CyberArk, a global leader in Identity Security, has released the results of a recent global survey on Identity Security adoption and the relative maturity of organizations embarking on related strategies. The report, titled “The Holistic Identity Security Maturity Model: Raising the Bar for Cyber Resilience”, includes a maturity model that can help cybersecurity leaders assess their current strategies, uncover risks, and strengthen cyber resilience.

The survey, which was conducted by CyberArk and Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), involved 1,500 cybersecurity professionals worldwide. The data-driven model identifies only 9% of organizations as having the most mature and holistic Identity Security strategies, while 42% of global respondents’ Identity Security programs are in the earliest stage of maturity, lacking foundational tools and integrations to quickly mitigate identity-related risk.

The report also highlights the impact of cybersecurity attacks in Singapore, revealing that organizations suffered from loss of customers/revenue, paid compliance fines, difficulty responding to an audit, and impact on the ability to provide services. The top reasons listed by Singapore organizations that hold them back from optimizing their strategy on identity-related security issues are competency to secure identities and the lack of cybersecurity staff.

The report features a Peer-Based Framework for Security Experts to Mature Holistic Identity Security Strategies, which is designed to help organizations evaluate their maturity across four tenets of Identity Security. These include procurement of tools spanning management, privilege controls, governance, authentication, and authorization for all identities and identity types; integrations with other IT and security solutions within the organization’s stack to secure access to all corporate assets and environments; automation to help ensure continuous compliance with policies, industry standards, and regulations; and continuous threat detection and response capabilities based on a solid understanding of identity behaviors and organizational policies.

Amita Potnis, Director, Brand and Thought Leadership at CyberArk, stated that “The main focus for organizations looking to adopt a mature holistic Identity Security strategy is to secure access for all identities – human and machine – by breaking down silos and adopting a consolidated and automated approach for Identity Security.”

The CyberArk Identity Security Platform embodies this approach, applying intelligent privilege controls to all identities – human and machine – with continuous threat detection and prevention across the entire identity lifecycle. With CyberArk, organizations can enable Zero Trust and least privilege with complete visibility, ensuring that every identity can securely access any resource, located anywhere, from everywhere. The report emphasizes the relationship between a strong Identity Security strategy and enhanced business outcomes and recommends that more frequent and timely maturity assessments can help ensure the right users have access to the right data and that organizations can act quickly enough to stop threats before they stop business.