Guest: Gal Helemski (LinkedIn)
Company: PlainID 
Show: Let’s Talk

Identity has not always been seen as a core component of security solutions since many organizations would just rely on perimeter security like firewalls. However, as more organizations have adopted cloud services managing identity and access control has become more complex. Israel-based authorization company, PlainID, aims to simplify these complexities for companies helping them improve their security posture.

In this episode of TFiR: Let’s Talk, Gal Helemski, CTO and Co-Founder at PlainID, talks about the importance of identity and access management in security and the challenges organizations are facing in this space having adopted cloud services. She goes on to discuss how PlainID’s Cloud-first, Authorization-as-a-Service Platform is helping organizations secure the identity and the identity journey, improving their security posture.

Key highlights from this video interview:

• Helemski talks about his background in the identity and access management space and the gap she saw in authorization. She discusses how this led to building an authorization management and control solution and co-founding PlainID.
• Helemski explains that identity did not use to be a core component of security solutions and organizations would instead rely on perimeter security. She talks about why identity security has become more important with the growth of the adoption of cloud services and why there is a need for solutions to address the risks of identity security.
• While technology in the past was predominantly big monoliths, nowadays we are seeing more microservices. Helemski discusses how this shift has affected developers and why there is a need for centralizing authorization management and control.
• Helemski feels that there is an improvement in organizations’ awareness around managing identity, handling the authentication process, and authorization. However, she does not believe it is fully mature yet. She talks about the growth in the market.
• Helemski discusses the role of open source in the security space saying there is a place for open source in the authorization space. She talks about how PlainID works with several of the open-source offices within the space while also understanding the disadvantages of open source, management, and visibility.
• How you manage authorization, enforce and control is highly complex and Helemski explains the evolution of managing authorization. She explains why policy-based access control is considered the most advanced way to manage authorization policies and support multiple enforcement options.
• Since technology is so expanded the solution you choose needs to consider the underlying technology it supports and Helemski explains how you can define a statement within policy-based access control to address this.
• Generative AI poses a high risk and Helemski discusses the need for enforcing controls on it. She believes that organizations and vendors who are adopting these technologies should consider how to place those controls. She goes on to explain how authorization can use generative AI, such as suggesting possible policies to the customers.
• Helemski discusses how PlainID is making it easier for developers with their central management and distributed enforcement to fit the different technology requirements and needs whether that is APIs, microservices, or data applications. She talks about how PlainID consolidates the management into a single pane of control to simplify things.
• PlainID’s SaaS solution is an authorization platform you consume as a service. Helemski tells us about their solution and how they try to provide the best solution that does not compromise on security performance and the usability of their solution.
• Helemski shares his advice for organizations saying they first need to recognize the importance of identity as a core component of security, then they need to look at what should be done to secure the identity and the identity journey.
• With conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe going on, many are concerned about the risks of cyber warfare. Helemski discusses how PlainID is helping organizations implement dynamic and fine-grained controls for their most important applications and data assets to improve their overall security posture.
• PlainID’s SaaS solution is an authorization platform you consume as a service. Helemski tells us about their solution and how they try to provide the best solution that does not compromise on security performance and the usability of their solution.
• Helemski shares his advice for organizations saying they first need to recognize the importance of identity as a core component of security, then they need to look at what should be done to secure the identity and the identity journey.
• With conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe going on, many are concerned about the risks of cyber warfare. Helemski discusses how PlainID is helping organizations implement dynamic and fine-grained controls for their most important applications and data assets to improve their overall security posture.

This summary was written by Emily Nicholls.