How your business can deal with security threats

Organisations around Europe are facing more security threats to their business than ever before. Breaches of confidentiality, cyber attacks and data theft by their own employees are just some of the issues that companies now have to contend with and plan for. These security threats can also necessitate taking a more tangible approach to security where controlling physical access to premises is high on the agenda for many companies.
 
As soon as lurking security risks are exposed, they can exact a costly penalty in terms of reputational damage, eroding the confidence of investors and the market. This can be disruptive to a company’s operations and can even have a knock-on impact on customer service.
 
At the same time, companies are also wrestling with swathes of regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO9000 and Basel II that require them to take a more consistent and comprehensive approach to risk management, corporate governance and compliance in their day-to-day operations.
 
However, successfully managing physical and logical access to high-value resources or sensitive data is one of the most effective ways for companies to protect themselves against the barrage of threats they now face. Driven by these corporate imperatives, identity and access management (IAM) is fast securing its position as a cornerstone of information security. 
 
A survey carried out by Forrester research found that over 75 percent of enterprise IT security professionals in the UK, France and Germany feel that governance, risk and compliance are motivating them to consider IAM solutions for their organisation. So why has this technology not more widely adopted?
 
One of the foremost barriers to adoption cited by companies that have considered – but reluctantly decided against – IAM is the cost issue. A recent survey by Datamonitor indicated that smart card security solutions can actually result in a saving of more than €2 million for every 2,000 employees.

IAM can seem like a bit of a minefield for companies that know they need to implement it, but don’t know where to start.  For many businesses, the obvious place to begin is with smart cards.
Smart card technology is now helping to solve some longstanding thorny issues in many sectors, such as healthcare. In Spain, for example, many hospitals are using smart cards to control physical access to buildings and add logical security to the IT networks that house confidential patient data.

Properly implemented, identity and access management solutions can help companies by fortifying the security of their data and their business while making it far easier for users to access the information they need. In simple terms, the challenge for any organisation implementing an IAM system is to bring together physical access control and logical security to establish how they can work better for their customers.
 
Portable and secure, smart cards are becoming an increasingly valuable tool for safeguarding physical security and guaranteeing the privacy of sensitive electronic information. When you weigh up the benefits of identity and access management solutionsagainst the costs of reputational damage, security breaches and non-compliance, IAM can offer outstanding value by saving time and money while protecting an organisation’s assets.