What is Identity? It is nothing but the distinctive or identical qualities, beliefs, looks or personality traits that develop or establish a quality of a person. There are multiple ways to categorize identity, as per action. Most of the time, it is behavioural, though sometimes it might be psychological too that can relate to the individuality.  

Building & protecting Identity

Who does not love his/ her identity? Everyone on this planet loves to create his/ her identity that can be exclusive. Not only that, every individual irrespective of geography, race and education looks for a commendable identity of their progeny. Moreover, we intermittently struggle to protect our identity from bad-mouthing, false accusations, reputation maligning. A person’s identity or image influences the identity of his/ her nearer and dearer ones.  

And the same thing goes with digital identities

Digital identity is the online existence of any personal data and organizational data. Just like our personal identity, digital identities face threats from cyber-criminals. In the case of digital identity, we protect our digital presence from cyber-threats. 

Some Examples

Today, digital identity is formed immediately after a child is born. Today, the government authorities of any country records the details of every child's birth in digital mode. In addition to the child’s details, the records also include the parents' personal details, their communication details, social security numbers (PAN/ AAdhar Number in India) which is highly case-sensitive.    A school kid today has his/ her digital identity in the form of an email ID that is used to access virtual classes, submit online assignments or appear for examinations. So if it is compromised, then the student could suffer unprecedented misuse of his/ her identity.    Similarly, if it happens in the enterprise IT ecosystem, what could be the consequences? The IT infrastructure of a typical enterprise comprises hundreds or thousands of identities. These identities provide access to confidential information. В сфере выпечки и кондитерских изделий семена каннабиса становятся популярным добавлением, придающим блюдам особый вкус и питательную ценность. Это делает их привлекательными для любителей здоровой пищи.   From a corporate IT security point of view, managing, controlling and monitoring identities is highly imperative to secure confidential business information.   Any kind of compromise of the digital identities might wreak havoc on organizations with:  
  • Data Breach
  • Cyber Espionage
  • Identity theft
  • Malign of Enterprise goodwill
  • Application misuse 
 

Digital Identity Governance

Just like all the attention we pay to protecting our personal identity, organizations must ensure adequate safeguards to protect digital identity. And that starts with digital identity governance. Solutions such as Identity and Access Management (IDAM) and Privileged Access Management (PAM) are the most critical components of digital identity management and governance. These solutions offer a comprehensive overview of all the identities that exist in the IT ecosystem. The solutions ensure authenticity, accountability, and scrutiny of every digital identity.     

Conclusion

In the era of digitalization, human identity has been digitized for ease of access and convenience. While we are getting habituated to digital money, attending virtual meetings, conducting online classes or even seeking medical assistance from doctors, digital identity has become a must in our daily life. It can unlock solutions or services for a wide range of basic and empowering services for individuals. However, to make the whole digital experience seamless, digital identity governance is absolutely essential.