With the way technology is integrated into our everyday lives, robust cybersecurity practices are a must. This includes effective identity authentication tools, which allow us to log in to services and conduct online transactions securely. Still, new vulnerabilities are always being discovered and exploited, which is why regulations are essential in the world of information security.
Such standards are mostly in place to ensure many cybersecurity products and strategies possess a baseline level of safety and security. Government bodies, network architects, and regulatory committees have all played a role in establishing laws and regulations for identity authentication. The downside is that there are countless different standards and rules, with each set being lengthy and comprehensive. Each set of standards often needs to be interpreted and applied in its own way too. That's why we'll explore identity authentication regulations and how to navigate and comply with them in this article.
Why do identity authentication regulations matter?
Before we talk about standards compliance, let's talk about identity authentication, which plays an important role in cybersecurity regulations. Identity authentication refers to the process of verifying the credentials of an individual or entity in an online environment to ensure they're a user who should be rightfully granted access.
There are many different approaches to identity authentication, most of which are used in many industries worldwide: two-factor authentication, passkeys, and biometrics like fingerprints and face ID are some well-known examples. These identity protection methods are beneficial for preventing fraud, identity theft, and unauthorized access to sensitive data. This is exactly why having proper regulations for all forms of identity authentication is essential.
With ever-evolving cyberattacks and our undeniable reliance on digital services, these standards provide far-reaching protocols that countless businesses and tech solutions follow to ensure they're safe from most digital threats. It's also important to stick to industry regulations because of how quickly a data breach can compromise outdated security standards. In many instances, compliance with identity authentication regulations also bears some legal obligations, which is another reason many businesses adopt these standards. In order to avoid legal penalties, secure important data, and bolster user trust, many organizations prioritize adopting the security practices outlined by the regulations.
Important identity authentication regulations
It's impossible to cover all regulatory specifications for information security, but there are certainly a few widely-used standards that most organizations should be aware of. These are often general approaches to cybersecurity and consumer safety, but their guidelines help organizations go the extra mile to protect their users and employees.
General Data Protection Regulation
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive data protection regulation that focuses on information privacy for citizens of the European Union. The GDPR aims to insulate consumers' personal data from companies and for-profit entities by setting clear guidelines for collecting, storing, and processing personal information.
Under the GDPR, companies must also use stringent security measures to ensure that sensitive data isn't vulnerable. An important part of this is having robust identity authentication solutions in place. In addition to using multi-factor authentication for all logins, the GDPR also mandates that companies must notify users of data breaches within 72 hours.
California Consumer Privacy Act
Similar to GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides data privacy protections for California residents. The CCPA mandates that businesses collect data only with the consumer's consent and that consumers have the right to access, delete, and opt out of the sale of their personal information.
Authentication measures play a crucial role in CCPA compliance. For example, businesses must ensure that they are authenticating consumers when they request access to their data or seek to exercise their rights under CCPA.
NIST SP 800-63
NIST SP 800-63 is a set of guidelines that provides a framework for proper, safe identity management. The regulations included in each SP 800-63 section are intended to help organizations establish secure and efficient identity and authentication processes. It also outlines technical requirements for any organizations or agencies using digital identity services.
NIST SP 800-63 is concerned with security and privacy, and specifically details the processes involved in identity proofing, authentication, and federation. The guidelines are known particularly for their schema of Authentication Assurance Levels (AALs), which stratify identity authentication methods based on security level. For instance, AAL1 is concerned with single-factor authentication approaches such as login credentials and passwords, while high-security methods like advanced biometrics and hardware tokens are classified as AAL3.
IETF security standards
This set of regulations is used by the Internet Engineering Task Force, an organization responsible for the standards of the Internet protocol. It outlines important fundamentals for security and privacy with the goal of protecting users against both known and evolving digital threats. The IETF's security standards consist of Best Current Practice documents as well as their Security Area, Security Directorate, and more.
The IETF is known for handling large-scale identity and information security regulations, such as updating the Transport Layer Security Protocol, the most-used security protocol on the internet. They also provide resourceful online security tools to users, such as a management environment that lets anyone set up a secure and encrypted website in a short time. They also help maintain secure means of online communication with privacy in mind, as well as provide applications to handle the identity authentication process.
Top tips for regulation compliance
We've reviewed some of the important and well-known regulations and guidelines affiliated with identity authentication. Now, let's go over some best practices when it comes to navigating identity authentication regulations so you and your organization can stay in the know and up to date.
Strong authentication is key
Identity authentication can no longer rely on just a username and password. Weak authentication methods will only increase system vulnerability in the event of a data breach. You've probably noticed by now that high-security authentication strategies are a common denominator for most information security standards and regulations. That's because having multi-factor authentication, knowledge-based authentication, or another way of proving a user's identity is a simple yet effective way to secure user data. It's also worth balancing security with user convenience so that authentication mechanisms are robust but not cumbersome and hard to navigate when logging in.
Routine updates and check-ins
Staying up to date with the latest cybersecurity news and developments is important for a few reasons. New security protocols or updates to information security specifications like ISO 27001 will often lend well to navigating regulations, which will boost your organization's identity authentication strategy. These updates will often account for new threats in the realm of cybersecurity too, which is another reason to stay informed regularly: you'll have a better chance at knowing what to expect when a threat arises.
Regular audits and monitoring
Most identity security standards will either require or recommend authentication logs for organizations or services to track user activity. This is an important practice to adopt because it accomplishes a few goals. First, you can pick out anomalous activity from the fray with a comprehensive database of authentication attempts. This also applies for people who are struggling with logging in successfully, meaning that these authentication logs can cut down customer service response time. Second, audit logs and records can help cybersecurity teams figure out vulnerabilities in the event of an attack or breach. It's much easier to determine where the point of access was for a bad actor if all authentication attempts are recorded and timestamped. These are just a few reasons you'll find language about authentication logs embedded in multiple cybersecurity regulations.
Educate to protect
Everyone can more safely access digital resources if users have some basic knowledge of identity security because they'll know what risks to look for. Employees should be educated on the appropriate identity authentication guidelines so that everyone appropriately follows your organization's policy on standards compliance. By the same token, familiarizing customers with the same regulations will help them understand how their information is protected and what your organization or service is doing to uphold their right to privacy.
Want to learn more?
Learn more about building a stronger identity and authentication system for your apps by exploring the Duende IdentityServer documentation, where you'll find comprehensive guidance on identity and access management solutions for .NET applications. You can also read our post to learn the 9 Best Practices for Stronger Identity Authentication.