Identity management — identifying and controlling one’s access to resources based on user rights and restrictions — has been around for a long time yet many organizations have not embraced this security technique.
During the late 1990s when I was at Netscape, we offered our directory service and established a framework for identity management of online users. Since the early days of identity management, the concepts and technology has continued to evolve but are beginning to accelerate as identity management is beginning to support the Internet of Things. Today, the individual’s identity can be integrated into the human resources systems, work scheduling and assignments, security systems, provisioning systems, vendor-customer relationship management — basically, the works. In fact, the identity management and access management global market is estimated to be $12.78 billion by 2020 and grow at a robust 12.2 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
During one recent discussion about emerging technologies, the subject of device identity management came up. It is without question, that some percentage of the Internet of Things devices/equipment will be managed using what is commonly referred to as machine to machine, or M2M, identity management capabilities. That discussion quickly turned to the modern battlefield.
It is highly likely that the robot warriors will fall into identity management systems as well. Each robot will be identified and have a profile with details about the robot’s battlefield capabilities and its battlefield sensors. Each robot will be identified, details about the robot’s battlefield capabilities (designed in and currently available due to damage and failure) will also be included in the profile along with all the battlefield sensors that are included on that specific robot. All of this should and probably will be tightly integrated into the cybersecurity management system in order to increase the integrity of the data that the remotely operating robots provide.
INSIGHT: Identity management-based authentication and management of the remote devices and system will be paramount to the validation and accurate association of all data coming from those devices and systems. This is part of the rapidly evolving device management marketplace and a major source of new near-real-time data collection, processing analysis and output of the recommendations based on that process.
When constructing our strategies going forward, we should not be short sighted. Identity management strategies must include system-to-system communications and system-to-device (IoT) communications. After all, the IoT market estimates have now topped $19 trillion. Even if that is overestimated by 50%, that is still a huge amount of new technology that must be fully integrated in order to maximize its true potential value. Last year Gartner said was quoted claiming the management of identities will be critical to the success of IoT the Internet of Things. It should be noted that some researchers believe that data from the Internet of Things associated with a person will significantly alter our understanding of the way the person works, interacts with their environment and spends their time. That would certainly give credence to full integration of IoT sensors and their resulting data into various levels of identity management. KEY ISSUE: The more integrated identity management becomes, the more data and insights about who or what is behind the identity become available.
Security experts warn have warned that it is critical that we can validate and authenticate the information feeds coming from the systems and devices that are increasingly being deployed and part of the modern battlefield. They explained went on to say that communication addresses are NOT identifiers and that alone justifies the integration of IoT into our identity management strategies. Privacy advocates have expressed deep concerns about the massive amount of personal data that is beginning to be generated by the IoT Internet of Things and the security, privacy and even safety concerns associated with insights that data will provide. Some are even calling for policies and regulation in order to protect the rights of individuals given what they termed the “intrusiveness” of these technologies everyday activities.
As we enter this latest era of rapid technological change, we begin to see the plethora of issues and opportunities that are associated with these capabilities. IoT Internet of Things is just one more example of the substantial changes that are about to impact our worlds — professional and personal. We had better be ready because this is well underway and gaining momentum!
