According to recent Cisco projections, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a $14 trillion revenue opportunity that Gartner estimates will contain 25 billion connected things by 2020. It is increasingly recognized that the full potential of connected devices and systems can only be achieved when these connected things are associated with individual identities. According to IoT Evolution World, products and services connected through individual identities can increase value for customers by providing highly personal experiences and allowing enterprises to not only monitor their product’s performance, but also better understand how customers use them.

Of course, with an increasing number of products and services connected by identities, there is a growing need for strong identity management providers to ensure these connected systems remain secure.

Four Identity Focused Security Concerns

As you begin to look for an identity and access Management as a Service (IDaaS) provider, there are several key areas of security to be concerned with.

IAM/SSO Trends of 2015

This summer NetworkWorld.com, one of the premier online providers of information, intelligence, and insight for network and IT executives, released an updated report on seven of the market’s top SSO service providers. Drafted with the practitioner audience in mind, the report highlighted several trends among current top providers.

1. SSO products now offer increased support for additional authentication factors.

All of the industry’s top IAM/SSO providers now offer products with solid multifactor authentication (MFA) protection. This increases SSO’s effectiveness as a protective tool and increases login security.

2. Vendors are moving towards integrating mobile device management (MDM) with their other identity service offerings.

Both NetworkWorld.com and analysts at Gartner see this as an important step to maintaining securing in an increasingly mobile-focused workplace. Although most vendors are still working on true MDM tools, generic SSO already provides an important level of security for mobile applications beyond that of basic password logins.

Nice To Meet You

He’s the tenth person to approach you since you walked into the event.

He offers his name with a smile and a firm handshake.You smile back. “Nice to meet you.”

And, just like that, you shake hands and completely forget whatever he said his name was.

In 2013, Gartner predicted that, in light of potential security breaches in single sign-on (SSO) systems, federated single sign-on would be the predominant SSO technology through 2016. Sharing information across multiple entities and trust domains, federated identity management (IAM), such as SSO, allows identity attributes to be transferred from one trusted identifying and authenticating entity to another for authentication and authorization purposes. Simply put, federated IAM SSO provides convenient and efficient system access to identified individuals.