Today (April 13) marks the first ever Identity Management Day in the U.S. This should not be an awareness day that other countries overlook. The aim of the event is to educate IT decision makers on the importance of identity management and key components including governance, identity-centric security best practices, processes, and technology.
In terms of the risks stemming from poor identity management, the BBC has reported that pet and family member’s names were being used by millions as all or part of their passwords. News like this clearly demonstrates that awareness and action is needed in the UK to protect against identity-related breaches and fraud.
Discussing the importance of the event with Digital journal is Michael Magrath, Director of Global Regulations & Standards at OneSpan.
According to Magrath the new event provides a timely reminder to computer users: “On 13 April, the US will mark its first annual Identity Management Day to raise awareness of the pressing need to improve digital identity management practices.”
Other countries also need to promote a similar event for users around the world are “guilty of poor identity management hygiene”, says Magrath.
Citing the UK, he notes: “Just last week it was reported by the NCSC that 15% of people are using their pet names as passwords.”
Identity is also an issue of our times, notes Magrath: “Technological advancements combined with government policy has furthered this significantly over the past few decades. However, with social distancing guidelines accelerating the adoption of identity verification tools like biometrics and electronic signatures, consumers and organisations such as banks and financial institutions must adopt the latest security mechanisms available to them.”
Some progress is being made with digital identity trust frameworks. Magrath finds these to be “in various stages of development in Australia, the European Union, Canada, and the UK to name a few, and interoperability amongst them will only benefit the global economy.”
With that, Magrath says we should not overlook this US awareness day “because fraud is a tremendous challenge facing banks and FIs in the UK. Maintaining good digital identity management hygiene is one of, if not the most effective way to help drive down avoidable fraud.”
