The shift to remote work has been a shock to the system for many organizations, but not all. To some people, this change was coming, pandemic or not. There are plenty of obvious advantages to having a distributed workforce: fewer overhead expenses, happier and healthier workers, greater company-wide productivity, and access to a truly global talent pool. Of course, there are downsides to remote work, too. The one that continues to plague enterprises large and small, across industries and regions, is the increase in cyber attacks. We’ve seen enough by now to know that wherever business is being conducted online, there will be hackers.
Especially given the ongoing pandemic, you can expect the remote work trend to continue well into 2021 and beyond – putting just about every business at risk of being targeted. Fortunately, there’s way to keep companies secure, and that’s with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
If you haven’t considered adding PKI solutions to your portfolio, you should. According to a 2019 MarketsandMarkets report, the global encryption software market is expected to grow from $7.5 billion to $16.5 billion by 2024. Growth drivers for the market include a focus on adhering to stringent regulatory standards and data privacy compliance. Other drivers include rising concerns about loss of critical data and an exponential increase in the adoption of cloud and virtualization technologies.
In this world where change and adaptation is paramount to meeting the demands of the evolving industry, leading IT vendors will need to participate in this new ecosystem, ready to serve partners based on their requirements.
For partners looking to grow and expand customer offerings within the encryption market, PKI solutions are a great place to start. Combined with a partner’s local expertise, resources and commitment, PKI can help customers implement a solid identity and security foundation in their organizations.
Why PKI?
Public key infrastructure is all about trust, specifically how two entities trust one another to communicate securely. With PKI comes a plethora of roles, policies and procedures, as well as software and hardware. It facilitates the secure electronic transfer of information for activities such as eCommerce, online payments and email. The technology is implemented through digital certificates, digital signatures, secure email, the management of public key encryption and more.
5 Reasons for PKI Solutions
1. Hackers like to phish.
Hackers are forever a problem and lately, they’ve really dug in their heels. It’s an unfortunate reality that must be dealt with and security is one way to do that. By adding PKI-based solutions to your portfolio, you’ll enable your customers to better defend themselves against these attacks. While some research indicates that phishing may be decreasing – a very good thing — by no means are cybercriminals backing down. In fact, they might simply be taking a more targeted approach. You can protect customers by implementing technologies such as Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME). This guarantees your customers will see a significant reduction in email-based phishing attacks. It will also increase their confidence in your company for helping to keep their business secure.
2. Working remotely will be around for a while.
Companies are adapting to the COVID-19 inspired work-from-home paradigm, and this could be the new reality for many businesses even after the worst of the pandemic passes. But how do you keep companies moving while working from home? One answer is digital signatures. They are highly effective for critical documents such as contracts, tax forms and invoices — and people trust them. Digital signatures confirm that signers are, in fact, who they say they are, and they prevent retrospective changes to signed documents. Additionally, digital signatures allow for a quick turnaround without the need to meet in person or send via snail mail. Finally, they are legally admissible and equivalent to ink signatures – a critical distinction from electronic signatures.
3. IoT growth.
According to Security Today, in 2019, the number of active IoT devices reached 26.66 billion. One hundred twenty-seven new IoT devices connect to the web every second. And, 35 billion IoT devices will be installed worldwide by next year. But while the growth is phenomenal, the reality is IoT devices can be very hackable. That’s because until the recent past, these devices were simply given bolt-on approaches to keep them secure. But very quickly the IoT ecosystem – manufacturers and suppliers – learned the hard way that second-best approaches don’t really work, especially when dealing with cybercriminals. What is necessary are very specific approaches to ensuring that these billions and trillions of devices will be secure by implementing technology from the start, at the device level. And the de facto technology that many in security agree on that is currently the best approach is … you guessed it, PKI!
4. Break into new markets.
As we mentioned in the beginning of this article, the encryption software market is exploding, set to more than double in the next four years. And if you needed more convincing: Forbes reports that “enterprises are predicted to spend $12.6B on cloud security tools by 2023, up from $5.6B in 2018, according to Forrester.” Implementing PKI is already a best practice of some of the smartest and most cutting-edge companies in the world, but it’s poised to become a business requirement in the next few years.
5. Increasing move toward automation.
While some companies aren’t ready for automation, you should be. Looking to the big technology providers like Microsoft, Apple and Google as an example, it’s safe to assume the rest of the world will be moving in this direction sooner rather than later. Enterprises want automated technology solutions that are efficient while also allowing teams to remain nimble and in control. Luckily, there are many PKI processes that can be automated – such as the enrollment, provisioning, and installation of digital certificates – which make organization-wide security much easier.
GlobalSign’s PKI management platform and unique innovations around automation and management have helped enterprises of all sizes accelerate their digital transformation and meet strict compliance requirements so they can deliver the experiences their end-customers want, where and how they want them.
We’ve got decades of expertise empowering partner success by recognizing them as an extension of our team. Based on this successful track-record with partners, we believe most companies can realize six main benefits from becoming a channel partner:
- Full suite of products & services
- Cutting-edge technology
- Advanced expertise and resources
- Lead generation
- Increased margins
- Market credibility
Here at GlobalSign, we offer a wide range of different programs to suit your business models and power client success. The programs have been designed to help you extend your reach into the marketplace by increasing your knowledge base and expertise. It also creates a deeper, more collaborative relationship with GlobalSign to aid in your company’s future growth.
Learn more about our partner program tracks and sign up to speak to one of our channel team members about your options today.
