The cloud and SaaS have taken the IT world by a whirlwind. Organizations are actively adopting the cloud and leveraging it to develop apps with more agility and at a fraction of the cost of traditional datacenters. The cloud has revolutionized application development completely. However, with all these amazing features comes a constantly growing complex ecosystem of applications, resources, services, and devices. Securing cloud applications is the top priority of every organization. Traditional tools like LDAP and Active Directory don’t cut it anymore, considering how distributed and heterogeneous the workloads are today. With devices running on different operating systems and being hosted on various platforms (hybrid cloud), it’s hard to enable single sign-on (SSO). The aim is not just to provide users access to systems, files, networks, and resources but also to provide the right access. With a growing number of endpoints in the age of IoT, every endpoint can be a potential gateway for an all-out attack on the infrastructure. And that’s what makes identity management crucial.
The job of creating various identities can be cumbersome and time-consuming for IT admins. However, things get even more complex when the identities are sourced from various repositories. To avoid manual intervention and to ensure the least number of access-related issues, organizations are beginning to rely on identity management systems. These tools can synch identity data between various system directories by providing an immutable, single-source of truth. These tools allow organizations to relieve the burden of manual identity management from the IT teams. Identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) solutions have gained traction in the last couple of years due to their ability to address the security concerns organizations face.
Let’s look at some of these identity management solutions that have made a mark this year.
1. JumpCloud raises $75M
JumpCloud is a Denver-based directory-as-a-service startup that securely connects users to various resources and systems inside an IT framework. JumpCloud provides users unified identities across IT resources. This solution delivers Zero Trust security by providing the least privileged access to trusted devices, networks, and identities in your infrastructure. JumpCloud provides secure access to critical web-based applications like AWS, Zoom, Salesforce, and GitHub, among many others. With JumpCloud, you can quickly and efficiently provide necessary access to new users. By installing a lightweight component on your Mac, Windows, and Linux systems, IT admins can start monitoring their systems on the JumpCloud application. JumpCloud provides you visibility into your workloads via logs, reporting, and monitoring no matter where they are hosted.
This has been a great year for JumpCloud. In a survey of 1,000 JumpCloud IT admins, it was observed that around 87 percent of these JumpCloud users recommend or would recommend the identity management solution. JumpCloud also received a 4.7-star rating at this year’s Gartner Peer Review. However, the biggest validation JumpCloud got this year was the $75 million Series E funding that it received earlier in November. This funding round was led by Blackrock, and existing investor General Atlantic also took part in this funding. With this funding, JumpCloud has managed to raise a total capital of $166.7 million to date. With this funding, JumpCloud plans on expanding its product development and global outreach. The startup also plans on adding over 200 employees to its current workforce of 300 by the end of next year. JumpCloud has around 10,000 users across the globe, of which 3,000 are using the paid version.
2. Mati raises $15.5M
Mati is an online ID verification startup that is helping fintech companies by eliminating the risk of fraud. Mati is a fast, fully automated tool that performs a thorough verification of users since day one. With an easy 10-minute integration, you can leverage this incredible tool. Mati performs document verification and can automatically verify the authenticity of any document. Mati can also verify users using biometrics such as voice, movement, and proof of ownership. It can perform deep cross-checks of user details with government databases using tax or ID numbers. This solution also authenticates users by verifying them through their local touchpoints. Mati can be used by eCommerce platforms for secure checkouts. Mati comes with a unified dashboard that lets you monitor your database and visualizes threats.
The San Francisco-based startup has raised a Series A funding of $15.5 million in November. This funding round was led by Spero Ventures and came only a couple of months after a seed funding making the total capital raised to around $18.5 million. Mati plans to use this funding to expand its global footprint. Mati wants to use this funding to help its ongoing product development. Some new features that Mati plans on releasing shortly include real-time risk detection, background verification, and financial health checks.
3. CrowdStrike acquires Preempt Security
CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity tech firm that provides next-gen endpoint protection with Falcon. The Falcon platform comes packed with various components that address different security use-cases like end-point security, security & IT operations, threat intelligence, and cloud-security. Falcon is built to overcome the limitations of legacy security solutions that make them ineffective on the modern, cloud-based workloads. Like other identity management solutions, Falcon’s lightweight agent can be deployed on various endpoints in your environment where it can block attacks of all kinds using machine learning. It also records endpoint activity 24/7. CrowdStrike provides real-time visibility into your environment using forensic data to identify any bad actors and provides robust response tools to eliminate them at the earliest possible stage to prevent any potential harm.
The Sunnyvale-based startup acquired Preempt Security, an identity management firm that offers Zero Trust security. The acquisition was announced in September, and CrowdStrike paid around $96 million. Preempt detects identity-based attacks and threats in real-time based on identity, behavior, and risk analysis. Preempt allows customers to block bad actors and notify malicious activities at the earliest. Preempt also allows customers to challenge suspicious users with re-authentication and multifactor authentication. Preempt has raised a total capital of $27.5 million to date. CrowdStrike plans to leverage Preempt’s expertise to bring an all-around solution that provides workload security and identity protection. CrowdStrike will expand its security portfolio by adding a new module to Falcon that leverages Preempt’s identity management once the integration is complete.
4. Ping Identity acquires ShoCard
ShoCard is a blockchain-based startup that allows users to have full control over their identity and their information. Ping Identity, an intelligent identity management startup, secretly acquired ShoCard earlier this year before announcing it in October. ShoCard identifies users using advanced, patented facial recognition technology. With ShoCard, you need to validate your identity once, and then you can share your personal information securely. Use facial recognition to access your ShoCard verified documents like passports, medical records, licenses, and proof of employment. These documents can then be used to apply for jobs, open a new bank account, or request a loan. By storing your personal information on an immutable ledger, you avoid running the risk of identity theft and fraud.
The financial terms of this acquisition haven’t been disclosed. With ShoCard, Ping Identity plans to provide users with the ability to add and subtract information to the chain. Users will be assigned unique IDs that can be used to perform various activities or to request financial services. Ping wants to integrate ShoCard’s features into its identity management platform and plans to release this integration sometime in 2021.
Why identity management solutions are so hot
Identity management solutions are becoming more crucial as many organizations are shifting toward the hybrid cloud infrastructure. For now, we can just look forward to all the exciting developments in the identity management market.
Featured image: Pixabay
