B2B applications require connecting customers and partners with their existing identity system or directory. Customers often want their employees or end-users to access your product and service with hierarchical access rights and their existing identity. Managing these requirements in-house can be tricky and time-consuming. However, the LoginRadius B2B Identity solution can bridge this gap for your business and help you eliminate friction. Above all, it serves a faster go-to-market with an industry-leading deployment time of 3-4 weeks while ensuring the following: Easy Onboarding and Administration DelegationLoginRadius B2B Identity allows your customers and partners to effectively create their accounts without needing them to create another identity. This feature lets you give customers and partners authority to manage accounts and access via their internal identity sources or your dashboard. Let’s say: your customer wants to allow only marketing and sales employees of the organization to access your B2B application. And within those 20 employees, the access rights will be different. LoginRadius B2B Identity can allow your customer to use their internal identity for authentication and manage the provision and access of their employee accounts within their identity source. Similarly, suppose some customers do not want to use internal identity for authentication and authorization. In that case, they can easily do this via managing configurations like login method, roles, and permission from your application dashboard. LoginRadius B2B Identity works in the background to smoothly process these requirements. Maintenance-free SSO Protocols IntegrationTo allow your customers and partners to use their internal identity for authentication, you must configure Federated SSO protocols depending on their identity application. With LoginRadius B2B Identity, you get effortless integration of the most popular and complex SSO protocols, such as SAML, JWT, and OAuth. Let’s say one of your customers wants to authenticate using Salesforce while the other prefers to utilize their AWS identities. You can utilize OAuth integration for authentication using Salesforce and SAML integration for authentication using AWS — without understanding both protocols’ complexity and in-depth implementation. Not just this, integration of these protocols is entirely maintenance-free; any required change or updates in protocols are taken care of by LoginRadius. Secure and Unified AccessGet a centralized view of all your customers and partners. You can easily manage their identities and access controls (roles and permissions) from the LoginRadius Dashboard or the LoginRadius Management APIs. Revoke access automatically upon user offboarding to ensure effortless access security to applications of your customers and partners. Similarly, it revokes customers’ and partners’ access rights to your application in case of churn or contract termination. Reduced IT Support OverheadLoginRadius B2B Identity lets you delegate admin access to your customers and partners for seamlessly managing their employees and users. Consequently, it saves the efforts and time of your IT support team. Also, you can set up self-serve registration for your customers and partners, thus saving time in manually setting up their accounts. Similarly, these customers and partners can facilitate self-serve registration for their employees and users. Data and Privacy ProtectionThe following built-in capabilities of LoginRadius CIAM lets you meet data regulations and protect customers’ and partners’ data privacy:
Audit Logs and IntelligenceLoginRadius Dashboard lets you access your application's audit logs of activities performed by customers and partners. Also, you can access 30 different analytical charts to understand your customer and partner base and engagement. Implement B2B Identity Management with LoginRadiusThe following explains the step-by-step implementation of LoginRadius B2B Identity:
Note: To implement B2B Identity, you must have a Developer Pro account with LoginRadius. Create a Developer Pro account here for 21 days of the free trial. Step 1: Organization ManagementThese are your customers or partner organizations who need to access your application. You can create and manage these Organizations using the following APIs: API Endpoint: https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations API Endpoint: PUT https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{id} API Endpoint: DELETE https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{id} API Endpoint: PUT https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{id}/status Step 2: Roles Management for OrganizationThese are the roles that organization users will have to access permission-based resources and processes. You can create, assign, and manage roles using the following APIs: API Endpoint: https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/role API Endpoint: PUT https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/role/{role}/permission API Endpoint: DELETE https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/role/{role}/permission API Endpoint: https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{id}/defaultroles Step 3: User Management for OrganizationAPI Endpoint: https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{id}/members Remove Users from Organization API Endpoint: DELETE https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{id}/members API Endpoint: GET https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{id}/members Step 4: Login Methods for Organization UsersYou can allow organizations to use the organizational identity or ask them to create an identity for authenticating themselves. Set Global IDP for User: Set a global Identity Provider authentication method from the already enabled authentication methods for your LoginRadius App. The global IDP will apply to organizations of all your customers and partners. For example: Login with Gmail, Login with Facebook, Login with Email-Password, etc. API Endpoint: https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{org_id}/members/{uid}/idp/global Note: To show the global IDP to all organizations, turn the setting on via this API. Create SAML Login for Organization: Set a SAML authentication method specific to the customer or partner. For example: Login with Salesforce for one customer and Login with Azure AD for another customer. So, customers and partners can easily authenticate using their identity provider rather than creating a new identity. API Endpoint: https://api.loginradius.com/identity/v2/manage/organizations/{org id}/idp/saml Manage Email CommunicationYou can manage the welcome email and related email communication for the organization users using LoginRadius Dashboard, as explained here. ConclusionSave on R&D, engineering resources, and maintenance by utilizing LoginRadius B2B Identity — consequently, go to market faster. Create a Developer Pro account here to start your journey of eliminating authentication and access friction from your B2B business. Originally Published at LoginRadius https://bit.ly/3IVZDBN https://bit.ly/3J1JA5w
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IntroductionIn the modern digital world, where customer experience decides the overall growth of a business, crafting a frictionless customer journey holds the most significant importance. Moreover, when a business embarks on a digital transformation journey, secure and seamless authentication becomes an integral part of its customer success journey. However, most enterprises aren’t sure whether they need social login on their platform or single sign-on (SSO) to improve user experience and security. Social login and SSO are both different ways of authentication and can be used together or individually, depending on the business requirements. Let’s understand the differences between the two terms and how enterprises can make wiser decisions to incorporate a seamless and secure authentication mechanism into their platforms. What is Social Login?Social login, also known as social sign-in or social sign-on, allows your consumers to log in and register with a single click on a website or mobile application using their existing accounts from various social providers like Facebook, Google, etc. Social login simplifies the sign-in and registration experiences, providing a convenient alternative method to create an account where it is mandatory. Social login reduces the effort to remember passwords, which means people don’t need to create and keep track of more credentials, lessening password fatigue and login failure. Log in via a third-party web page or Facebook or Google accounts can be done with just a few clicks on the button. What is Single Sign-On (SSO)?Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method that allows websites to use other trustworthy sites to verify users. Single sign-on enables users to log in to any independent application with a single ID and password. Verifying user identity is vital to knowing which permissions a user will have. SSO is an essential feature of an Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform for controlling access. The LoginRadius Identity platform is one example of managing access that combines user identity management solutions with SSO solutions. Customers can use a single identity to navigate multiple web and mobile domains or service applications since they only need to use one password. Also, SSO makes generating, remembering, and using stronger passwords simpler for users. SSO vs. Login - Understanding the DifferenceWhile both authentication mechanisms are widely used for securely and seamlessly authenticating users, many differences can help better understand their core functionality. To learn more about the Social Login vs. SSO - concept, differences, and techniques, check out the infographic created by LoginRadius. Implementing Social Login and SSO with LoginRadius CIAMLoginRadius' cloud-based CIAM offers endless possibilities to businesses seeking digital transformation by adopting cutting-edge authentication techniques, including social login and SSO. With LoginRadius’ social login and SSO, businesses can quickly bridge the gap between users and brands since the leading CIAM offers world-class security and a rich consumer experience that increases user engagement, retention rates, and conversion. If you wish to witness the future of CIAM and how it works for your business, schedule a free personalized demo today! Originally Published at LoginRadius https://bit.ly/3cu0Sfi https://bit.ly/3yUIyU3 As technology evolves, businesses explore new horizons to leverage cloud computing in order to acquire more statistics and figures to stay ahead of the curve. Undoubtedly, cloud computing is one of the technological advances that has offered enough room for expanding many industries embarking on a digital transformation journey. With a compound annual growth rate of 4.8%, the cloud application software market will reach $168.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. However, the list is quite extensive when discussing the environmental benefits of relying on the cloud, since the primary motive to rely on the cloud is to boost business operations and security. Yes, the green cloud is yet another buzzword that portrays the potential environmental benefits of cloud services offered to society. Green cloud portrays the approaches and practices of leveraging technological advances like cloud computing and other IT resources sustainable for environmental benefits by reducing the carbon footprint. Let's dig deeper into the aspects of the green cloud and how businesses can put their best foot forward in adopting these practices to shape the future of a sustainable global IT landscape. So, how does the green cloud work? Various cloud service providers are inching towards incorporating multiple strategies to attain greener and sustainable cloud data centers. These efforts are majorly targeted to achieve efficiency improvements in the following areas: Energy managementOne of the essential aspects of green cloud computing is renewable energy to power its data centers across the globe. However, powering the entire data center through renewable energy isn't possible yet, but most of the time, at least 50% of the energy source is solar or wind. Apart from this, energy is stored within the battery banks and utilized during the days when enough energy can't be produced in real-time. This helps decrease the carbon footprint significantly as more and more renewable energy is consumed in operating and maintaining massive data centers. Cloud facilityLeveraging renewable energy sources isn't just a goal for green cloud computing; adequate energy efficiency measures are also significant. The cloud service providers emphasize locating data centers on the ocean floor, underground, or in cold climatic conditions. The providers can save resources and energy by cooling down the servers. Furthermore, many cloud service providers are also working on utilizing the excess heat generated within the data centers in numerous ways. Additionally, the service providers can also incorporate innovative technologies to monitor and optimize the overall energy consumption and use valuable insights to modify the floor layout for maximum air circulation. Smart infrastructureMany cloud providers are now working on optimizing and deploying hardware and software infrastructure that consumes less energy and eventually minimizes the carbon footprint. Deploying hardware that minimizes power consumption, including dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), helps ensure optimized use and allotment of resources for maximized power saving. Workflow management Cloud providers may utilize multiple strategies for optimizing workflows at different levels, including modifying applications, shifting workloads, and optimizing storage that further helps in reducing energy consumption. Moreover, valuable data insights can also be used to design an optimized workflow that saves time, energy, and resources. Impact of green cloud on the environment
The concept of green cloud computing isn't a luxury anymore; it's swiftly becoming an absolute necessity for a sustainable future for our upcoming generations. Cloud providers should understand the endless possibilities and advantages of incorporating innovative green cloud computing that helps them save time, energy, and resources — and eventually helps establish the foundation stone for a greener future. Originally Published at Entrepreneur https://bit.ly/3zeeLaa https://bit.ly/3yNncb5 IntroductionIn a world where digital experiences define business success, cross-device authentication could offer businesses endless possibilities for embarking on a digital transformation journey. Every internet user demands a rich and secure customer experience. And if they’re not catered with up-to-snuff experiences, they’ll switch to competitors. Hence, businesses need to know what their customers want. But how can this be achieved, especially if users aren’t comfortable sharing their details in the first interaction with the platform? Businesses need to utilize critical user data to assess user behavior and preferences, which can only be done by tracking users across multiple devices. Here’s where the crucial role of cross-device tracking comes into play! Cross-device tracking can be defined as the technologies that enable quick tracking of users across multiple devices, including laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc. It portrays the assortment of methods used to identify users and know if a single user utilizes different devices. However, leveraging various technologies and methods for tracking users across multiple platforms has underlying risks. Let’s uncover the aspects of cross-device authentication and tracking and what business owners need to understand. What is Cross-Device Authentication and Tracking?Cross-device authentication refers to providing access to users on multiple devices using a single authentication method. This authentication helps streamline the user experience while switching devices and delivers a unified experience. Cross-device tracking, on the other hand, refers to the process of tracking the number of devices on which a user is logged in to a single account. This tracking is usually leveraged to collect crucial user information, including cookies stored on different devices that help create personalized marketing strategies. However, collecting crucial user preferences and behavior information isn’t always reliable and secure. Tracking users on different devices and fetching details has vulnerabilities, leading to data breaches and compromised user information. Hence, businesses collecting user information should consider relying on secure ways of collecting user information that doesn’t create any risk for themselves and their customers. Risks Associated with Cross-Device Authentication and TrackingFetching user details from their devices isn’t something that can be considered safe, especially when maintaining adequate privacy and security. Businesses may compromise their sensitive information and customer details, which can lead to losses and fines worth millions of dollars since the data regulation and privacy laws like the GDPR and CCPA are rapidly becoming stringent. Hence, it’s essential for business owners to ensure the highest level of data privacy protection and security while collecting, storing, and managing customer information. How Can Businesses Gather Crucial User Insights Securely Without Compromising User Experience?Businesses must pay close attention to consumer experience and the total digital and in-person interactions a user has with a brand. At baseline, a good consumer experience needs to work to deliver products and services with minimal fuss and utmost security. And if a business wants to pull out and stay ahead of the curve, that experience needs to be remarkable, personal, and delightful. With a smart CIAM like LoginRadius, businesses can collect user data over time that can be used to create marketing strategies as enterprises understand whom they should target. Moreover, businesses can successfully target their customer base with data collected and organized in the Admin Console. The LoginRadius Identity Platform makes complex customer analytics easy to understand via detailed graphs and customer insights. Also, enterprises can export data visualization elements, including graphs and pie charts, to Microsoft Excel by clicking a button. Customer analytics has never been much easier with LoginRadius Admin Console as it also supports effortless integration with insights and analytics applications for enhanced data visualization. The smart CIAM lets you expand your understanding of customer activity over different periods of your sales or season cycles. What’s more remarkable is that you can export data visualization elements to third-party applications for in-depth data analysis that further helps create winning strategies. Customer analytics has never been more accessible with the LoginRadius Admin Console. The Bottom LineCross-device authentication and tracking could be quite beneficial for businesses as it opens new doors to marketing opportunities. However, the risks associated with customer data collection, storage, and management can’t be overlooked since cybercriminals always search for loopholes to sneak into a business network. Choosing a reliable customer identity and access management (CIAM) solution like LoginRadius to get valuable customer insight ensures robust security while data is collected, stored, and managed without compromising user experience. Originally Published at LoginRadius https://bit.ly/3ciIfec https://bit.ly/3o6NhwU While businesses embark on a digital transformation journey, cloud adoption is undoubtedly the cornerstone for new-age enterprises. Statistics reveal that the global cloud applications market is expected to reach 168.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2025, which was 133.6 Billion U.S. dollars back in 2021. Moreover, the cloud application market is also anticipated to grow at an annual growth rate of 4.8 percent. However, the surging demand for the cloud doesn’t necessarily guarantee security for sensitive business and consumer information; certain risks associated with cloud computing are still the bottleneck of many enterprises. What’s more worrisome is that many enterprises using cloud computing are still relying on user ids and password authentication. This can be quite risky, especially when breaching frail authentication mechanisms isn’t a tough nut to crack. Here’s where the critical role of biometric authentication comes into play! Let’s dig deeper into this and understand the aspects of biometric authentication that help businesses stay ahead of the competition without compromising security. Why passwords and PINs won’t work in a digitally advanced modern world?Stats reveal that authentication methods like PINs and passwords are still widely used across various cloud applications with 63.02 percent of businesses still relying on standard login. And the reason behind their existence in the 21st century is the fact that most brands find it simple, portable, familiar, and inexpensive to deploy. This is where organizations fall prey to several cybersecurity threats and compromise crucial business information that can cause losses worth millions of dollars. Cyber attackers are always on a hunt for weak passwords that can be guessed or compromised using various tricks, including phishing, social engineering, or brute force attack. Besides this, organizations relying on password authentication mechanisms are also at risk of compromising sensitive consumer information. If they lose consumer data, they could be entitled to hefty fines since consumer data privacy, and security laws like GDPR and CCPA are getting more stringent. So can’t we implement stronger password policies? Yes, we do, but today’s digital-first workplace and new-age consumers demand a frictionless authentication experience right from the moment they interact with a brand. Using robust authentication mechanisms, including biometric authentication, can help brands ensure the highest level of security since these authentication methods are pretty much harder to bypass. Bridging the gap with biometric authenticationWith biometrics, users can leverage secure and quick authentication and authorization without compromising user experience. Moreover, biometric authentication is firmly established and supported by various robust cloud data privacy and security standards that ensure user information is gathered, stored, and managed securely and no unauthorized person has access to it. Biometric authentication can be implemented at various checkpoints when discussing organization-level security and user workflow, especially when systems are deployed over the cloud. Whether PCs or smartphones, biometric authenticators in the form of fingerprint scanners and facial recognition systems can be of great help, especially in scenarios where there are multiple authentication requirements. Apart from this, organizations can consider relying on biometric hardware-based tokens that offer access to sensitive resources on a network without conventional authentication processes demanding usernames and passwords. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and biometricsWhen securing crucial business information and sensitive consumer data, multi-factor authentication plays a vital role. MFA ensures that the user goes through multiple layers of authentication before accessing any resource or system. Conventionally MFA may ask users to provide a one-time password sent to them through text on their phone or email. Once the user enters the password, the session is authenticated. However, this procedure may hamper the user experience. Thus, biometric MFA could be a game-changer since it quickly analyzes one of the unique biometric identifiers and rapidly provides access. Also, biometric authentication in MFA is considered more secure when compared to other conventional methods since every person has a unique biometric identifier. The bottom lineWith technology evolving leaps and bounds and businesses swiftly adopting cloud capabilities, security is often overlooked, especially concerning authentication. Biometric authentication offers the next level of authentication security for cloud applications and devices that connects users and provides access to resources. Businesses planning to leverage the cloud for digital transformation shouldn’t ignore the importance of biometric authentication as a part of their information security policy. Originally Published at Biometric Update https://bit.ly/3ywJQ7F https://bit.ly/3nNLRrb IntroductionWith enterprises inclining towards a cookieless business landscape, managing privacy and compliance with transparency become the need of the hour. Moreover, various legislation, including EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA, are becoming increasingly stringent regarding businesses collecting, storing, and managing consumer information. Hence, businesses need to gear up for the new reality and ensure they create a perfect harmony while adhering to the regulatory compliances and delivering a seamless user experience simultaneously. But, how would businesses swiftly adopt the change? Because almost every business is reliant on cookies for personalized user experiences and going cookieless all of a sudden could be stressful. So, how can businesses adopt this new shift while ensuring they remain compliant and do not compromise user experience while collecting crucial data? Let’s look at some crucial aspects that businesses must adapt to remain compliant and grow in a cookieless world. What Does Cookieless Mean? Who’ll be Impacted?Before learning about cookieless, let's understand what cookies are and how they’re helping businesses derive growth. Cookies are small portions of data stored on a user’s web browser, and websites utilize these cookies to enhance user experience through personalization. Businesses have been using cookies for decades since they help them understand their consumers better and further help them plan a winning strategy for their business growth. Now talking about going cookieless describes a marketing process through which marketers aren’t relying much on cookies. In a nutshell, cookies aren’t collected for marketing purposes. The multinational technology giant Apple has already adopted the cookieless architecture. Apple’s Safari web browser is considered the only web browser that delivers the highest level of privacy to its users. However, just like Safari, Google has also planned to jump on the cookieless bandwagon and is working to enhance privacy and compliance for its users. So, what does this entire scenario portray? Though consumers are concerned about how their data is used online and demand more control over it, major companies are already blocking third-party cookies, thus impacting customer privacy and compliance. However, on the other hand, blocking third-party cookies that are majorly used for marketing, personalization, and new customer acquisition purposes would undoubtedly impact many businesses online. Since we’ve discussed all the aspects of a cookieless world, let’s talk about what online businesses can do to prosper and stay compliant. #1. Transparency leads to consumer trust.One of the crucial aspects that business owners need to understand is that transparency is the key to winning consumer trust. Trust has to be earned, for which online businesses should be transparent about the collection, storage, and use of consumer data. Unless businesses don’t offer complete transparency, earning consumer trust would be an uphill battle since the ones offering full transparency would be on the right path to meeting the privacy and compliance regulations and would eventually have users that share their details without any hassle. #2. Incorporating progressive profiling.Since businesses won’t be able to rely much on cookies, progressive profiling could be the game-changer for them as it allows users to gather crucial information gradually. Progressive profiling is the method of collecting personal information about the client step-by-step. It helps the digital marketing team streamline the lead nurturing process by gathering increasingly specific client data without hampering privacy and compliance regulations. Progressive profiling allows marketers to collect critical information about their clientele and build unique consumer personas. It helps determine where a particular consumer is in the buying journey and decide the best course of action to move them towards the final purchasing stage. And yes, all these things can be done by taking the user's consent so that they need not worry regarding their privacy. #3. Crafting rich consumer experience.A rich consumer experience can help businesses build trust, encouraging them to share their data even if cookies aren’t collected. As we all know that the attention span of users is decreasing consistently, businesses that aren’t able to impress their users in a couple of seconds would lose the game. Hence, businesses relying on conventional user interfaces that bombard users with a lengthy registration form would lag behind their competitors. An intelligent user interface that collects data gradually by adhering to the privacy and compliance regulations and doesn’t hamper user experience is undeniably the need of the hour. In a nutshell, businesses can ask for users’ consent if they deliver them a flawless user interface where users can quickly access the consent banner and customize their preferences. Final ThoughtsThe cookieless world isn’t hyped since more and more web browsers are following the trend ever since Apple’s Safari has taken stringent measures regarding the collection of third-party cookies. Businesses that deliver personalized experiences based on user cookies would now have to find alternatives. Hence, the aspects mentioned above could help them deliver rich consumer experiences and maintain privacy and compliance even in challenging situations. Originally published at LoginRadius https://bit.ly/3P9wplj https://bit.ly/3c0ltrm A botnet attack is a common form of cyberattack that has existed for more than two decades. However, the severity of various botnet attacks has been the most common reason businesses worry over the past couple of years. Those who aren’t sure what a botnet attack is are a form of cyberattack that occurs when a group of internet-connected devices is infected with malware controlled by a cybercriminal. These attacks usually involve data theft, sending spam emails, and exploiting customer data by launching vicious DDoS attacks. Botnet attacks start when hackers gain unauthorized access to users’ devices by injecting malicious code into their systems or basic social engineering tricks. However, a new kind of botnet attack is gaining popularity across the globe. The Russian IoT botnet, Fronton, uses unauthorized behavior to launch specific disinformation trends on different social media platforms. Let’s understand the aspect of botnet attacks and why businesses should put their best efforts into minimizing the risk. What Is a Fronton Botnet Attack?Social media trends portray how many people on a particular social media platform keep updated with what’s going around in a state or world. People believe everything they witness is trending on social media, which can be unrealistic since these trends are created by bots working precisely in the background. Here’s where the role of a fronton botnet attack comes into play! Various interconnected devices and networks, including IoT, are often the primary targets due to their weak line of defense. IoT botnets often launch record-breaking DDoS attacks that could exploit sensitive business or user information inspired by acts of demanding ransom. Moreover, security experts also believe that these kinds of botnet attacks that primarily focus on DDoS abilities are capable of disconnecting the internet in a small state or even country! However, proper research is required to conclude this aspect. But one thing is quite evident botnet attacks may cause businesses severe damages in terms of information breaches and brand tarnishing. How Are Businesses at Risk?Though the increasing number of cyberattacks has already raised concerns among business owners globally, DDoS attacks are now creating a whole new threat landscape, which can be challenging to deal with. These kinds of fronton botnet attacks primarily focus on spreading false information. However, these attacks may also target computer systems for financial data and further exploit users and business owners. In a nutshell, the intention behind these attacks is to look for ways to get into your network and gain access to crucial information that can be further exploited. Also, these attacks are widely used to spam bombs and inject malware into devices for collecting credentials and other sensitive details, including bank details. How Can Businesses Mitigate the Risk of Data Breach?1. Maintaining Good Cybersecurity HygieneOne of the most crucial aspects of preventing botnet attacks is practicing good cybersecurity hygiene. This can involve several practices, including passwordless authentication, multi-factor authentication, and other stringent security layers. Apart from this, businesses should ensure that they are compliant with all the data privacy laws and regulations. This would also help in securing sensitive consumer data. 2. Establishing Access Control Across Devices and Networks.Access control is mandatory for restricting unauthorized access to devices, networks, and crucial resources, mainly at a higher risk. Since most cybercriminals constantly seek ways to bypass frail authentication systems, a robust access management mechanism can help ensure stringent security for both users and enterprises. 3. Regular Cybersecurity Awareness Training for Employees.If employees are well trained and made aware of the types of cyberattacks currently in trend, businesses can ensure better security for their crucial information. Regular training sessions can mitigate the risk of employees falling prey to cybersecurity threats, including phishing attacks, brute force attacks, botnet, and even fronton botnet attacks. With the changing cybersecurity landscape, businesses need to take care of many things that can impact their overall security infrastructure since cybercriminals are always hunting for new ways to breach data and exploit crucial business and user information. Specific risks associated with various botnet attacks, including the fronton botnet attack, can be minimized by following a stringent security policy as mentioned above. Apart from this, incorporating cutting-edge technology can help to a great extent prevent data breaches and secure customer data. Originally Published at DZone https://bit.ly/3OY64Gc https://bit.ly/3P04hAh There are many use cases of a system where machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is required, or you need to manage access for internal and external APIs. The example of M2M communications are:
In such cases, the generic authentication methods such as email/password and social login — requiring human intervention — don’t fit well. These interactions also need a secure and easy-to-use authorization process for permission-based data access. M2M Authorization fulfills both these requirements. Let’s know more about what it is and how it works. What is M2M Authorization?M2M Authorization is the process of providing remote systems with secure access to information. Using this process, business systems can communicate autonomously and execute business functions based on predefined authorization. It is exclusively used for scenarios in which a business system authenticates and authorizes a service rather than a user. LoginRadius M2M Authorization uses the Client Credentials Grant Flow (defined in OAuth 2.0 RFC 6749), in which the client passes along secure credentials to authenticate themselves and receive an authorization token. How LoginRadius M2M Authorization WorksSuppose an organization has a microservices environment consisting of multiple services running locally. The organization also has data storage on a different network and requires:
As a standard process and security measure, services require authorization while saving and reading the data to and from the storage. The organization can use LoginRadius for autonomous authorization by creating two dedicated M2M apps with write and read permissions. The following two scenarios explain how you can use LoginRadius M2M Authentication and Authorization to share permission-based access of APIs to any internal or external systems: Important: M2M App referred to in the scenarios below must be created individually for each internal or external system you want to grant access to. Upon app creation, you receive the Client Id and Client Secret. Scenario 1: To grant desired access to your LoginRadius Management APIs. To start using the M2M Authorization for this scenario, you need to create an M2M App and define the desired scope of API(s), as explained here. Scenario 2: To grant desired access to your Business APIs. To start using the M2M Authorization for this scenario, you need to define your API in LoginRadius with name, identifier, and scope details and then create an M2M App with the desired scope of API(s), as explained here. In both scenarios, you get the Client Id and Client Secret for the created app, which you need to share with the partner or service who wants to access your APIs. Client Credentials Grant FlowLoginRadius M2M Authorization uses client credentials grant flow from OAuth 2.0. In this flow, the client (depicted as Server 1 and Server 2 in the diagram below) holds Client ID and Client Secret and uses them to request an access token. This grant-type flow occurs strictly between a client app and the authorization server. The user does not participate in this grant-type flow.
Implement M2M Authorization with LoginRadius APIs1. The client (partner, API, service, etc.) requests the access token using the following API: API endpoint: https://api.loginradius.com/services/oauth/token The following is an example request:
2. LoginRadius Authorization Server validates the request. Upon validation, it returns the JWT access token to the client. The following is an example response with an access token:
3. The client can call APIs (as per the defined scope) using the JWT token. APIs will work based on permissions without the use of Client Secret.
4. The respective API(s) will work according to the scope or permission. Implement M2M Authorization with Business APIs1. The client (partner, API, service, etc.) requests the access token using the following API: API endpoint: https://bit.ly/3Ajzcnd
Note: Where 2. Use the generated JWT token in the authorization for APIs.
3. The client will get access to the information as per the defined scope. LoginRadius M2M Authorization — Benefits Overall, M2M Authorization offers secure access to improve business efficiency — and ultimately enhances user experience. In detail, the benefits include but are not limited to:
ConclusionM2M Authorization is a secure and reliable method of autonomous interactions. It aids business systems in achieving greater efficiency and eliminates the need for human involvement. It also enables businesses to provide flexible machine-to-machine communication while enforcing granular access, authorization, and security requirements. Originally Published at LoginRadius https://guptadeepak.com/content/images/2022/06/m2m-authorization-for-apis-apps-and-web-services.png https://bit.ly/3QYTMiC Enterprises have already started to embrace zero trust security over traditional security since it offers improved security while simultaneously improving flexibility and reducing complexity. Here’s how zero trust outperforms the traditional model: Network access Zero trust security enables users to connect with in-house applications securely. They can get these applications without exposing them to the internet or gaining network access. On the other hand, traditional security uses the castle and moat concept (everyone inside the network is trusted by default). The user finds it difficult to access the applications from outside and is bound to trust everyone in the network. The problem here is that if a hacker poses as an insider, they get access to everything available within the network. User identities Zero trust security accepts no trust units before it awards the user admittance to anything. It also checks other forms of data before giving access to the client. In short, this security model pays heed to who the user is. So, it confirms the user’s identity every time the latter asks for security access. Traditional security works on an entirely different principle as compared to zero trust. It gives value to where the user is coming from in the network. It utilizes the trust system because the client’s IP address or area characterizes the user identity in the system. Modern techniques and technologies Zero trust security tends to the concerns of cloud-facilitated data to re-examine a secure network plan. It solves these issues by accepting that everything is reliable. It grants trust only after the verification and authorization process. However, traditional security lacks the modern techniques and technologies to monitor a network plan. The lack of these tools and services may compromise the system of the cloud-facilitated data, applications, and users. What are the Benefits of Zero Trust Security?Here is how zero trust benefits over traditional security:
Final ThoughtsZero trust security depends on the possibility that a business must have a default trust option for any element that crosses its border. It verifies anything that attempts to associate with or access the framework. A zero-trust network is different from regular VPNs and firewalls, as it secures access to all applications within an enterprise. Additionally, zero trust replaces traditional security technologies by offering better authentication methods. So when it comes to taking digital transformation initiatives, proactive protection is required in this new decade. Therefore, a wise move for enterprises will be to implement zero-trust security. Originally Published at Hackernoon https://bit.ly/3xVwIbZ https://bit.ly/3a0YZ8O You've likely had to work with a file stored on Google Drive at some point in your career. This can be a gift and a curse for you. Sharing essential documents, files, and applications is great for streamlining your workflow. But, it may not be the most secure option available to you when it comes to account security. Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service created by Google. Users can store files in the cloud, share files, and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with collaborators. It's no surprise why it's so popular: It's free, easy to use, and accessible anywhere. But did you know that hackers are targeting Google Drive users? By password guessing, compromising weak passwords, or phishing campaigns, bad actors gain access to business documents such as intellectual property, financial records, and personally identifiable information (PII) stored on Google Drive. There are a lot of factors at play when it comes to securing Google Drive's data. This means that security mistakes made near the source of the data like Google Drive tend to be repeated by other companies. In this post, we'll be outlining seven Google Drive security mistakes that companies across industries are currently making. Top 7 Google Drive Security Mistakes Companies Keep Making
Cloud data security is a critical consideration for companies moving to the cloud. But even as companies do more with Google Drive, many are still making mistakes that put their data at risk. We've gathered the top seven Google Drive security mistakes companies make and how to avoid them. The First Mistake: Using G Suite without Two-Step Verification
Two-step verification is your first line of defense against cyber threats. It works alongside your password to add an extra layer of account protection. You're alerted whenever someone attempts to sign in to your account from an unrecognized device or browser. To protect users' accounts with two-step verification, go to the Google Admin console and select Security > Set up single sign-on (SSO) with a third party IDP > 2-Step Verification. Ensure that every employee has enabled two-step verification in their accounts. The same risks apply when an employee accesses their work device or uses their work account on a personal device. The best way to keep both business and personal accounts safe is for employees to turn on two-step verification for all the accounts they use on their devices. Second Mistake: Google Files/Folders Should Be Shared Carefully:
If you use Google Drive for work, the chances are that you share some files with your colleagues. But what if you mistakenly share a file with the wrong person? Or does someone leaves your organization but still have access to sensitive documents? You should frequently audit the shared documents and make it a policy that employees remove any files they no longer need access to. This will prevent any accidental data leakages. Third Mistake: Not Using Google Vault
Google Vault is a tool that helps organizations manage, retain, search and audit their email, Google Drive files, and on-the-record chats. It's an essential component of any security strategy, enabling you to detect and investigate the threats you face. If you're not already using Google Vault, find out how it works and start today. Fourth Mistake: Not Protecting Your Data before Sharing It
The ability to easily share files is one of the benefits of Google Drive. But sharing can also be a security risk. By default, anyone with whom you share a file can edit it, comment on it or share it with others (including people outside your organization). Take care when sharing files by setting appropriate permissions for each file and folder. For example, if you only want to allow viewing or commenting on a file, don't share it with "can edit" permissions. You can also protect files before transferring them by setting an expiration date or requiring a password to open them. Fifth Mistake: Not Training Your Employees
Most employees don't understand the risks of using cloud services. Most don't realize that putting sensitive information in cloud services exposes you to more trouble than using an on-premises solution. This is especially true of millennial employees, who have grown up with the internet and social media and are used to sharing photos, videos, and content online. Sixth Mistake: Frequently Audit Shared Documents
Another mistake that companies make while using Google Drive is not auditing shared documents from time to time. Google provides an easy-to-use interface that lets you see who has access to files and folders. You can easily see what type of permission each user has—whether they can only view or comment on a file or whether they can edit it as well. It is imperative to audit shared documents from time to time because there are chances that some users might have left your company and are still able to access some sensitive documents stored on Google Drive. Seventh Mistake: Google Drive Is Not For Sensitive File
This may seem obvious, but many people still don't get it. When you share a file through Google Drive, it's available for anyone with access to that drive to see it — even if you didn't intend for them to do so. Even if you delete the file from your own Google Drive folder, it could still be accessible through another user's account if they downloaded a copy and saved it to their own Google Drive folder. This means that confidential information could easily be leaked or stolen by an unauthorized person who has access to someone else's account or computer. Bottom LineGoogle Drive contains the stuff businesses hold most dear - their documents and data. But despite this, many companies are repeatedly making the same mistakes with their files. Each of the above errors is a common faux pas that every company should avoid to ensure that their business documents are protected as much as possible. Google Drive's security benefit is an invaluable investment for companies that take their data security seriously. Successful implementation of Google Drive into a business requires strict security practices and strategies, including employee training on best practices for protecting files. Given the massive amounts of files stored, this isn't an easy task, but that doesn't mean it isn't essential. Hopefully, these tips will help you keep your data safe. We hope that all companies will take these security measures seriously and act immediately so they do not become another victim of one of these situations. So if you own a business or are a personal user who has sensitive information on your account, we urge you to start protecting your data by avoiding the mistakes above. https://bit.ly/3xIH3sS https://bit.ly/3aQijpt |
AuthorDeepak Gupta is the Co-Founder and CTO of LoginRadius, a leading customer identity and access management provider. He is the product visionary who architected and streamlined the LoginRadius CIAM platform from the ground up to scale it globally to serve over a billion user identities worldwide. Deepak is recognized for translating thinking to action, providing remarkable outcomes by implementing new ideas and concepts that have generated results in a quick span. What he does, leads directly to the strategic application of emerging technologies. Deepak has authored several books and invented patents within the technology and cybersecurity space as an avid explorer of all things digital. He is also a keynote speaker for a wide variety of global events and conferences centered around data, cybersecurity, and technology while writing for leading tech magazines like FastCompany, DevOps, CIO, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and more. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |