IDENTITY UNDER ATTACK

A leader in enterprise identity management explores best security practices in this primer.

Tailored to “general business leaders,” McClain’s book offers actionable strategies for driving AI adoption while safeguarding critical data against cyber threats with a specific focus on the importance of identity protection. The opening chapters offer detailed, accessible overviews of the security infrastructures that shape modern identity security. Using the metaphor of a high-rise office building’s physical security measures, the author outlines common levels of protection, from multifactor authentication (which requires showing two forms of identification, like an ID and fingerprint) to authorization and privileged-access management that determines who has access to which systems and data sets. McClain also includes a brief history to contextualize the current technology, discussing topics such as the development of the commonly used single sign-on model, which the company Netegrity offered as an “elegant” solution to the demands of secure authentication. Later chapters pay attention to particular security threats, highlighting the ways in which bad actors use social engineering (a fake email, for instance, seemingly sent from one’s colleague “wrapped in a sense of urgency”) or credential harvesting (fake login pages that look identical to one’s employer that are designed to trick employees into revealing their passwords). While providing recommendations for preventing human-driven security breaches, identifying social engineering tactics, and helping readers to understand the basics of the “The 5 W’s of Identity” that “establish a user’s risk based on simple identification factors,” McClain acknowledges that traditional firewalls and methods of compliance may no longer be enough. Attackers, per the author, know the habits, systems, and vulnerabilities better than most employees, a problem only exacerbated by the rise of AI agents that “move data between systems, initiate transactions, and support the operation of modern platforms.” The CEO of a tech company that manages digital access, McClain blends his well-informed and informative advice with engaging personal vignettes from his experiences as an expert in the field.

A valuable, user-friendly resource for fortifying organizational digital infrastructure.