Identity Defined Security Alliance Kicks off #BeIdentitySmart Week October 25-29, 2021

The Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA), a nonprofit that provides vendor-neutral education and resources to help organizations reduce the risk of a breach by combining identity and security strategies, today kicked-off #BeIdentitySmart Week 2021, a virtual educational event which will take place during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, October 25-29, 2021.

The mission of #BeIdentitySmart Week is to educate business leaders and IT decision makers on the importance of identity management and share best practices for implementing identity-centric security strategies. #BeIdentitySmart Week is held in conjunction with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) and is a companion event to Identity Management Day, held the second Tuesday in April.

As part of the kick-off, the IDSA published a new ebook titled, "The Guide to Identity Defined Security." The ebook is a vendor agnostic compilation of guidance developed by the IDSA's 30+ identity and security vendors, solution providers, and CISO members. It covers identity security challenges, why an identity-defined security program is essential, the foundational role of identity in Zero Trust strategies, and most importantly, actionable steps to implement the Identity Defined Security Framework.

Each day of #BeIdentitySmart Week, new content will be released around specific identity-security related themes, highlighting guidance on security outcomes and best practices from the IDSA's technical working groups and experts on popular topics.

• Monday, October 25: How to Start an Identity-Centric Security Program
• Tuesday, October 26: Transforming Experience Through Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
• Wednesday, October 27: The Growing Importance of Protecting Machine Identities
• Thursday, October 28: Applying Identity to DevSecOps Tools and Processes
• Friday, October 29: Improving Identity Insights with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

On Thursday, the IDSA will host a panel session titled, "What Does it Mean to #BeIdentitySmart?" featuring:

• Rebecca Archambault, Trusted Identities Leader, Highmark Western and Northeastern New York
• James Carder, Chief Security Officer and Vice President, LogRhythm Labs
• Carlos Garcia, Sr Principal Architect, Optum
• Julie Smith, Executive Director, IDSA

"The majority of data breaches making headlines are the result of a compromised credential. The Capital One, SolarWinds, and Colonial Pipeline breaches all involved poor identity security, such as weak or previously compromised passwords, not leveraging multi-factor authentication and single sign-on, or leaving standing privileges open," said Julie Smith, Executive Director of the IDSA. "According to the 2021 Trends in Securing Digital Identities report, 79% of organizations reported suffering an identity-related breach within the last two years, and 93% believe they may have prevented or minimized security breaches if they had implemented specific identity-related security outcomes. The goal of #BeIdentitySmart Week is to help educate organizations and provide them with tools to put identity at the center of their security strategies and mitigate risk of an identity-related security breach."

Get Involved

The IDSA is calling on enterprises, government agencies, technology vendors, and individuals to participate and contribute to #BeIdentitySmart Week. Ways to participate include:

• Contributing a blog or expert commentary on one or more of the #BeIdentitySmart Week topics, for more information contact [email protected]
• Sharing resources and advice on social media using #BeIdentitySmart
• Signing up to become an Identity Management Champion
• Registering to attend the October 28th LinkedIn Live panel session at https://www.linkedin.com/events/whatdoesitmeanto-beidentitysmar6850971672800047104/

To learn more about #BeIdentitySmart Week 2021, please visit www.beidentitysmart.org.

To download a copy of "The Guide to Identity-Defined Security," visit https://www.idsalliance.org/the-guide-to-identity-defined-security/.

About the Identity Defined Security Alliance

The IDSA is a group of identity and security vendors, solution providers, and practitioners that acts as an independent source of thought leadership, expertise, and practical guidance on identity centric approaches to security for technology professionals. The IDSA is a nonprofit that facilitates community collaboration to help organizations reduce risk by providing education, best practices, and resources.