Authorization is still a brand new space and we saw lots of solutions launching with different approaches to tackling authorization delivering on RBAC, ABAC, and ReBAC. A common thread with all these solutions has been the decoupling of the logic from the application code base out into a standalone service that makes decisions for the entire application. This approach allows the logic to evolve independently of the code base and fits in perfectly with today’s heterogeneous service landscapes.

At Cerbos, we have a keen understanding of the direction that the authorization space is heading in. When it comes to forecasts for 2023, we believe that the trend in the industry is moving towards a focus on core competencies and a delegation of other responsibilities to specialized software. Within this context, we see authorization as an area that should be delegated to specialized software solutions, with a preference for those that are built in an open-source ecosystem.

Cloud-native technology has become firmly established and we anticipate that more and more companies will be looking to this ecosystem to address their authorization needs. Additionally, we expect to see an increase in security products that utilize machine learning models for anomaly and threat detection, with some of these products potentially being able to analyze access logs and make suggestions for access policies.

We also anticipate a shift towards more natural language processing in enterprise software, with the introduction of chatbot-like assistants similar to ChatGPT.

In terms of cybersecurity, we expect to see a wider adoption of the WebAuthn standard and more secure login methods than simple passwords. Furthermore, we expect that there will be much greater decoupling of components with serverless and on-demand scale-up service providers coming to the fore with the likes of Netlify, Vercel, Fly.io, Neon and Upstash that cover not just frontend stacks but backend and data processing stacks as well.

Overall, we see a bright future for the authorization space, with advancements in technology and an increasing focus on specialized solutions driving innovation and progress.