In terms of industry, healthcare remains the most attacked, suffering in 2018 from more than four times
the number of breaches than any other industry. Given its strict regulatory environment, the healthcare
industry has shown reticence to modernize its technologies. This, coupled with a mad dash to enable
electronic health records (EHRs) within a given amount of time, has created lucrative opportunities for
criminals in recent years.
In the ForgeRock study, financial services and government are close behind in industries under attack.
Attacking financial services is in line with the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report which
found that attacks for financial gain remain in the top position. In Q1 2019, breaches in financial services
cost the industry $6.2 billion, up from just $8 million in Q1 2018.
One way to protect customer data from breaches is to implement a strong identity management solution
that includes securing everything from the enterprise infrastructure -- all to the client-facing apps at the
edge. Enterprises should also critically evaluate their IAM strategies, practices, and solutions to ensure
they are adequately protecting their massive volumes of consumer data.
At a minimum, enterprises need to consider modern, intelligent authentication methods that move beyond
simple username and password and provide fine-grained authorization to protect and secure resources.