Automating a more secure future with robotic processes

Many large organizations are not only worried about disruptive effects of robotic process automation (RPA), but are denying its implementation due to perceived security risks. RPA mimics employees’ actions in a variety of business and IT applications, and organizations want to ensure that their tangible and intangible assets are secure – and governed by the right security models – before taking a leap towards process automation. Yet, as Bruce Schneier said,

Security is not a product, but a process ­–

In fact, increased reliance on the security features of RPA reduces the number of risks and repercussions caused by human factors; RPA is the first step to ensuring data and application security. Implementation of RPA lowers the security-related efforts associated with:

• training employees on effective password management for the various applications they access;
• detecting internal phishing;
• seeing and protecting sensitive data; and
• teaching security practices (locking devices, applying privacy settings, etc.).

Making and breaking brands

Passwords can make or break a company’s brand. There are always vulnerabilities associated with employees who have access to and privileges on critical applications within an organization. RPA acts as middleware software that automates secure communication between various applications, for example, in telecoms, reconciling the CRM subscriber feed and fraud management subscriber data or customer data updates. Misuse of customer data during such tasks creates an increasing level of vulnerabilities in customers’ data, such as identify theft, exposing payment and loyalty rewards information, or personal details, which can pose a threat directly or indirectly. So, while implementing business logic on applications and transferring inputs between them, it is crucial that during the ‘handshake’, there should be high security between processes.

Securing data and applications

The zero-touch environment of RPA is the first level of protection for information and application against breaches. Other factors that help achieve enhanced security levels are:

• Credential vault which is a component of an RPA tool that manages and secures various passwords and associated login details. This limits the exposure of credentials to internal and external teams. The details are protected by high level encryption protocols.
• Control center defines various roles and links them to certain privileges so that they can only access their respective applications and databases. The control center also captures audit trails and error alerts, which improves security compliance through tracking activities performed by robotic processes.
• Unassisted automation is when RPA tools can execute ongoing and scheduled tasks, even if a desktop screen is locked. This means users can even choose tasks for execution without anyone seeing its workflow or processing stages.
• Governance of security for PRA must be an integral part of the implementation and roadmap strategy. It includes determining how various automation teams (development, configuration, testing, infrastructure, release and deployment, support) should communicate and work together to protect the RPA solution.
• Schedulable tasks ensure data can only be accessed when required, and tasks can run only when scheduled to reduce the chances of manual intrusion.
• Clear desk policy makes sure all data is digitally processed in a workflow. It helps an organization mitigate risk associated with information theft and security breach, caused by sensitive information being left unattended.
• Protection against malware and Trojans by ensuring that the URLs are configured and only specific sections on a web browser are used to capture details online (for example, market data). This reduces the number of clicks, and potentially unwanted programs’ (PUPs) installation which are likely to spread malware and Trojans on a system.

While RPA is primarily helpful in reducing cost and increasing productivity, it also ensures proper control of processes and mitigates security risks created by humans. With the right blend of process configuration, governance model, control center and credential vault, RPA can make the entire business and IT processes more secure and traceable. Opting out of RPA on the grounds of security concerns isn’t really an option!