Over the past two years, many public sector organisations were prompted by the immediate need to deploy digital infrastructure to maintain continuity of their services amid the COVID-19 pandemic — such as offering citizens licence renewals online and virtual education — and are now grappling with the impacts on cybersecurity and user experience.
With cybersecurity a top priority for many IT departments, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has prioritised mitigation strategies to help organisations protect themselves against various cyber threats. The most effective of these mitigation strategies are the Essential Eight.
Okta’s 2022 Public Sector Identity Index captures the perceptions of 850 IT and line of business decision-makers within national and state/local government organisations across the US, UK, and ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) with regard to their Identity and Access Management (IAM) strategy.
The report’s key findings include:
- Only one in five are extremely confident in either the security (17 per cent) or ease of use (19 per cent) of their current authentication solution.
- Username and password is the most frequently used authentication method by citizens (86 per cent), compared to very little usage of biometric or passwordless authentication (16 per cent).
- Four in ten are currently building their own IAM solution in-house (41 per cent), and cite speed to implementation (83 per cent) and using internal staff to manage IAM internally (82 per cent) as two of the biggest pain points in doing so.
- Most governments are looking to expand their digital services in the next two years (75 per cent) and rank protecting citizen’s privacy and data as most important when thinking about citizen services (73 per cent).
Regional analysis shows US respondents rank ensuring citizens’ trust in digital services as an area of high importance (71 per cent), but have less confidence in their organisation’s ability to deliver this (56 per cent). Similar discrepancies in ‘importance’ versus ‘confidence’ in delivery include speed in adding new services in the UK (66 per cent importance vs. 48 per cent confidence), and improving the user experience in ANZ (72 per cent importance vs. 60 per cent confidence).
Dean Scontras, Vice President of State and Local Government and Education (SLED) at Okta, said: “Digitisation is likely to continue in light of Zero Trust mandates and mounting consumer expectations. Public sector organisations greatly benefit from bringing their identity management strategy in line with their digital goals. While there is a strong focus on securing citizen data, the vast majority of applications are still protected by a username and password, despite their well-documented security risks.”
According to Forrester Research, the public sector has a massive influence on the entire economy making up 30 per cent of the global GDP and 33 per cent of the global workforce, and the global research firm predicts that more governments will adopt Zero Trust frameworks to revive public trust in digital services.
An Identity-First approach puts identity at the centre of government digital transformation, while also laying the foundation for a Zero Trust security model. Key to this approach are modern login technologies that replace traditional passwords, and introduce friction only when suspicious behaviour is detected. By making the shift to Identity-First, organisations like Juniper provide easy and seamless access for legitimate users, while decreasing the risk of security and compliance breaches.
Jessica Figueras, a cybercrime and digital identity advisor to governments and Okta consultant, said: “In the face of increasing digitisation, skills shortages, and online harms, governments are taking a hard look at the technologies they can bring onboard to help them reach their digital goals. The research suggests that identity is one such technology that can help the public sector do more with less.”
To learn more download the full report here
Methodology
Auth0, a product unit within Okta, engaged Market Connections to design an online survey of 850 IT and line of business decision-makers within national and state/local governments in the U.S. (200 federal, 200 state & local), UK (100 federal, 100 state & local), and ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) (155 federal/national, 95 state & local), fielded in September-October 2021.
About Okta
Okta is the leading independent identity provider. The Okta Identity Cloud enables organisations to securely connect the right people to the right technologies at the right time. With more than 7,000 pre-built integrations to applications and infrastructure providers, Okta provides simple and secure access to people and organisations everywhere, giving them the confidence to reach their full potential. More than 15,000 organisations trust Okta to help protect the identities of their workforces and customers.
