Technology Reseller v44

01732 759725 26 SECURITY funded, cloud-first – we are a 100% SaaS solution. On the Workforce side, we also depend on the customer having a web single sign-on solution, be it an Okta, a Ping Identity or a ForgeRock, because the way our Workforce Solution works is that when you go into your single sign-on dashboard and want to access an application or a resource with Beyond Identity, you put your username in and Okta delegates to Beyond Identity, so we become a delegated identity provider (IdP). From there, we authenticate you, so you don’t have to put in a password; you go straight into the resource or application you have requested.” He adds: “We are very much looking for channel partners that carry a complementary technology like Okta, like Ping, like ForgeRock. Do they have an Okta customer base?; Do they have an identity practice?; Are they used to taking emerging technologies to market? We have a very clear focus on targeting those types of channel partner.” On this basis, the recruitment of Atlas Identity looks like a perfect fit, as Beyond Identity continues its policy of focusing on a small set of partners – no more than a dozen – that it can really work with to educate the market about the applications and benefits of its technology. Education, education, education This is something Shadrake believes the market really needs. “It is amazing when you look at ransomware over the last 18 months and how cyber criminals have really taken advantage of home-working. Even though there are so many ransomware attacks and 60% plus of those are due to stolen credentials and even though we all hate passwords, we are still comfortable with the current way of doing things. We are comfortable getting that text from the bank or multi-factor authentication products that prompt us for a PIN or a password. The biggest issue Beyond Identity has at the moment is that comfort factor. “We need the analysts to get more involved in highlighting the security challenges of passwords. I don’t think they’ve got involved enough in this market yet. Gartner has just started talking about identity-first security. If you think about the last 18 months, when the pandemic has pushed everybody to remote working, all of a sudden organisations have had to adapt to that new reality. I think the result of that technical and cultural shift is that identity-first security now represents the way we are all going to work and function, regardless of whether we are remote or in the office. “Identity is going to be a key tenet of Zero Trust as well. I know Zero Trust is this broad area, but if you look at organisations that are building out Zero Trust frameworks and models, identity is definitely a key tenet and I think it will become even more prominent over the next 6 to 12 months. Certainly, if we just look at eliminating passwords, there is an immediate cost benefit for organisations. The amount of password resets that are done today is horrific. That, combined with reducing user friction are benefits. And we know that we improve the overall security posture of an organisation as soon as they put us in. Our customers tell us that. “So, at the moment, comfort is the biggest challenge and that is normal whenever you are trying to introduce a new disruptive technology that is a little different. But I think we will get past that because people are starting to understand the security threat posed by ransomware and passwords.” www.beyondidentity.com applications, without the consumer having to do anything. To illustrate the benefits, Shadrake cites the example of online banking. “If you try to log into your bank account today you may get sent a PIN code. We are eliminating that step. There is no PIN, no password, you go to your application, put in your username and Beyond Identity will authenticate you into that application. It reduces steps, it reduces friction, it makes it easier for consumers, for you and I, to access these applications and do those transactions.” Security headache The other new product that excites Shadrake is Beyond Identity’s Secure DevOps Solution, which he believes has appeal across a broad spectrum of businesses and solves a massive security headache for enterprises. “The Secure DevOps Solution ensures that when developers are putting source code on GitHub, GitLab, GitBucket, any source code repository, we tie that source code to that individual user in that corporate device. If you think about agile software development cycles now, it is all in the cloud. So, what happens if you have engineers and developers submitting source code into these repositories from any device? How do you know there is no malware within the source code itself? This is a product we all believe internally will be a really good channel and revenue stream for the company.” It is still relatively early days for the company’s Workforce Solution too. However, according to Shadrake, it is starting to gain traction in certain verticals, notably gaming, biotech, fintech and high- tech software companies. “These companies are generally well We need the analysts to get more involved in highlighting the security challenges of passwords. I don’t think they’ve got involved enough in this market yet ...continued