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Identity Leadership Consultant
In the beginning, platforms hosting and providing identity-as-a-service solutions revolved around the practice of identity federation to web-based applications. True Identity as a Service (IDaaS) was introduced by Microsoft. Being the market leader of on-premises identity providers over the last two decades, the only competition to Microsoft's Active Directory (AD) was OpenLDAP, a free open-source implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. The difference between the two was flexibility and technical design. While managing LINUX systems with AD was difficult, OpenLDAP effortlessly served as a stronger candidate, because it was modeled to handle platforms with greater technicalities.
Owing to the first-generation of identity functions, organizations had no choice but to implement and manage with both AD and LDAP. As if the management of these two wasn't enough, organizations then had to integrate IDaaS SSO solution by adding it as a layer on top of AD and LDAP for their applications that were cloud-based. Complexities surrounding the system, due to layers of solutions from different providers for different operating systems, were evidently overwhelming.
The introduction of next-generation IDaaS (also known as directory-as-a-service, or DaaS) was the solution that addressed system complexities. It consolidated the functions of a cloud-identity provider through functions like the safe management and federation of identities of users to their systems, which include both cloud and on-premises applications. DaaS supported both multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO). Apart from MFA and SSO, the provision of centralized user-management was one of the most advantageous aspects of the next-gen IDaaS. All of these functions and provisions were available in a single application, which was the primary purpose of this iteration. Ultimately, via the next gen IDaaS, organizations no longer had to separately manage AD, OpenLDAP, and SSO.
Gartner defines IDaaS as, “a predominantly cloud-based service in a multi-tenant or dedicated and hosted delivery model that brokers core identity governance and administration (IGA), access and intelligence functions to target systems on customers' premises and in the cloud.”
In the current identity security landscape, a comprehensive identity and access management (IAM) solution should be in place for the surveillance and protection of users and data. Complexities in the management of identities continue to evolve, and the probability of IAM being targeted by cyberattackers rises even with the increased implementation of IAM tools.
In short, the IT industry is steering towards IDaaS providers to meet the rising challenges of IAM systems. To put this in perspective, according to Fortune Business Insights, the global identity as a service market is projected to grow from $4.92 billion in 2022 to $23.88 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 25.3% in forecast period
It might seem like there are two choices when deciding on functionalities for an application: create them in-house or outsource this task to a third-party. But many organizations today combine them. They determine and create some of the functionalities they need, but outsource those that are more costly and complicated to develop.
Let's take a practical example. Imagine an enterprise wanting to set up a payment system. The enterprise can create a secured system internally, which often requires a considerable investment of time, money, and effort. Or, it can simplify its investment by using a third-party payment platform. The obvious choice is the latter in most cases.
The situation is analogous in the case of IDaaS. Instead of creating and managing an authentication system, which has complexities due to its close-knit relation with security and analysis, the purchase and integration of an IDaaS solution with the organizational applications or software is an attractive option because it also manages and keeps track of users.
The growth rate of IDaaS implementation has been increasing exponentially as businesses, ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations, are choosing to outsource identity management.
There are multitudes of factors driving IDaaS growth in cybersecurity. One of the key underlying factors responsible for an increase in IDaaS adoption is, unsurprisingly, the increase in cybercrime. Following relentless breaching attempts, the cybersecurity market is predicted to increase from USD 173.5 billion in 2022 to USD 266.2 billion by 2027, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9%.
Organizations are realizing that, compared to when IDaaS was first introduced, cyberattacks have evolved to cause core system functionalities problems, in addition to loss of data and system exposure issues. The rampant increase in cyberattacks has led to organizations taking drastic security measures.
The market for IDaaS and cybersecurity is growing. However, the varying nature of threats and the reluctance of businesses to adopt cloud-based solutions are factors affecting the growth rate. Organizations should monitor emerging factors so they can anticipate and prepare for the impact they might have on the market and their IT infrastructure.
COVID-19 was responsible for fast-tracking the digital transformation of many businesses. As a result, cybersecurity attacks have increased by 37% at organizations across the globe since the start of the pandemic. A primary consequence of this growth is the introduction and enforcement of advanced solutions like IDaaS for greater security, and the refinement of information privacy. The following are some of the most radical driving and restraining factors of the IDaaS market:
Cybercrimes targeting critical organizational infrastructure and platforms are never-ending. There is no way to stop cybercrimes entirely, and that cybercrimes are growing in complexity is undeniable. The monetary loss due to cybercrime and fraud was estimated at USD 4.3 trillion in 2019. It led to problems with operations and the exposure of business-sensitive resources. Moreover, organizations that fall in the cross-hair of cyberattackers risk having their reputations tainted. Many organizations perceive these threats as real and frightening, and this has fueled the growth of the IDaaS model and cybersecurity efforts as a whole. Organizations that decide to adopt IDaaS have been more effective at preventing scams and monetary loss.
Banking applications are used worldwide and a breach in any industry can have severe consequences. Although advanced technologies have been implemented in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance sector, the concern about endpoint protection has never been greater across all industries. Endpoint protection, which includes mobile phones, tablets, desktops, laptops, etc., is directly connected to the growing user-base of employees and customers. This leads to a higher amount of transactions and greater transactional complexities. Access provided by these endpoints is designed to be direct and convenient for users, so protecting endpoints is vital. A deeper dive reveals there is inadequate user knowledge about threats and complexities in a system. Providing user education on data security should be a ceaseless effort by businesses, and an organization's security can achieve greater heights by implementing better solutions.
The use of data in any form is now governed by several rigid regulatory laws, and organizations can only collect and use data if they can achieve regulatory compliance with laws such as European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). To respect and safeguard the privacy of consumers, these laws dictate the ethical standards for organizations in the collection and use of consumer data. For instance, if an audited organization is found to be in violation of the GDPR, it can face a fine up to 10 million euros or 2% of their preceding year's global turnover, depending on whichever is higher.
From one perspective, the introduction and enforcement of these laws can monitor and solve complexities around consumer data, but from another perspective, businesses continue to face significant difficulties in preparing and achieving compliance. For example, Amazon, which is one of the few companies to reach the trillion dollar market-cap, was fined 746 million euros in July, 2021 by Luxemberg's National Commission for Data Protection for violating EU data-protection laws.
The new GDPR regulations demand strong compliance for identity and data protection, and IDaaS is flexible in identity management. As a result, IDaaS providers have a golden opportunity to help with data compliance by introducing and integrating compliance tools. Complete compliance is still the responsibility of the organizations, but IDaaS providers can help organizations achieve that goal.
This factor is usually inevitable. These situations hinder market expansion due to outages caused by errors. A service outage is a serious problem on multiple levels: data access is locked, business operations are put on hold, extra resources are needed to invest in a remedy, and clients experience a loss as they cannot access the services anymore. A real-life example is Amazon Web Services that had multiple servers taken offline due to human error, and this caused a severe disruption in user operations that impacted the customer experience.
In addition, it's not the security of just the primary organization that users might be concerned about, but also of any service provider's who, by extension, have specific access and are granted a level of trust with client data. According to the data from Gartner, by 2025, 60% of organizations will use cybersecurity risk as a primary determinant in conducting third-party transactions and business engagements, as cyberattacks related to third parties are increasing; however, according to the current Gartner data, only 23% of security and risk leaders monitor third parties in real time for cybersecurity exposure.
It's close to impossible to predict a security breach, but being prepared for it is possible. Anticipating and addressing technical and human errors enables you to forecast and achieve market growth.
In essence, IDaaS is another method of protection relating to user-identities. It provides the secure authorization of users and keeps cybercriminals at bay by limiting their options to break into critical organizational systems. Its significance has grown exponentially as numerous businesses now rely on IDaaS capabilities to identify patterns and human-related trends inclusive of interactions and behaviors. Moreover, the current industrial age, which has given birth to Industry 4.0 or 4IR (fourth industrial revolution conceptualizing rapidly changing technological, industrial and societal composition and operations owing to inter-connectivity inflation and smart automation), which mainly consists of integrated or unified technological systems spinning alongside the primary trend, big data analytics. From a statistical standpoint, the global industry 4.0 market is projected to grow from $130.90 billion in 2022 to $377.30 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 16.3% in forecast period, 2022-2029.
Data ownership has been challenging cloud-operative businesses and service providers. IDaaS intends to assist with that struggle.
In the current evolving security landscape, cloud security has been gaining considerable traction due to increasing ransomware and phishing attacks. The IBM 2022 study found that 11% of the total breaches in 2022 were ransomware attacks, which amounts to a growth of 41% from 7.8% in 2021, while 51% of organizations reported that phishing is the most common method that attackers use to acquire real cloud credentials.
Via IDaaS, users can connect to the cloud and use a single identity across all services and systems to access all kinds of services, making their online life more convenient. IDaaS involves outsourcing the technical and specific aspects of application functions to service providers.
IDaaS is a cloud-based service and the outsourcing of certain account passwords and credentials can be tracked by the identity providers rather than the organizations themselves. The security of the outsourced functions is operating in a separate silo which does not directly fall under the organization's management responsibilities. Implementing MFA becomes an easier task as the specialists (identity providers) handle the known identities while the organization is free from technical issues while implementing security measures for the cloud.
Rendering identity and access services on the cloud, provided by the service providers rather than deploying on-premises IAM solutions, can have a significant impact on developers in the organization. Developers will have less code to write and can focus on other applications or projects as the task of managing and tracking users, and other security aspects, are delegated to third-party service providers.
The identification of the right IAM solution can aid organizational and access management. The retention and maintenance of identity control, independent from where it's deployed, is possible by enforcing a unified system that can manage not only on-premises resources, but also digital resources.
Interconnections between organizational systems and IAM solutions like IDaaS should be firmly established. IAM solutions should provide clarity into:
An organization deploying a self-service solution cannot achieve this clarity and visibility without establishing a separate department or division with the sole purpose of investing resources into self-service management. Even if an organization takes on the task of self-service implementation, the ramifications of user-error cannot be properly considered.
There are three factors organizations need to address when managing cloud-security:
For organizations to exert rule over identity and access controls, they first need to define the preferred state of IAM solutions. Additionally, any misalignment of access with the model should be fixed, which requires a 360-degree assessment. Once the preferred IAM state is achieved, and the process to automate updates enforced, the remaining task is establishing the system rules.
To increase both internal and external collaborations, organizations need to achieve the balance between user independence (location independence and device independence) when it comes to flexibility, and the power of identity and access management when it comes to security and risk management.
A unified IAM system helps with security and allows for establishing clear lines of communication in the organization. The safe procurement of organizational resources, remote collaboration, and maintenance flexibility are the key elements of a robust IAM solution.
As mentioned earlier, a key driving factor adopting IDaaS is compliance with strict data privacy and protection laws, like the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Non-compliance with these regulations can be detrimental for organizations as they can be charged with hefty fines and rigid penalties.
The whole point of newer regulatory laws is for users to have better and more rights over their own information through laws that include:
While these rights might seem to extend existing rights, they still directly pertain to organizations. The translation of these rights to obligations means that organizations now need to create and maintain a centralized repository of user-data to meet reporting standards and fulfill the obligation of safeguarding critical data.
Organizations spread across multiple jurisdictions and serving interstate or intercontinental users now must stay compliant, no matter the steps the organization might take. This demands an investment of a task-force and considerable resources. Collectively, it is a comprehensive and hectic job. The solution is IDaaS, which can behave as a centralized identity solution that reduces maintenance expenses, and relieves the organization from the burden of compliance management.
It is vital to be mindful that IDaaS solutions and providers alone cannot ensure complete compliance, but can definitely make the job easier.
Implementation and integration of IDaaS means that both parties, the businesses and their customers, enjoy the satisfaction of successful protection of organizational data and consumer privacy. Moreover, for the end users (customers), IDaaS allows them to use a single set of credentials to access several services, thereby, removing the troublesome task of remembering several credentials. As a result, the total number of user accounts to be managed by the IT admins is drastically reduced, enabling them to focus on other tasks.
Depending on the market segment, the functionalities offered by IDaaS solutions might differ. Regardless, all IDaaS solutions have an underlying goal of delivering digital identity and access management. The general components of a typical IDaaS solution include:
Typically, the operation of a delivery model which is multi-tenant, requires the release of varying patches, updates, and requests related to performance upgrades by the IDaaS vendors as soon as they are ready for launch.
This is important in today's digital age. Improper management of passwords and authentication can lead to a plethora of problems that organizations want to avoid. IDaaS provides far-reaching potential as a modern-day identity and access management solution including MFA, SSO, and biometrics capabilities.
SSO is a popular feature in identity security products, and has evolved over time. It maximizes the end-user experience while, at the same time, ensures that the security of a network environment is always maintained. According to the report by Research and Markets, the global size of the SSO market is projected to increase from an estimated USD 938.1 million in 2020 to USD 2.2 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 12.9% over the analysis period 2020-2027
For everyday security, IT employees and users are encouraged to use SSO best practices, like a combination of passwords that are dynamic, don't include common words or phrases, and are not easy to crack. In IDaaS environments, an additional benefit of SSO is that it enables third-party services to be securely authenticated independent of the client's internal IT department.
MFA is another popular feature utilized in the current identity security market. Sometimes referred to as two-factor authentication, MFA requires that multiple levels of security be authenticated before a user is granted access to accounts and applications. Examples of MFA include Microsoft Authenticator, which is based on the mechanism of time-based one-time password, or TOTP, and Windows Hello, which is a biometric-based technology available for Windows 10 and later OS releases.
"Inheritance (something the user is)" is a factor of verification used in biometrics, while other MFA security steps, like email, SMS, and voice verification, are also widely used. DNA usage is an emerging form of authentication that might be embraced in the IT industry more in the future.
Misuse of access privileged can be reported by using IDaaS intelligence and analytical features which simplify the detection of anomalies that might arise in the use of data and functions by users.
The management of workflows related to governance is easier with the intelligence and analytical capabilities of IDaaS. Mitigating security risks is achieved by aligning practical authentication processes with policies related to governance and compliance.
The specific benefits of IDaaS are classified into two categories: developer benefits and business benefits.
Developer benefitsFor a better consumer experience, application developers should look at opportunistic features like authentication and account recovery, and focus on the three benefits of interest discussed below.
The decentralization of users from the applications or platforms is possible with IDaaS. In the current state, the separation of user-identities from the system applications is intended not to let the risk to applications translate to a risk to user-identities. For developers, identity decentralization comes with many benefits, like:
The storage of information of user-identities in the databases is no longer necessary if the need for the user-identities is no longer required.
The detachment of user-identities from applications allows developers to be concerned with only a singular thing: Unique Identifiers.
The burden of the management of non-feature work will be managed by a customer identity access management platform.
The goal of outsourcing identity and authentication helps developers bring more value to the organization as they focus on other IT tasks.
API-first is a product-centric approach towards the development of APIs. Interestingly, one of the key capabilities of IDaaS is that it is truly API-first. In contrast to in-house development, which is often time-consuming and requires a large investment of resources, a significant number of third-parties tend to lean towards on-demand development. A considerable amount of time can be saved by taking advantage of the API-first approach and integrating it with organizational technologies.
The pressure of building revenue-generating applications in the shortest possible time is a constant poke in the story of app developers. IDaaS supports developers by allowing smooth execution of their task to produce quality output. IDaaS enables on-demand identity service expertise and strategies to help reduce internal tensions between teams and promote greater synchronization, collaboration, and operational efficiency.
IDaaS bring several benefits to the organizational table. Apart from the core elements of IDaaS which was discussed earlier, benefits like speed, optimization, and enhancement of security are underlying factors making IDaaS more desirable than ever.
Adopting IDaaS does not mean that organizations have to make changes to integrate it. Instead, for the selection of appropriate IT resources, businesses have the liberty to choose whichever resources seems to fit their organizational structure as well as their internal and external end users.
This selection flexibility provides a competitive edge for businesses, helping them complete jobs faster and with greater agility.
With IDaaS, a single platform can be used by businesses to manage their IT environments. Condensing their functions to a single platform also reduces the likelihood of human error. A multidisciplinary identity solution can allow access to several web applications and functions with a single set of credentials. This increases business productivity and ensures stronger security.
Securing identities and the IT network is a primary objective of an IDaaS solution. To enhance security and control access, IDaaS solutions are usually paired up with inclusive features like MFA and SSO.
Currently, "identities" are the focal point of most cyberattacks. Inclusive features like MFA and SSO offered by IDaaS play a pivotal role in guarding digital identities and resources.
Several vendors provide IDaaS capabilities, and each comes with its own strengths. Businesses can find it challenging to select the best IDaaS provider for its unique needs.
It's vital to ensure that the options considered compare favorably to these:
IDaaS revolves around delivering solutions from the cloud. Although all of them are cloud-based, there is a clear distinction between cloud-adapted and cloud-created platforms. Additionally, while cloud-compatible solutions were later developed to accommodate on-premises solutions, cloud-native solutions were designed to have zero limitations in their cloud capabilities.
Cloud washing is the term used to define the process of integrating on-premises (legacy or traditional) solutions with the cloud. The process is usually ponderous as managing these solutions is typically limited compared to pure on-premises and cloud-based solutions.
For instance, Azure AD is a cloud-based Active Directory (AD) created by Microsoft. It was designed to be a cloud-based extension of Microsoft's on-premises AD. The drawback of a cloud-extension of a legacy AD is that although it has a large number of built-in cloud functionalities, legacy functions like management of organizational units, group policy management, and traditional authentication are no longer available. For an organization that relies on its legacy solutions, cloud-integration can introduce multiple hindrances.
The solution to remove these hindrances is to adopt IDaaS solutions that were created originally for the cloud, or in other words, cloud-native IDaaS solutions. Cloud-native solutions manage cloud-based applications, which has been invaluable for the remote work scenarios that have increased significantly within the past few years. The cloud-functionalities required to support and run cloud solutions were incorporated when cloud-native solutions were first developed, so there are little or no issues with installing and maintaining them with IDaaS. This is a task often handed over to the service providers.
The landscape of cybersecurity is continuously evolving, and a successful cybersecurity program is dependent on the management of a single core identity per user.
Before the true digital transformation of businesses, which occurred in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic, user-access was provided by the IT admins via AD. Moreover, most organizations used networks and server applications that were Microsoft-based. But now, due to mass digital transformation, the work-from-anywhere trend, and the diversification of IAM solutions, organizations today use a variety of cloud-based solutions that fit their organizational infrastructure best. Users now need to be able to access resources on the cloud through a wide array of solutions that are non-Microsoft based. Owing to this progression, the creation and use of unauthorized accounts has drastically increased in separate core-identities, which is a big cybersecurity risk. The solution to this risk of instability is SSO. The ultimate goal of next-gen IDaaS is provide the efficient identity verification of people who have direct and platform-independent access to resources, applications, and systems. SSO helps bring IDaaS closer to accomplishing this.
The current industrial inclinations and developments bolster heterogeneous environments in contrast to the previously dominant homogeneous environments. As a result, organizations should seek next-gen IDaaS solutions that have the capability to manage everything instead of a few specific things. The IDaaS solutions should be platform independent, or in other words, should not care what applications or resources that need identity security are based on and where they are stored. To simplify it further,
the identity security landscape and IDaaS platforms are proportional to the operation. This means that as the security landscape steers towards making identity the primary security measure, IDaaS's relevance increases proportionally with every milestone achieved in the identity security landscape. In respect to the evolution of the security landscape, IDaaS solutions are heterogeneous platforms. That is, they are a mix of different and multiple platforms that are closely knit together.
Around 15 years ago, the platform environment for most types of users was single-celled, and did not cause many complications. As time progressed, the environment evolved into multi-celled (mixed) platforms as systems like Linux and Mac entered the environmental fray due to their intrinsic benefits and ease of use. Linux grew extremely popular among technical users, while Mac swept the show for higher-level executives and, eventually, for standard users. As more and more platforms entered the fray, the intertwining nature of the environment proved too complicated for legacy system applications, namely, Active Directory, to handle. Enter IDaaS, which sparkles as the modern-day go-to solution for managing mixed environments.
Besides mixed environments, another factor to consider is the management of both on-premises and cloud-based applications. These solutions have methods and protocols that differ from each other in many ways. While on-premises applications use LDAP, applications based on the cloud typically use the SAML protocol.
To have complete control over user-access, organizations should opt for next-gen IDaaS solutions that serve and manage both on-premises and cloud-based environments, regardless of the protocol in place.
The best IDaaS solutions in the market incorporate top-notch security capabilities which allow for firm access controls and core security enhancements.
Protection of the network environment is paramount since the primary attack vector are identities. Alongside SSO, ensuring these security features in IDaaS solutions are utilized is imperative:
Integration of password complexity: Password complexity is an integral and a necessary security feature that lets admins set conditions for passwords so that they are difficult to crack, discover, or guess. Conditions can specify the password length or threshold, require a mix of letter casing or numbers and symbols, forbid user-identity information, and exclude specific words.
MFA: Unsurprisingly, MFA remains a staple security feature in identity security landscapes. It is a multi-layered feature that demands two or more parts of the log-in process to confirm the identity of the user. It typically requires confirmation of "something the user knows (usually their account password), and something the user has (usually a one-time password provided by authentication or IT admins) or something the user is (usually their biometrics like fingerprint, voice recognition, or retina scan).
Secure Shell (SSH) keys: This feature allows people to gain access to protected systems, applications, or resources only if they are in the possession of the required set of keys that are delivered in pairs.
Having these features allows for a centralized and secured building-base for an organization's security infrastructure. The complimentary feature of SSO can easily bolster the roots of cybersecurity and allow fluid but strict user-access.
Even though decentralized identity has not established a firm foundational base, its uses and implications are important in mitigating identity-targeted cyberattacks. The primary method of data protection remains passwords, while the total attempts of identity and password thefts targeting the growing number of IoT devices is multiplying and widening.
In its present state, both private and government sectors are seeking a ubiquitous solution for digital identity management. Some of the potential trends that may transform the identity security landscape are discussed below.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Context-based identity is one of the elements of Identity Management. To authenticate and identify, context-based identity compares data of the user who needs to be examined. Data comparisons might include the discovery of behavioral patterns like:
Identification of patterns can significantly help with reduction in the rate of fraud and risks related to identity exposure. Data mining for discovering patterns via AI-based programming algorithms has been successful in the banking industry worldwide, with great potential to enter other industries in the future. ML is usually a complimentary capability which comes with AI integrations, and provides a high probability of success in identifying threats and detecting anomalies for greater identity protection. Relevance of artificial intelligence and machine learning in cybersecurity has been rapidly increasing, with a projected market-size growth of USD 60.5 billion by 2028 from USD 22.4 billion in 2023; and increasing at a CARG of 21.1% from 2023 to 2028.
According to Global Market Insights, the valuation of the global biometrics market is forecast to surpass USD 45 billion by 2027.
A key attribute of the biometrics market growth is the increase in smart-card adoption and use. For accurate authentication and convenience, advanced biometric smart cards are more frequently deployed by organizations compared to other authentication methods. Biometrics is now one of the cornerstones of modern day security, for all market segments. The interesting aspect about biometric smart cards is not the idea itself, but the result of the idea: biometric technology integration with smart card, essentially adding a layer of security in the form of fingerprint identification built in the card itself. This also leads to improvement in confidentiality as the smart card holder will need to provide biometric verification even to use the card. The US and Europe are a couple of regions that have already started using smart cards.
Since we are talking about adaptive biometrics, it is of great significance to mention Gartner's CARTA which stands for continuous adaptive risk and trust assessment. The vice president of Gartner, Neil Macdonald, stated that "We need security that is adaptive everywhere--to embrace the opportunity---and manage the risks---that come with this new digital world, delivering security that moves at the speed of digital business."
CARTA is the latest evolutionary stage of Gartner's "Adaptive Security Architecture (2014)," which has been refined to enable and retain the ability to remain competitive and to align with arising opportunities in the identity and security landscape. The application of CARTA across the entire spectrum of the business philosophies and practices is key to a successful implementation.
The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the biometrics market due to problems in supply chains and the closure of industrial operations because of governmental imposed lockdowns and strict regulations in 2020. But, it's safe to say, the market has been slowly recovering since then.
Blockchain is one of the most trending capabilities of the future. Blockchain gained immense traction during the booming years of Bitcoin and Ethereum (2017 and 2018). Moreover, the demand for blockchain-based technology has been fueled by the organizational shift to digital platforms and the increasing risks of data breach.
The attractive aspect of blockchain is that even though the technology is discordant, the opportunity it presents for IDaaS is remarkable, resulting in the convergence between the two, BIDaaS (Blockchain based identity-as-a-service). A market research conducted by Verified Market Research stated that "Blockchain Identity Management Market size was valued at USD 142.7 Million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 41,700 Million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 87.9% from 2023 to 2030."
Blockchain is decentralized by nature, which makes its features like transparency and solidity even more dependable. Public and private sectors are inclined to embrace blockchain as an emerging technology for multiple reasons. Hackers love pools of consolidated data, but decentralization in blockchain means that the true ownership of the data or information is retained even after data separation via ledgers spread across the network, ensuring duplication and global distribution of data.
When it comes to IAM and subsequently, IDaaS, audit trail and self-sovereign identity are the two main aspects of attention.
Audit trail: The complete history of login, requests of access, performed changes, granted permissions or any interaction by the users is logged and has a definite trail.
Self-sovereign identity: Individuals themselves take control of their identity data, thereby replacing the centralized identity providers. Even the decryption of data is carried out by the individuals whenever they deem it necessary.
Today, organizations can protect an individual's information via encryption in a blockchain that is unalterable. This enables individuals to control their identity, and have a trail of all interactions in the network, rather than require identity management to be outsourced to third-party providers. This process also helps with monitoring activities, detecting anomalies, and achieving industrial compliance.
The demand for identity and access management services has sky-rocketed. Owing to over 10.8 million attacks on IoT devices worldwide in October 2020, the annual revenue of consumer internet and media devices is forecast to make a leap from 2.7 billion to 25 billion U.S. dollars, from 2020 to 2030 respectively. The statistics fall in line with the COVID-19 pandemic repercussions, encouraging businesses to adopt more IoT devices to satisfy the work-from-anywhere trend, which inevitably led to an increase in the number of cyberattacks on IoT devices. Consequently, the global spending on IoT was projected to be close to USD 1.1 trillion by 2023. Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered adoption, but business is expected to pick up the pace as the new financial year approaches.
These statistics indicate that businesses are prioritizing efforts to restrict illegal entries into their network via secure identity management, especially as more IoT devices are provisioned.
Devices that face and pose a threat include:
For the sake of further securing IoT devices, several businesses implant the identities of the device in the processing chip, which allows it to become an intrinsic hardware component.
Another aspect of IoT as seen from the human and psychological perspective is that beliefs, personalities, and diverse human qualities continue to be affected by technology. Technological studies, or TSS, is an emerging domain of academic research that deals with human aspects and shifting experiences, owing to changes in technology with time. TSS specifically focuses on areas like the theoretical chassis, and psychological and virtual framework linking to digital identities and life in a digital system.
Studies on technology suggest that the increasing need and demand for communication and virtual connections has played a key role in fueling IoT growth. Additionally, substantial transformational experiences by IoT users have also shifted how humans adapt to the presence of social media.
The total number of IoT devices worldwide is forecast to almost triple from 9.7 billion in 2020, to more than 29 billion IoT devices in 2030. Considering that diverse IoT devices will have a significant impact on the future, companies have started to respond to change in technologies in the following ways:
There are many ways companies can choose to respond to rapid technological change. But human behavior and its leanings--for instance, leanings towards social media--has led to an industrial repositioning that now bases success on the number of securely connected and managed IoT devices. The human element in the virtual world of connected IoT devices for communication has a hand in shaping the emergent technologies and will continue to do so.
Since IDaaS has already proved that it has the potential to address real-world issues relating to business, following this path requires extreme caution and attention to detail to avoid causing unnecessary operational complications.
The entrance of IDaaS in mainstream business is only the beginning, and with the passage of time, its scalability, capability, and applicability will allow it to become one of the staple business requirements.
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