Increase in cyberattacks setting the stage for identity security’s rapid growth

Digital identity security is rapidly growing in importance as identity infrastructure becomes a target for cyber attackers.  Misconfigurations of identity systems have become a significant concern – but many companies still seem unaware of the issue.

Security expert Hed Kovetz says that “identity is always the go-to of every attacker.” As CEO and co-founder of digital identity protection firm Silverfort, he believes that protecting identity is one of their most complicated tasks.

“If you ask any security team, I think identity is probably the one that is the most complex,” says Kovetz. “It’s painful: There are so many tools, so many legacy technologies and legacy infrastructure still in place.”

Kovetz laid out his experience in a webinar last week organized by advisory firm The Cyber Hut where he spoke about how his experience working for the Israeli intelligence informed his work on security in Silverfort.

To secure identity infrastructures, security specialists need to deal with both very old and very new technologies consistently. Kovetz says he first began dealing with legacy systems that could not be properly secured and could be used by attackers to spread inside the network. He later extended to protecting and other modern technologies.

“I think that protecting these things end to end is the key,” says Kovetz. “Otherwise, attackers will always go to the weaker part.”

U.S.-headquartered Silverfort closed its U.S.$116 million series D funding round last year bringing the overall investment to $222 million. The company has offices in Tel Aviv and Singapore.

Although the increase in cyberattacks is setting the stage for identity security’s rapid growth in importance, some organizations are still struggling to acknowledge weaknesses in their identity infrastructure. One thing, however, that could help educate the C-suite on the importance of identity security are the latest developments in generative AI.

“I think a lot of CEOs and boards are actually really worried about [deepfakes],” he says. “It is an element of security that is relatively I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but it is easier than others to explain.”

Orchid Security raises $36M in seed funding round

Identity security orchestration startup Orchid Security has raised $36 million in a seed funding round led by Team8 and Intel Capital. The funding is expected to advance Orchid’s work using LLMs to address the challenge of managing fragmented identity systems in large enterprises, accelerate the development of its platform, and scale up sales, support, and marketing efforts.

Orchid says its platform enables enterprises to achieve continuous visibility, consistent management, and control of their ever-changing identity environment.

According to a press announcement, Orchid customers have achieved a 90 percent faster onboarding process and a 75 percent reduction in professional services costs. The company is working with enterprises worldwide across finance, manufacturing, healthcare, and retail sectors.

FaceEsign tackles cyber fraud with multimodal verification

Know Your Customer company FaceEsign, has announced the launch of a new multi-modal biometric verification system to tackle cyber fraud. The system will scan faces and voices and capture video to identify fakes. This includes AI-driven identity manipulation and synthetic and fabricated identities.

The U.S.-based firm offers integrated KYC processes that include its own face biometrics, video verification, e-signatures and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) products, detecting compromised or hijacked accounts and real-time transaction fraud.

Avast expands access to identity protection tool

Cybersecurity company Avast, on the other hand, is expanding the availability of its identity protection called Avast Secure Identity. The product is now available in 15 additional countries outside of the U.S., including the UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Italy.

Avast hopes that the expansion will save some of its users from increasing social engineering attacks such as Scam-Yourself Attack which tricks people into installing malware on their own devices. According to its Q3/2024 Gen Threat Report, these types of scams saw a 614 percent compared to the previous quarter.

Avast is a member of identity-focused organizations such as the FIDO Alliance and the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF).

Article Topics

Avast  |  cybersecurity  |  digital identity  |  faceEsign  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  identity management  |  identity security  |  Orchid Security  |  Silverfort