Since October is cybersecurity awareness month, it’s a great time to revisit the question of what are the best ways to secure user authentication in CIAM. In many industries (finance and healthcare, to name a few), regulations require the use of multifactor authentication (MFA) to protect access to sensitive data and transactions.

WSO2 recently announced the release of their Private CIAM Cloud service, and it made me think about the changing role of personal identity versus business entity in today’s complex distributed software environments. The CIAM space has evolved far beyond the traditional end user’s need for identity and access to applications in a B2C (business to customer) scenario.

Today, the exponential growth of APIs shows no sign of slowing down. Digitally driven enterprises understand that they must deliver enhanced digital experiences to achieve sustained growth, faster innovation, and meet modern consumer needs.

In today’s digital business landscape, APIs have become the most important digital asset. One study found that 83% of all internet traffic belongs to API-based services. APIs act as the reusable building block that employees, partners, and customers can easily access from anywhere. Figure 1: API security overview This has also made APIs the top security challenge for most companies. In a recent survey, about 94% of respondents noted that they had faced an API security issue over the past year.