Thursday, December 16, 2010

Achieving IT Compliance Goals with Identity Auditing


As organizations continue to battle the issue of securing confidential data, it is extremely important to ensure discretion in granting access rights to employees. Hence, there is a need to implement effective regulatory measures for identity management to promote a compliant and risk-free atmosphere.

However, not all identity management systems are capable of yielding desired results. While some are incapable of generating helpful reports, others are inefficient in correlating data. So, the need of the hour is an audit solution that can manage all identity issues, with real-time monitoring and reporting potential. Such a solution can effectively reduce the time, effort and cost required for IT compliance.

At any point in time, businesses are prone to risks, both internal and external. And often security policies may not be in sync with business goals. As a result security breaches may occur frequently. And irrespective of the reason, security breaches can be very harmful to an organization. Hence an identity auditing system should be put in place to provide a comprehensive solution to mitigate risks. Such a system can promptly forbid unauthorized access and prevent damage.

Prerequisites for Successful Identity Auditing

Identifying Policies - A clear understanding of the business goals can help in identifying suitable policies and frameworks. A flexible framework that provides practical solutions without compromising data security is the key. Therefore, an integrated, auditing solution with automated processes can prove highly beneficial.

Controlling Power – For optimum results the identity management process should provide preventive controls to eliminate instances with potentially high security risks. It should furnish appropriate IT risk management solutions that can help detect such occurrences and provide corrective measures for prompt action to nullify the effects of security breaches.

Monitoring Users – A clear visibility into the activities of users, their data sharing practices etc, is essential for effective identity management. Hence automated identity management solutions should provide real-time reports on users’ behavior with regard to handling of sensitive files and folders. Based on these reports, access rights can be determined or modified.

Organizations have to be prepared to deal with risks in order to ensure a smooth journey towards achieving business goals. And by implementing appropriate security practices along with suitable software solutions, complete IT compliance becomes much easier to achieve.

Read More On:
·        FISMA Compliance
·        HIPPA Compliance
·        GLBA Compliance

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