Almost all (99%) firms in the Asia-Pacific region are struggling with identity verification as 86% expect the adoption of AI by cybercriminals to increase the number of identity-based threats in the next 12 months.
This is from a report released by Ping Identity, which commissioned Vanson Bourne to survey 700 IT decision-makers between February and March 2024.
Respondents are based in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, and Singapore. Among them, 200 are from APAC.
Jasie Fon, regional VP in Asia at Ping Identity, noted that close to half (49%) of respondents face challenges with balancing security needs with the need to make sure that they are not creating friction for users.
“As cyber attackers are increasingly using sophisticated AI methods to conduct fraudulent activities, business leaders in Asia Pacific need to recognise the urgency of enhancing their security measures to reduce financial and reputational loss,” said Fon. “Organisations that implement identity management solutions such as decentralised identity solutions are poised to protect themselves against the rise of cyber threats.”
Results show that APAC organisations admit they are not using proper protections against identity fraud.
The top ways that APAC organisations have in place to protect employees and customers against fraud is one-time passcode authentication (53%) to protect against fraud, followed by digital credential issuance and verification (48%.)
APAC respondents are concerned with protecting against the following threats — phishing (98%), credential compromise (95%), session hijacking (95%), social engineering (94%), and account takeover (94%).
Also, Asia Pacific organisations are concerned about their ability to defend against AI threats, with 55% highly concerned that AI technology will increase identity fraud.
Only 56% are very confident in their ability to detect a deepfake of their CEO.
Decentralised Identity (DCI), which refers to an approach to identity management that gives users control of their personal information, is an untapped opportunity for identity protection, according to Ping Identity.
APAC organisations consider the top benefits of decentralised identification for identity management as allowing them to integrate more applications and relying parties.
Almost all (99%) organisations indicated that adopting DCI is valuable for their customers.
Only 37% have implemented a strategy to use DCI as a protection against fraud, but more are beginning to offer DCI.
Top priorities for identity access management for Asia Pacific organisations in the next 12 months.
Among respondents, 42% indicated that reducing financial and reputation loss due to fraud and breaches was among their top priorities.
Also, 42% indicated that ensuring regulatory compliance is one of their top priorities for their customers and 35% for employees.
