Greg McCarthy, CISO for the City of Boston, citing an unknown source during the Identity Management Day 2021 panel, may have summed it up best — “Identity is the steel thread that holds the digital world together.”
We all experienced the importance of our digital world in 2020 and the role that identity plays. This inflection point was the genesis for Identity Management Day. The response to the inaugural Identity Management Day was incredible and we want to thank everyone that participated. Identity Management Day (and weeks leading up to it) were filled with valuable information from across the identity community educating business leaders, IT decision makers, and the general public about the importance of managing and securing digital identities. Here is a quick recap:
Identity Management Champions
Over 150 individuals, organizations, and industry partners registered as Identity Champions, pledging to make identity management and security foundational to their mission. This far-reaching group included: Allstate Identity Protection, BBB, Crowdstrike, Department of Veteran Affairs, Digital Guardian, Herjavec Group, Oracle, TechTarget Security, as well as industry partners like the Better Identity Coalition, OpenID Foundation, Kantara and Security Advisor Alliance.
Resources from Around the Identity Community
Identity Management Day Champions also shared guidance on identity security related challenges. In doing so, a few themes emerged, pointing back to the fundamentals of identity management and securing digital identities:
- Strong passwords and password hygiene are key, not just for organizations, but for individuals too.
- Single Sign-On, Multi-Factor Authentication and password management technologies should be implemented by every organization.
- Privileged Access Management should be deployed to protect the “keys to the kingdom.”
- Identity management needs to be fluid — access changes are constant and staying on top of who has access to what is imperative.
- Identity management is a “team sport” that requires collaborations across business functions, planning, prioritizing, adapting to changing technologies and business needs.
The resources page of the Identity Management Day website has been populated with guidance, blogs and whitepapers, as well as news articles on Identity Management Day and is worth a look.
A replay of the Identity Management Day 2021 live webcast panel is also available on LinkedIn Live at https://www.linkedin.com/events/6780659913883549696/.
Identity Management Award Winners
Identity Management Evangelist of the Year – Tom Malta, head of identity and access management for Navy Federal Credit Union, was recognized for his efforts over the last two decades to promote best practices and principles of IAM.
Finalists:
- Bil Harmer, CISO and Chief Evangelist, SecureAuth
- Mradula Singh, Founder and CEO, NexSchools
- Sam Tang, Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services, Ernst & Young LLP
Identity Management Organization of the Year – The City of Boston was recognized for the complete transformation of its identity program, which better protects city resources through effective and efficient identity lifecycle management, access control and account auditing, while also enhancing user experience.
Finalists:
- Intermountain Healthcare
- Sonrai Security
- Starbucks
More information on the award winners can be found here.
Thanks to the National Cyber Security Alliance for their partnership in establishing the first-ever Identity Management Day and to Touchdown PR, Centrify and Kristina Lanpheir for making it happen. We will continue to push the conversation on the importance of identity security throughout the year with the hashtag #BeIdentitySmart.
