Securing Identities: Leveraging Zero Trust to Enhance IAM Systems
The frequency of data breaches and leaks in 2023 has surpassed cyber incidents from the past five years, highlighting the necessity for strong cybersecurity frameworks. In his discussion, Bart Falzarano, Head of Information Security at Bitwarden, will highlight the critical role of Zero Trust architecture in enhancing Identity Access Management (IAM) systems. This approach, based on the "never trust, always verify" principle, involves explicit verification and least privileged access to minimize cybersecurity risks and unify fragmented identities within a secure and manageable IT environment.
Falzarano's session will examine the integration of Zero Trust principles with IAM, focusing on establishing unified access policies and contextual controls to create a resilient and adaptive security framework. The discussion will provide insights into practical steps and strategies to implement robust cybersecurity measures efficiently. Falzarano will also explicitly address some of the following talking points:
- Cybersecurity Challenges: Rising BEC attacks and prevalent social engineering tactics, as shown in Verizon’s 2023 DBIR report, exacerbated by generative AI
- The Human Factor: 74% of breaches involve human error (e.g., social engineering), highlighting threat vectors like stolen credentials and privilege misuse
- Zero Trust Focus: Zero Trust prioritizing identify-first security for robust defenses
- Access Control: Rigorous security audits, enhancing MFA, and moving toward passwordless authentication
- Security Tools: Adoption of EDR/XDR, ITDR, and SASE solutions reinforces organizational cybersecurity posture
- Access Management Practices: Implementing least privilege access and just-in-time (JIT) provisioning aligns with zero trust principles, minimizing access risks
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Speakers
Parham Eftekhari is a recognized business executive in the information security sector with a lifelong passion for leadership, and community engagement. His expertise spans critical infrastructure technology and policy, business strategy and operations, executive advising, and thought leadership content initiatives.
Parham has published over a dozen information security reports, regularly engages with the media, and has contributed to countless briefings and events at institutions including TEDx, Congress, the World Bank, RSA, IFA+, (ISC)2, C-SPAN, and the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT).
Bart Falzarano is Head of Information Security at Bitwarden. He is a seasoned security leader with a proven background in establishing security programs and implementing compliance frameworks, including PCI-DSS, EU Data Privacy/GDPR, and SSAE16/SSAE18 SOC1 and SOC2 Type 2. Prior to taking on his role at Bitwarden, Bart was SVP Sr. Information Security Officer at Bank of America. Before that, he spearheaded healthcare payment technology development as VP Security & Compliance at AxiaMed and implemented security and governance protocols for RightScale from Flexera as the company’s Director of Security and Compliance.