MSSPs and other cybersecurity technology providers to join its list of Identity Management Champions.

Secure Identities with a Zero Trust Approach and User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)

MSSPs can use Identity Management Day to highlight how a zero trust approach and adopting strong authentication requirements can help organizations protect against cyber threats, Almog Apirion, CEO of zero trust security company Cyolo, told MSSP Alert.

As Apirion explained:

"By focusing on a modern zero trust approach and adopting strong authentication requirements, organizations can mitigate many of the advanced, persistent or emerging cyber threats. As additional vulnerabilities arise, businesses across industries will be better positioned to prevent unauthorized access to their data and mission-critical infrastructure."

Furthermore, MSSPs can offer UEBA on Identity Management Day to help their customers "create a baseline of 'normal activity,'" Matt Rider, VP of security engineer for EMEA at security operations platform provider Exabeam, told MSSP Alert.

Next, MSSPs can flag deviations from this activity as potential security alerts and investigate and resolve any security issues before they lead to identity data breaches.

Dan Kobialka

Dan Kobialka is senior contributing editor, MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E. He covers IT security, IT service provider business strategies and partner programs. Dan holds a M.A. in Print and Multimedia Journalism from Emerson College and a B.A. in English from Bridgewater State University. In his free time, Dan enjoys jogging, traveling, playing sports, touring breweries and watching football.