Identity Management Software To Boom
Changing attitudes towards IT security and the anticipated surge in security spend, triggered by fear of security breaches and the associated financial and operational impact, will lead to substantial investment in identity management.
The growing enforcement of corporate data security policy will further boost sales in the identity management space.
Jose Lopez, Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, describes identity management as the process of managing authentication, access rights and privileges of a digital user. This process requires three key steps, namely user authentication, authorisation and provisioning management.
It is a fact, says the analyst. that many network security breaches occur from within the organisation and are caused by disgruntled employees. The danger of the internal malicious hacker is real. Access control is a core security defence to protect enterprise-wide information systems. In light of rising vulnerability awareness, enterprises are increasingly focused on strategy for tightening access control parameters. This trend will help maintain momentum behind sales in the overall identity management market.
Frost & Sullivan value the European market for identity management solutions at EUR 250.3 million in 2002, set to climb to EUR 827.4 million in 2006, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.01 per cent during the same timeframe. Although not comprising revenues derived from directories, these values include sales of digital certificates, web access control solutions and provisioning management solutions.
Functionalities
The need to create user groups with different access privileges is burdensome for the information systems management department (MIS) to administer. It is of crucial importance to control the resources users have access to once they have been authenticated into the web, and to control user access privileges.
Whether the user is an employee, a distributor, a partner or a client, enterprises endeavour to ensure that the user has access to the applications and other resources that correspond to their profile. Identity management solutions aid enterprise security and facilitate the assignment of privileges to different user groups and the management of those groups.
“Techniques to access multiple databases are evolving in line with the proliferation of databases and accounts. The proliferation of information that is no longer completely centralised emerges as an issue that needs to be addressed and has the capability to drive growth in the identity management market over the forecast period,” Lopez notes.
Many companies are now looking at implementing a web services strategy. Web services will only take off if they offer credible security, which identity management solutions can address. Therefore, identity management is perceived as a fundamental requirement for securing access to web services.
Companies like IBM, Microsoft, HP, Oracle and Sun Microsystems are driving web services and, in some cases, are also offer identity management solutions to back up their web services offering. This will be an important driver from 2004, as web services become more widely accepted and deployed.
Supply chain compression is one of the main routes to streamlining processes. If a firm can allow limited access to its databases for its business partners, then it can cut the costs of transactions. These new relationships open up the corporate networks to possible security breaches from these companies.
Along with trust building processes, companies must take measures to secure those parts of the network which third parties have access to, in order to guarantee that they themselves do not increase the risk to security. Frost & Sullivan expects the growth in extranets and third-party access to enterprise networks to further expand the market for identity management solutions.
“As companies grow, it is inevitable that their networks grow in complexity in order to cope with extra traffic. This growth is often manifested in separate networks dedicated to different core enterprise functions. This makes managing access increasingly difficult. Identity management solutions not only enhance security of networks, but also support the management of users,” Lopez concludes.
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