Modern Enterprise Authentication – Drivers and Best Practices for Migrating to Trusted Digital Identities


In the new report “Addressing the Modern Enterprise Authentication Challenge,” experts with TAG Cyber Research and Veridium analyze the benefits of enterprise migration to modern authentication methods and establishing trusted digital identities, along with best practices to guide the migration.

Security concerns are one of the top reasons for migrating to modern authentication.  Fifty-nine percent of organizations responding to a recent survey confirmed that they were targeted by phishing attacks in the last year. The rapid pace at which identity-exploiting threats are now constantly evolving is another security concern driving organizations to modern authentication.

User experience also factors in: ease-of-use (or a complex UX) can sharply impact the success of eCommerce applications and other digital experiences, and friction often leads to failure 

Accessibility is the third major driver for modern authentication and the establishment of trusted digital identities and includes the availability, usability, and simplicity associated with the password, cryptographic certificate, token, or other means for confirming an identity.

Figure 1:  Forces Affecting Authentication Friction 
Source: TAG Cyber

TAG Cyber CEO and Founder, Dr. Edward Amoroso, said: The business forces driving decisions about modern authentication must balance the recommendations of those groups charged with security, compliance and corporate brand reputation with the recommendations of sales and marketing-oriented teams such as digital experience managers, eCommerce operators, and IT service designers.”

He also noted that despite the clear, urgent need for strong authentication, many enterprise teams continue to struggle with deployment and support. “It is not uncommon for our analysts to encounter teams that continue to rely on passwords (or even IP source authentication) as a primary control,” he noted, while discouraging the continued reliance on outdated, insecure password methods.

The report identifies three of the top reasons that companies are moving to modern authentication and trusted digital identities:

To optimize the success of migrations, the report recommends: 

  •  Early Design Cooperation – early input and participation from cross-organizational team members can ultimately support higher adoption rates for the solution selected.
  • Flexible Solutions – ensuring that the authentication control can be adjusted, tailored, and modified based on reported experiences – this helps organizations fine-tune and optimize the user experience and helps reduce the potential for friction to arise between security and experience designers. An intelligent and adaptive approach to multi-factor enforcement will also help ensure that only bad actors encounter the most friction. 
  • Reliance on Metrics – accurate metrics from live production deployment should guide decision-making about authentication. 

“Over the last several years and in particular, over the last two years, trusted digital identities have increasingly become the key, both to hyperconnected exchanges such as eCommerce, loyalty and customer service applications and for day to day, line of business exchanges among employees,” said Veridium Chief Product and Operating Officer, Baber Amin. 

The report is in follow-up to the recent TAG Cyber report ‘What Keeps a CISO Up at Night’ [in 2022]. Veridium experts can quickly address questions.

Webinar: “Addressing the Modern Enterprise Authentication Challenge”

The report and recommendations will be shared in the August 17, 2022 Webinar “Addressing the Modern Enterprise Authentication Challenge,” featuring TAG Cyber Founder and CEO Dr. Edward Amoroso, and Veridium’s Amin. For more information, visit: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5815477951917629200.


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