
Regardless of vital funding in superior applied sciences and worker coaching packages, credential and user-based assaults stay alarmingly prevalent, accounting for 50-80% of enterprise breaches.(1),(2). Though identity-based assaults dominate because the main explanation for safety incidents, the overall view of identification safety dangers continues to be threat discount, accepting that some assaults will succeed, decreasing the risk. Implementing management layers to reduce This method depends on detection, response and restoration capabilities to reduce injury after a breach has already occurred, however doesn’t preclude the potential of profitable assaults.
The excellent news? Lastly, there’s a resolution that marks a real paradigm shift: with superior authentication applied sciences, the entire elimination of identity-based threats is now inside attain. This necessary improvement strikes us past the standard deal with threat mitigation, providing organizations a technique to fully neutralize this essential threat vector. For the primary time, prevention is not only a aim — it is a actuality, altering the identification safety panorama.

What are identity-based threats?
Identification-based threats, comparable to phishing, stolen or compromised credentials, enterprise e mail compromise, and social engineering, stay a very powerful assault floor in enterprise environments, affecting 90% of organizations. (3). In keeping with IBM’s 2024 Price of Information Breach Report, phishing and stolen credentials are the 2 most prevalent assault vectors, ranked among the many costliest, with a mean breach costing $4.8 million. Attackers utilizing legitimate credentials can transfer freely throughout the system, making this tactic extraordinarily helpful for risk actors.
The persistence of identity-based threats might be traced again to elementary flaws in conventional authentication mechanisms, which depend on shared secrets and techniques comparable to passwords, PINs, and restoration questions. These shared secrets and techniques will not be solely outdated but in addition inherently susceptible, making a fertile floor for attackers to take advantage of. Let’s break down the issue:
- Phishing assaults: With the rise of AI instruments, attackers can simply create extremely convincing traps, tricking customers into revealing their credentials by emails, faux web sites, and social media messages. Regardless of how advanced or distinctive a password is, as soon as a person is spoofed, an attacker features entry.
- Authenticator impersonation: Attackers have grow to be adept at impersonating trusted entities, comparable to login portals or buyer assist. By impersonating these authenticators, they’ll intercept credentials with out the person realizing they’ve been compromised. This makes evasion not solely efficient but in addition stealthy, bypassing many conventional defenses.
- Password reset flows: Processes designed to assist customers regain entry after a forgotten or compromised password have grow to be main assault vectors. Attackers leverage social engineering techniques, exploiting info collected from social media or bought on the darkish net to control workflows, bypass safety measures, and take management of accounts.
- Gadget compromise: Even when superior mechanisms, comparable to multi-factor authentication (MFA), are in place, the compromise of a trusted machine can compromise identification integrity. Malware or different malicious instruments on a person’s machine can intercept authentication codes or impersonate trusted endpoints, rendering these safety measures ineffective.

Options an entry resolution that eliminates identity-based threats.
Legacy authentication programs are ineffective at stopping identity-based assaults as a result of they depend on safety by obfuscation. These programs depend upon a mixture of weak elements, shared secrets and techniques, and human decision-making, all of that are susceptible to exploitation.
True elimination of identity-based threats requires an authentication structure that makes whole courses of assaults technically inconceivable. That is achieved by robust cryptographic controls, hardware-backed safety measures, and steady validation to make sure ongoing belief all through the authentication course of.
The next core options describe an entry resolution designed to fully get rid of identity-based threats.
Phishing resistant
A contemporary authentication structure ought to be designed to get rid of the chance of credential theft by phishing assaults. To realize this, they need to embrace:
- Finish of shared secrets and techniques: Take away widespread secrets and techniques comparable to passwords, PINs, and restoration questions within the authentication course of.
- Cryptographic Binding: Encrypt credentials to authenticated units, making certain they can’t be used elsewhere.
- Automated verification: Implement authentication flows that scale back or get rid of reliance on human judgment, decreasing alternatives for fraud.
- {Hardware}-backed credential storage: Retailer credentials securely throughout the {hardware}, making them immune to extraction or tampering.
- No weak fallbacks.: Keep away from fallback mechanisms that depend on weak authentication elements, as these can reintroduce vulnerabilities.
By addressing these key areas, anti-phishing architectures create a powerful protection in opposition to one of the crucial prevalent assault vectors.
Authenticator impersonation resistance
Recognizing official connections is inherently difficult for customers, making it straightforward for attackers to take advantage of this vulnerability. To fight this, Past Identification authentication makes use of a platform authenticator that verifies the authenticity of entry requests. This method ensures that solely official requests are processed, which successfully prevents assaults primarily based on impersonating official websites.
To totally resist authenticator impersonation, an entry resolution ought to embrace:
- Sturdy origin binding: Make sure that all authentication requests are securely linked to their unique supply.
- Validation of a cryptographic verifier: Use a secret mechanism to confirm the authenticator’s identification and block unauthorized impersonators.
- Request integrity.: Stop redirection or manipulation of authentication requests throughout transmission.
- Anti-phishing course of: Eradicate authentication mechanisms which might be susceptible to fraud, comparable to shared secrets and techniques or one-time codes.
By embedding these measures, organizations can neutralize the specter of attackers impersonating official authentication companies.
Gadget safety compliance
Authentication entails not solely authenticating the person but in addition assessing the safety of their machine. Past Identification stands out as the one entry administration (AM) resolution out there that gives correct, granular entry management by assessing real-time machine vulnerability throughout authentication and constantly energetic classes.
A key good thing about a device-mounted platform authenticator is its capability to supply authentication impersonation resistance, making certain that attackers can’t impersonate official authentication companies. One other key profit is the flexibility to supply real-time posture and threat information immediately from the machine, comparable to whether or not the firewall is enabled, biometrics are enabled, disk encryption is in place, the assigned person is authenticated, and extra. one thing
With the Past Identification Platform Authenticator, organizations can assure person identification by phishing-resistant authentication whereas imposing safety compliance on units requesting entry. This ensures that solely trusted customers working safe units are granted entry to your setting.
Steady, risk-based entry management
Authenticating the person and verifying machine compliance on the entry level is a vital first step, however what occurs if a person adjustments their machine configuration? Even official customers can inadvertently create threats by disabling firewalls, downloading malicious recordsdata, or putting in software program with identified vulnerabilities. Steady evaluation of each machine and person vulnerabilities is important to make sure that no usable machine turns into a gateway for unhealthy actors.
Past Identification addresses this by constantly monitoring any adjustments to a person’s setting and implementing automated controls to dam entry when configuration drift or dangerous conduct is detected. By integrating native telemetry in addition to indicators from a buyer’s current safety stack (comparable to EDR, MDM, and ZTNA instruments), Past Identification turns risk insights into actionable entry choices. It allows organizations to create insurance policies tailor-made to their enterprise wants and compliance necessities, and ensures a safe and adaptable method to entry management.
Identification Managers and Safety Practitioners – Finish Identification Assaults in Your Organizations
You in all probability have already got an identification resolution in place and might use MFA. The issue is that these programs are nonetheless susceptible, and attackers know the right way to exploit them. Identification-based assaults stay a major risk, focusing on these vulnerabilities to realize entry.
With Past Identification, you may harden your safety stack and get rid of these vulnerabilities. Our phishing-resistant authentication resolution ensures each person identification and machine compliance, offering deterministic, state-of-the-art safety.
Get in contact to see a personalised demo of how the answer works and perceive how we ship our safety ensures.