Most enterprise executives would argue that digital transformation has been good for their businesses. Digitalization has enabled better productivity and connectivity, created brand-new categories of products and services, and catalyzed bottom-line growth for firms in many different industries.
However, this level of transformation is not without its cost. The more that an enterprise relies on technology to do its everyday business, the larger the surface area for security and compliance risk.
The Ponemon Institute’s annual data breach report has pegged the cost of responding to a data breach at nearly $3.9 million and the response time for identifying and containing a breach at more than 9 months. In addition, the cost associated with non-compliance with regulations such as SOX, HIPAA, and GDPR is fast approaching $15 million, Ponemon notes.
The long-term effects of a breach are something to consider, too. Research from Comparitech found that share prices of breached companies hit a low point approximately 110 market days following a breach. Share prices fall -3.5% on average, and underperform the NASDAQ by -3.5%.
Clearly, it’s critical for enterprises to take a proactive approach to risk management and compliance requirements, lest they pay the price later.
IRM Is Good – But IRM With IGA Is Better
Integrated Risk Management (IRM) programs are designed to provide enterprise-wide visibility into risk, identify risks quickly, and respond effectively in order to minimize the impact.
Identity Governance plays an important role in successful IRM. How so?
According to the Ponemon report, the most common causes of breaches and non-compliance include malicious attacks, human errors, system glitches, and complex IT systems. In each of these scenarios, inadequate Identity Governance processes are often at least partly to blame:
- Hackers gain access via a person or system with “super-user” rights.
- Obsolete permissions present unneeded vulnerabilities.
- Organizations skip necessary audits and access reviews due to the sheer complexity and lack of bandwidth.
- Segregation of duty policies aren’t enforced – or, worse, aren’t implemented at all.
One of the easiest ways to shore up Identity Governance is to implement it with your IRM system, bringing your organization the benefits of governance while getting more out of your existing IRM investment. Clear Skye’s Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solution is native to the ServiceNow platform – giving ServiceNow IRM customers unique capabilities to enhance security and compliance initiatives.
If your organization is looking to get the most out of its ServiceNow investment, download our latest white paper to see how Clear Skye IGA directly enriches ServiceNow IRM.
We provide clear benefits for the key governance capabilities of identity evidence, issue management, and compliance checks. Contact us today if you’re ready to build a better governance program.
