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How Savvy Complements and Fortifies Your Existing IAM Tools

Savvy Staff
September 23, 2024
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Businesses across all sectors, from healthcare to finance and beyond, store and process sensitive data as part of their operations. Their organizations must prioritize protecting this data as part of their duty to their customers and their responsibility to comply with regulatory standards. Identity and Access Management (IAM) forms the foundation for this protection, giving them precise control over who can access critical resources and when.

Companies invest substantially in robust IAM frameworks like Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), Single Sign-On (SSO), and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) despite their notorious complexity and high IAM deployment costs. Savvy augments these tools, not by replacing them but by enhancing and fortifying them with “extreme visibility.” This approach helps uncover and manage elements that are typically out of sight, ensuring that even the less visible parts of an organization’s digital infrastructure are secure and under control. This strategic enhancement strengthens security postures and maximizes the investments already made in IAM infrastructure.

The Visibility Gap in Traditional IAM Tools

Traditional IAM tools form the backbone of enterprise security strategies, offering robust features for managing identities, enforcing policies, and controlling access. These tools are crucial in establishing a secure foundation, especially for sectors where data security and privacy are paramount. They manage user roles, provide authentication and authorization mechanisms, and ensure appropriate access controls are in place to protect sensitive data and systems.

However, as effective as these IAM tools are in their designated roles, they often encounter significant challenges when providing comprehensive visibility across an organization’s IT environment. This becomes particularly evident in rapidly expanding SaaS adoption, the proliferation of shadow IT, and the introduction of unsanctioned applications. Traditional IAM solutions focus on known assets and predefined access points, but they frequently fall short in detecting and managing access to unapproved or unknown applications. This visibility gap can leave enterprises vulnerable to security breaches and compliance issues, as unseen or unmanaged apps can quickly become entry points for threats.

Recognizing this critical gap, Savvy offers a powerful solution that enhances and extends the capabilities of traditional IAM tools by providing what we call “Extreme Visibility.” Savvy’s technology delves deep into every corner of the SaaS environment, illuminating previously hidden areas. This includes apps that have not yet been formally onboarded or authorized and are being used within the organization. By bringing these into the light, Savvy ensures that all assets are visible, managed, and secured in line with established IAM policies. This level of visibility is essential in today’s dynamic IT landscape, where new applications can be adopted with a click, and security perimeters are no longer defined by physical boundaries. With Savvy, organizations can rest assured that no part of their digital environment is left unguarded, significantly strengthening their overall security posture.

Control Over Identities and Toxic Combinations of Risk

Gaining visibility into an organization’s IT environment is merely the initial step; the next crucial phase involves controlling identities and their access to resources. This control becomes particularly essential when managing unknown or shadow IT applications that could be lurking outside the traditional oversight of IT. One significant threat in this realm is what’s known as “toxic combinations of risk.” These toxic combinations can include scenarios like privileged users lacking MFA or individuals holding conflicting roles, potentially leading to conflicts of interest or security breaches.

Savvy addresses these challenges by identifying and analyzing these risky combinations, helping IAM leaders detect potential risks by leveraging advanced analytics and continuous monitoring. This proactive approach allows for the mitigation of threats before they can escalate, ensuring that identity governance encompasses not only known entities but also extends protective measures to cover all aspects of an organization’s digital footprint, thus fortifying overall security posture.

Zero Touch Integrations: Enhancing IAM with Seamless IAM Deployment

Deploying and integrating traditional IAM tools involves significant complexity, often requiring extensive time commitments and technical expertise. This can lead to prolonged disruptions in daily operations and delays in security implementation. Savvy addresses these challenges with its innovative Zero Touch Integrations, which allow for seamless integration with existing IAM frameworks without the need for manual configuration, coding, or technical intervention. This approach accelerates the time-to-visibility and time-to-control for new apps and identities. It significantly reduces the disruption to ongoing operations, enhancing overall IAM strategies and maintaining operational continuity.

Time to Visibility, Control, and Remediation

The need for rapid visibility, control, and remediation has never been more critical. Speed is a security imperative that cannot be overlooked. Savvy significantly enhances this aspect by accelerating the processes of gaining visibility into new and existing applications, asserting control over their use, and swiftly remediating any issues. For instance, in a hypothetical scenario, a company discovers unauthorized SaaS applications its employees use. With Savvy’s real-time capabilities, the security team quickly identifies these applications, assesses the associated risks, and enforces the necessary controls or removes access, all within a concise time frame. This dramatically reduces the window of vulnerability and enhances the organization’s overall security posture.

Security in Real-Time with Just-in-Time Guardrails

Timely security measures are crucial, as threats can emerge swiftly from anywhere. Savvy’s just-in-time guardrails meet this need by providing immediate security responses at critical moments, ensuring security is maintained without interrupting user workflows. These guardrails are designed to empower users to make secure decisions autonomously, thereby maintaining productivity while enhancing the overall IAM strategy. This capability allows organizations to adapt quickly to new threats while ensuring their security measures are effective and unobtrusive.

We’re Here to Augment Your IAM Strategy

Savvy is dedicated to augmenting, not replacing, your existing IAM strategy, acting as a powerful complement that bolsters your security measures. It enhances the return on your investments in key IAM tools like IGA, SSO, and MFA by providing crucial visibility and control. With your current tools, Savvy helps create a robust, secure environment that is well-equipped to meet the challenges of modern IT and cybersecurity. This partnership ensures a secure future, leveraging existing and new technologies to protect against evolving threats.

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