Technology has proliferated and spread across industries at an accelerating and intensifying pace in the past few years, forcing organizations to more swiftly and proactively plan out deployments. Around the globe, public and private sector leaders have pushed for enhanced adoption of these new tools, services and techniques, while some nations are ahead of others in terms of the security provisions that accompany new technological implementation. 

Access management has been made far more complex by the rapid succession of new trends that are facing virtually every industry, including mobility, the Internet of Things and cloud computing, and many businesses have yet to make the proper changes to their controls in light of other innovations. Quite simply put, traditional passwords and credentials are not going to do much to protect sensitive data and systems from the sophisticated attackers that are growing in numbers. 

A broad comparison
Smart Data Collective recently listed some of the ways in which countries from Europe and other regions have excelled in information governance and general security standards, whereas the United States has lagged behind. Citing the successes of those that have modernized their access management and data governance controls, the source indicated that the U.S. has a ways to go to ensure the tightest protection of systems and information. 

For one, it argued that encryption standards in the United States are trailing behind those of other nations, including Estonia,  which have much more stringent practices and protocols in place, while the ones that have gone entirely paperless are likewise ahead of the curve. According to the news provider, Estonia has an entirely paperless government and its financial system has made similar movements in recent years, leading to more centralized controls. 

Smart Data Collective noted that transaction security needs to be a bigger priority among lawmakers and businesses that are in any way involved with financial information transfers and utilization, and that this is likely the reason behind many of the breaches that have taken place. Finally, the news provider noted that education of all individuals, regardless of profession or the region they live in, is critical to maintaining stronger protection, and that infrastructure-related upgrades as they relate to technology should be a consideration. 

Canada's proactive moves
The United States has become a bit more aggressive in its overhaul of legislation, standards and practices, but its neighbor to the north, Canada, has remained far out in front. For example, the Government of Canada and many of the largest financial institutions in the nation have already started to leverage dynamic, next-generation multi-factor authentication to enhance identity and access management performances ahead of a more digital economy. 

The U.S., as well as other nations that commonly rely upon antiquated and traditional login systems, should seriously consider throwing out the controls that are no longer relevant given the sophistication of attacks and diversity of technologies, replacing them with more proven and modernized controls such as authentication.