SailPoint’s SVP – EMEA, Steve Bradford calls for moving past words into action for businesses during International Fraud Awareness Week

Steve Bradford, the Senior Vice President (SVP) - EMEA at SailPoint, said “International Fraud Awareness Week serves as a good reminder that no industry is untouchable, when it comes to cybercrime.”

He adds, “With companies estimated to lose 5% of their revenue annually due to fraud, and having seen a rise in attacks on critical public and private infrastructure, from hospitals and fuel pipelines to banks and hotels, it’s time organisations put security at the top of the business agenda.”

Fraudsters are more sophisticated in their tactics

In today’s digital world, fraudsters are becoming increasingly more sophisticated in their tactics"

Steve Bradford further said, “In today’s digital world, fraudsters are becoming increasingly more sophisticated in their tactics, using methods that are far more personal and harder to spot – capitalising on our human vulnerabilities.”

He adds, “With the UK suffering a loss of around £190 billion to fraud every year, it is clear that we need to re-evaluate our cyber defence mechanisms. From imitating CEOs to emails that appear to be from IT support, cyber criminals have learnt to morph into those we trust, going undetected to the naked eye.”

Leveraging AI-enabled identity security

Steve Bradford continues, “Many of these attacks, at their root, come down to some type of compromised identity, with 84% of all IT security incidents at the hands of poor identity security hygiene. Over four in five organisations have experienced an identity-related breach in the past year, highlighting a dangerous gap in enterprise cyber security protection.”

He concludes, “Leveraging AI-enabled identity security helps offload pressure on end-users and fortify organisational defences. Clearly seeing, understanding, and managing who has access to what, when and why, and then properly securing that access, can go a long way in avoiding a breach or compromise. Given how prevalent these attacks are today, businesses should put identity security at the core of their security efforts.”