Government focus on citizen identity is an essential aspect of digital government, but identity is not just for citizens. Discovering and managing access to government workforce identities is vital to the security of local and central government. Government employees, must be viewed as part of the same circle of identity and must protect sensitive citizen data.
To ensure a secure government, workforce identity must be held to the exact stringent security requirements as citizen identity. Here, SailPoint explores the place of identity security in government and how the principle of least privilege and careful provisioning can reduce the attack surface.
Why identity security is critical for government?
A 2022 report from Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) provides a staggering insight into the impact of identity on security:
- 84% of organisations have experienced an identity-related breach in the last year.
- 96% believe they could prevent or minimise a breach using an identity-focused security approach.
- 51% remove access for a former employee within a day, but only 26% always do.
Why is least privilege important?
“The principle that a security architecture should be designed so that each entity is granted the minimum system resources and authorizations that the entity needs to perform its function.” – NIST definition
Improve workforce productivity
With many data-driven decisions now commonplace, staff must get appropriate and speedy access. Implementing an automated Identity security programme will unlock efficiency gains. Ensuring the right people have access to the right application, systems, and data improves efficiency and productivity.
Reduces help desk calls
Automating access decisions and processes reduces the need for administrative actions and improves IT performance. Help desk calls to IT support will reduce because people can access apps and data to do their job.
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One week to go: Think Digital Identity for Government 2023
How SailPoint helps organisations secure all workforce identities
Enforce access policies and least privilege
Identity security applies to the workforce, typically consisting of full-time employees, contractors, and other third parties (such as external agencies); each may have access to many systems and data to perform their daily activities. Without appropriate controls, there is a heightened risk of data exposure and other security issues, such as ransomware infection.
Reducing risk during digital transformation
Government departments are under increasing pressure to move to a cloud-based model.. However, digital transformation is not happening in many departments because of the introduction of risk. Governments can mitigate these risks with a mature identity security programme. This will start with understanding how modern solutions and best practices can unlock efficient processes for managing user access. Many organisations may have implemented solutions that have not been able to adapt to changes we’ve seen, or those solutions may have been implemented based on assumptions that no longer hold.
Help in regulatory compliance
Regulatory compliance is another aspect of poor access controls. The potential sensitivity of data that many central and local government departments handle leads to non-adherence with data portion regulations.
SailPoint for 360-degree security
“We’ve found that within government, there’s been a focus on digitising services, and thus many conversations around identity have focused on citizens – enabling them to access services securely and efficiently. However, the state of workforce identity has not kept pace.” – Gregg Hardie, Director, Public Sector, UK
SailPoint has helped thousands of organisations, both in the public and private sector, to improve their identity security. The true value of SailPoint is seen in the reduction in data breaches and other security incidents.
If you’d like to see how SailPoint’s solutions can create secure government, contact Matthew Cooper, UK Government Lead for SailPoint, matt.cooper@sailpoint.com or come and meet the team at Think Digital Identity for Government next week. You can register here.
