Leveraging a Unified Identity Fabric for Enhanced Supply Chain Security

In today's digital-driven business environment, enterprises are part of a vast interdependent network that includes employees, suppliers, and customers. This interconnection is supported by shared web-based systems, making the confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of these systems crucial. Identity has become a pivotal aspect of security and compliance, as identity-centric attacks, such as account takeovers (ATOs), are prevalent and damaging, targeting both human and non-human identities. Traditional IAM tools tailored for employees are insufficient for multi-enterprise ecosystems, leading to gaps that facilitate ATOs. Regulations in critical sectors reflect the need for robust identity controls across ecosystems. Organizations, thus, require a unified identity management system to orchestrate identities and policies across heterogeneous systems. A white paper guides stakeholders through implementing this, particularly highlighting how combining Exostar Access One and IBM Security Verify Governance can achieve a unified identity fabric, reducing risks and improving regulatory compliance. This approach improves resilience and efficiency, with potential applications across multiple sectors, including financial services and telecommunications, which already face strong regulatory pressures. The implementation of a unified identity fabric serves to strengthen security, operational efficiency, and compliance across complex supply chains.

• Identity-centric attacks and account takeovers have become increasingly common, affecting both human and machine users.
• Regulations like DORA, CMMC 2.0, and CPS 230 emphasize the need for stringent identity controls.
• Proofpoint reported that in 2024, 99% of organizations experienced account takeover attempts.
• An identity fabric aligns identity governance and access controls across various organizational boundaries.
• Exostar Access One and IBM Security Verify Governance offer a combined solution for a unified identity fabric.
• Financial institutions must align with stringent compliance requirements and manage identities across diverse ecosystems.
• Telecommunications providers face regulatory mandates requiring strong identity governance.
• Organizations can implement identity fabrics to mitigate access abuses and enhance audit traceability.
• Identity fabrics provide a strategic approach to securing multi-tier supply chains.
• Regulatory bodies increasingly require comprehensive identity management within supply chain ecosystems.

• "Regulators and auditors have responded to these challenges by raising expectations around identity-centric risk management."
• "Identity security has become the defining security control in a world where perimeters are porous, and supply chains are digital."
• "Traditional workforce-focused IGA platforms alone are not enough to manage third-party user communities at scale."
• "Organizations need more than a collection of enterprise-focused IAM tools; they need an identity management system that provides a unified identity fabric."
• "Exostar and IBM form the backbone of an identity fabric well suited to supply-chain security in regulated industries."
• "With DORA, identity governance for both internal staff and third-party users is a central pillar of compliance."
• "The identity fabric is not made up of a single security product but is an architectural approach."
• "In life sciences, guidance such as ICH E6 (R3) stresses the protection of participants and the reliability of data."
• "Attackers increasingly bypass network-level defenses by simply logging in with valid credentials or taking over authenticated sessions."
• "In today's environment, identity must function as a shared service that cuts across individual applications, directories, and domains."