Gartner predicts that by the end of 2018, $93 billion will be spent every year on cybersecurity. And yet, breaches have risen by 45% in 2017. These numbers are not in sync. IAM is of emerging importance within the field of cybersecurity and according to Forrester, global spending on it will exceed $13 billion by 2021.
The main reason for this discrepancy is a slip between the cup and the lip – the adoption of the purchased and implemented cybersecurity solutions is low.
No matter how much is spent on IAM technology, it is useless if employees do not utilize it.
The main reason for low adoption is the same reason humans as a race are slow to change – behavior simply holds inertia.
Combating this inertia is a matter of perseverance and creativity. The invention of Single Sign-On and Auto-Login from a Windows Login are already on the right track. Patience and tenacity aside, the use of technologies that are designed with simplicity and user-friendliness in mind can go a long way in encouraging adoption.
A secondary reason is that existing systems are still quite cumbersome and rely too much on help-desks. The element of bureaucracy and the wastage of time and energy involved in dealing with help-desks can be discouraging. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) increases security exponentially but also adds more steps between a user and his access. Biometrics are now becoming cost-effective but are still not an industry standard.
Time and creative inventions from vendors are required to bridge this gap.
