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However, a critical aspect of digital identity thats often overlooked within organizations is the identity of machines.
VP & Global Head of Workload Identity Architecture, Venafi.
(Image Credit: TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay)
With the rise in cloud adoption, workloads are increasing exponentially, turning identity into a business-wide issue.
Maintaining consistent identities for these workloads is essential to safeguarding them against threats.
Building the workload identity pyramid
Consider workload identities as a pyramid.
First, at the foundation we have workload identities and managing their entire lifecycle.
Moving up, the next level is authentication, ensuring each entity is correctly identified and verified.
The next level is authorization, which dictates what resources or actions the entity is permitted to access.
At the top of the pyramid is governance, overseeing and managing the rules of authentication and authorization.
By establishing governance standards, organizations can better protect themselves from increasing risks.
One example of an open-source standard is SPIFFE, the Secure Production Identity Framework For Everyone.
Securing digital workloads
Identity security isn’t just about protecting human identities anymore.
The perimeter is dead, and services are now running everywhere from on prem to the cloud and beyond.
This helps IT teams manage and secure workloads across various cloud environments more effectively.
Without this, the risk of exposure, compliance violations, and security breaches increases.
Open standards like SPIFFE ensure consistent and verifiable IDs for all entities, enhancing compatibility and security.
As cloud adoption and multi-cloud environments grow, addressing the identity security of both machines and workloads is crucial.
This is key to reducing risks and boosting overall organizational security.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc.
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