IDSA Honors Two of Saviynt’s Customers With Recognition of Excellence in Identity Management Practices
Saviynt is pleased to announce that two of our customers, Qantas Airlines and Vanessa Gale, Head of IAM for Origin Energy, have received Identity Management Awards for 2023 from the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA).
As part of Identity Management Day, an event designed to boost best practices in identity management, IDSA chooses exemplary organizations and leaders for special recognition.
Qantas Airways Ltd – Identity Management Project of the Year
Qantas was recognized as being an end-user organization that has implemented an identity management and security project that exemplifies the use of identity management best practices while providing overall value to the business.
Vanessa Gale, Head of IAM, Origin Energy – Identity Management Leader of the Year
Vanessa was recognized as being an individual from an end user organization who evangelizes and progresses identity management and security initiatives in their organization, helps to protect their company against identity-related breaches and works to educate the broader industry on the subject.
The awards are an important part of the third annual Identity Management Day, hosted by the IDSA in partnership with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA). A panel of judges from the IDSA and NCA selected the winners for their commitment to identity management and security that focuses on enabling business operations while reducing risks.
The Importance of Keeping Cybersecurity Top of Mind
IDSA created Identity Management Day as a way of reminding security practitioners and IT personnel of best identity management practices. Keeping security top of mind is imperative in today’s world, because hackers are always looking for novel ways to steal data. In fact, according to the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, there’s no let-up in sight: “The past year has been extraordinary in a number of ways, but it was certainly memorable with regard to the murky world of cybercrime. From very well publicized critical infrastructure attacks to massive supply chain breaches, the financially motivated criminals and nefarious nation-state actors have rarely, if ever, come out swinging the way they did over the last 12 months.”
And the cost of a data breach is going up as well. IBM Security reports that the global average cost of a data breach increased 2.6% from $4.24 million in 2021 to $4.35 million in 2022 — the highest it’s been in the history of its “The Cost of a Data Breach Report.”
The Verizon report points out that 80% of data breaches are the result of compromised login credentials. Credentials can be compromised by weak passwords, phishing, social engineering, malware, etc. And the recent advent of ChatGPT-style bots will certainly be exploited by cyber attackers. For example, lulling a user into a conversation that results in the user divulging personal information that can be used to compromise accounts. One more statistic from the Verizon report: “The human element continues to drive breaches. This year 82% of breaches involved the human element. Whether it is the Use of stolen credentials, Phishing, Misuse, or simply an Error, people continue to play a very large role in incidents and breaches alike.”
A Few Notable Data Breaches of 2022
Red Cross Data Breach
January 2022. An attack on servers exposed the personal information of more than 500,000 people receiving services from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Neopets Data Breach
July, 2022. Account information for 69 million users of the popular children’s game Neopets was exposed, including names, email addresses, zip codes, genders and birth dates. The attackers had access to the Neopets IT systems for 18 months before the breach was discovered.
DoorDash Data Breach
August, 2022. DoorDash experienced a data breach that exposed the personal information of 4.9 million customers, workers, and merchants. A third-party vendor was the target of a sophisticated phishing campaign. The information exposed included names, email addresses, delivery addresses, phone numbers, and some partial payment information.
It’s no surprise that identity today has risen in importance as organizations recognize what’s at stake. Identity has become the first line of defense against cyberattacks. An organization’s brand and reputation are intertwined with its ability to avoid breaches and protect customer data, and identity security has become a board-level initiative prioritized by C-level executives.
That’s why Saviynt is particularly proud to see our valued customers, Qantas Airlines and Vanessa Gale of Origin Energy, recognized for their efforts to keep cybersecurity best practices paramount in the way they handle identity security. Congratulations from all of us here at Saviynt!
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