Australian businesses facing identity-based attacks

Nearly all (96%) Australian businesses have been hit with an identity-based attack in the past year, research from One Identity suggests.

A survey of Australian IT professionals found that 97% of companies have resorted to using multiple identity management tools in the face of the threat, with almost 40% having deployed at least 25 different systems to manage access rights.

But this has left 70% of companies paying for identity tools they are not actively using, which is impacting their overall security posture.

According to the survey, almost half of companies (48%) are managing more than 10,000 identities, including access rights given to employees, devices, machines, digital identities and customers.

Meanwhile, 73% of respondents reported experiencing a phishing attack in the past year. According to 78% of respondents, better identity management tools could have prevented at least some of the impact of identity-based attacks.

Meanwhile, 100% of Australian companies report that identity tool inefficiencies have a direct cost on their business, with 52% of respondents reporting costs in excess of $50,000 per year.

One Identity and Quest VP and GM for APJ Chris Wood said the findings show that legacy approaches to access management have caused organisations to adopt multiple identity solutions.

“The lack of interoperability between these tools has a direct business and security impact, as we have all seen with the recent and significant data breaches occurring in Australia,” he said.

“Our research shows that Australian businesses see the negative impact multiple identity tools have on their business. By shifting security professionals’ mindset from a disparate, tool-based approach to a platform approach, businesses can improve their identity security defences to protect against the modern threat landscape.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Just_Super