Report: 84% of orgs experienced an identity-related breach last year

Critical security planning has never been more important. While many organizations have prioritized identity in the past year, identity-related breaches remain a continual threat causing significant business impact. Increased number of identities, challenges posed by phishing attacks and continued growth of cloud adoption are pressuring today’s organizations to ensure access to network resources is done so securely and successfully. 

In a report conducted by Dimensional Research, the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) examines organizational trends and gaps in securing digital identities, including progress organizations are making in defending against these attacks and the internal factors that are both enabling and interfering. 

The IDSA found that identity security investments have emerged as a focal point with cloud, zero trust and digital transformation initiatives leading the way. However, basics such as MFA, de-provisioning, and privileged access reviews are still lacking.

An overwhelming 84% of organizations have experienced an identity-related breach in the past year, with 78% citing a direct business impact as a result. When asked what kind of breach, the most common answer was phishing attacks (59%), whether broad-based attacks or spear phishing. With 96% reporting the breach could have been prevented or minimized by implementing identity-focused security outcomes, it’s unsurprising that identity has made its way to a top three security priority for 64% of organizations.

The 504 participants in the online survey were directly responsible for IT security or identity and access management (IAM) at a company with over 1,000 employees. All participants were knowledgeable in IT security and identities and included a variety of company sizes, job levels, and industries.

Read the full report by IDSA.