With the scenario of more remote and hybrid work, employees who previously accessed company systems from specific and centralized corporate networks are doing so from different networks, on different devices and through different operating systems.
While this brings flexibility and reduces the need to go to corporate offices, it opens up new points of exposure for company networks to intrusions and hacking.
This could mean opportunities for cybersecurity companies specializing in identity and access management (IAM) solutions.
“We are seeing great demand for these types of systems. Studies show that more than 80 per cent of corporate data breaches or leaks happen from existing credentials,” Latin America regional director of Quest Software/One Identity, Alessandro Regente told BNamericas.
A former Dell Technologies unit, Quest is a security software provider and has in its One Identity subsidiary the business pillar related to IAM – one of its fastest-growing units.
According to a recent study by cybersecurity firm CyberArk, carried out with 1,750 IT security industry decision makers in Brazil, Mexico, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Israel, Singapore and Australia, 79 per cent of respondents said their organization prioritized continuing business operations over ensuring robust cybersecurity over the past 12 months.
Less than half (48%) said they have identity security controls in place for business-critical applications, shows CyberArk’s The Identity Security Threat Landscape report.
At Quest/One Identity, one of the priorities is precisely to map out these companies in Latin America, said Regente. Expanding the regional business is also one of the goals of the company’s new controller, Clearlake Capital Group.
Late last year, the California-based private equity firm announced an agreement to buy Quest. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that the sale valued the company at US$5.4bn, including debt.
Before the pandemic, the software company expected to triple its revenues in Latin America by 2025. Now, according to Regente, this number should be reviewed.
Worldwide, Quest’s One Identity claims that its solutions are present in 7,500 customers, managing more than 125mn identities.
Regente, who took over as regional lead in March as part of the expansion strategy, did not provide figures for Latin America. He said, however, that the company has “hundreds of clients” in the region, namely in the financial sector, manufacturing and industries in general and, more recently, education and health, among others.
The regional operation is 99 per cent served through channels and partners.
Although Quest claims to be the sole provider of an integrated identity management suite, ranging from IAM to privileged access management (PAM) and identity governance and administration (IGA) tools, the company still competes with products from other players in the market.
Among these are IBM, Oracle and SalesPoint, according to Regente.
Oracle’s customers with operations in the region include, for example, Telefónica Business Solutions, which has steadily increased its investments in cybersecurity.
According to IBM, while user experience has improved with the modernization of digital infrastructure and internet of things (IoT) devices, it is also becoming easier for cybercriminals to exploit digital paths to gain access to business environments.
In Brazil, also betting on demand in the segment, ICT R&D group CPQD last month launched a decentralized digital identity solution, based on blockchain, aimed at authenticating people, companies and also objects (IoT).
According to CPQD, its CPQD iD solution is provided in a software-as-a-service model.
