IAM Identity & Access Management
Protect and monitor user access in multi-perimeter environments with our IAM solutions.
Introduction
With the digital world, identity & access management have become complex, with the greatest impact from the consumerization of IT. Bring Your Own Device and cloud have increased the need for anywhere access from devices, both personal productivity (laptop, smartphones, smartpads) or IP-enabled (printers, cameras, phones), to data or applications that reside in the traditional datacenter or cloud.
Identity and access management (IAM) is a framework of business processes, policies and technologies that facilitates the management of electronic or digital identities. With an IAM framework in place, information technology (IT) managers can control user access to critical information within their organisations. Systems used for IAM include single sign-on systems, two-factor authentication, multifactor authentication and privileged access management. These technologies also provide the ability to securely store identity and profile data as well as data governance functions to ensure that only data that is necessary and relevant is shared.
IAM systems can be deployed on premises, provided by a third-party vendor through a cloud-based subscription model or deployed in a hybrid model.
On a fundamental level, IAM encompasses the following components:
- how individuals are identified in a system (understand the difference between identity management and authentication);
- how roles are identified in a system and how they are assigned to individuals;
- adding, removing and updating individuals and their roles in a system;
- assigning levels of access to individuals or groups of individuals; and
- protecting the sensitive data within the system and securing the system itself.
How Does IAM Work?
Identity management solutions generally perform two tasks:
- IAM confirms that the user, software, or hardware is who they say they are by authenticating their credentials against a database. IAM cloud identity tools are more secure and flexible than traditional username and password solutions.
- Identity access management systems grant only the appropriate level of access. Instead of a username and password allowing access to an entire software suite, IAM allows for narrow slices of access to be portioned out, i.e. editor, viewer, and commenter in a content management system.
Why choose SR Cloud Solutions?
SR Cloud Solutions has a 25-year track record of supplying managed security services to many organisations in different industries.
- The best technology – highest levels of accreditation with the world’s leading vendors such as Okta and Microsoft.
- Skills and expertise with a UK-based 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC).
- We are a Joscar accredited business which means we are certified to work with leading defense companies who require the highest standards of cyber security.
- We are experts in Cloud infrastructures such as Microsoft Azure so we can provide expert security consultancy on hybrid cloud environments and how best to secure and monitor those environments including Cloud Governance.
Book a meeting with one of our consultants to learn more or read on more below to find out more about our IAM Solutions.
What does IAM Do?
Manage user identities
IAM systems can be the sole directory used to create, modify, and delete users, or it may integrate with one or more other directories and synchronise with them. Identity and access management can also create new identities for users who need a specialised type of access to an organisation’s tools.
Provisioning and deprovisioning users
Specifying which tools and access levels (editor, viewer, administrator) to grant a user is called provisioning. IAM tools allow IT departments to provision users by role, department, or other grouping in consultation with the managers of that department.
Authenticating users
IAM systems authenticate a user by confirming that they are who they say they are. Today, secure authentication means multi-factor authentication (MFA) and, preferably, adaptive authentication.
Authorising users
Access management ensures a user is granted the exact level and type of access to a tool that they’re entitled to. Users can also be portioned into groups or roles so large cohorts of users can be granted the same privileges.
Reporting
IAM tools generate reports after most actions taken on the platform (like login time, systems accessed, and type of authentication) to ensure compliance and assess security risks.
Single Sign-On
Identity and access management solutions with single sign-on (SSO) allow users to authenticate their identity with one portal instead of many different resources. Once authenticated, the IAM system acts as the source of identity truth for the other resources available to the user, removing the requirement for the user to remember several passwords.
Benefits of IAM
Access Privileges
Access privileges are granted according to policy, and all individuals and services are properly authenticated, authorized and audited.
IAM Automation
Automating IAM systems allows businesses to operate more efficiently by decreasing the effort, time and money that would be required to manually manage access to their networks.
Better Compliance
IAM systems help companies better comply with government regulations by allowing them to show corporate information is not being misused. Companies can also demonstrate that any data needed for auditing can be made available on demand.
Reduce risks for data beaches
Companies that properly manage identities have greater control of user access, which reduces the risk of internal and external data breaches.
Enforce Policies
In terms of security, the use of an IAM framework can make it easier to enforce policies around user authentication, validation and privileges, and address issues regarding privilege creep.
Efficient Working
IAM technologies allow the business to give users outside the organization -- like customers, partners, contractors and suppliers -- access to its network across mobile applications, on-premises applications and SaaS without compromising security.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Identity management confirms that you are you and stores information about you. An identity management database holds information about your identity – for example, your job title and your direct reports – and authenticates that you are, indeed, the person described in the database.
Access management uses the information about your identity to determine which software suites you’re allowed access to and what you’re allowed to do when you access them. For example, access management will ensure that every manager with direct reports has access to an app for timesheet approval, but not so much access that they can approve their own timesheets.
IAM systems can be deployed in multiple ways: On-Premises, handled by a third-party vendor through a cloud-based subscription model or deployed in a hybrid model (Combination of On-Premise and Cloud).
In the past, most identity and access management were managed by a server on the physical premises of an organisation, which was called on-prem. But nowadays most IAM services are managed by a provider in the cloud to avoid physical maintenance costs to the organisation, as well as to ensure uptime, distributed and redundant systems, reduced costs (Pay according to user count), and short SLAs.
The introduction of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications has greatly enabled previously complex modern IAM solutions. A good IAM solution can now support or integrate into thousands of applications. It’s important to evaluate which apps your employees use, have access to, and which apps you’d like to track. Once you’ve taken stock, you can then compare this to which business and consumer applications each vendor supports.
Whilst no one can truly accurately predict the next 5 years of a business, it’s always worth trying to envisage what your company’s requirements from an identity solution will be in future years. Questions to consider should include:
- Is it scalable?
- Will it receive future patches, updates, and will I receive any new releases?
- Throughout the deployment, will it be cost-effective?
No two IAM solutions are the same, with each vendor having their own individual stance. Some IAM solutions can provide nearly 30 different multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods; ranging from mobile-push notifications to fingerprint and facial recognition biometric options. Using such a solution allows for a flexible approach, as different authentication methods can be adapted dependent on user, group or application.
A sophisticated IAM solution can analyse multiple factors of an authentication request, including device, location, IP address, and behaviour. Through this, it can determine the legitimacy of every login attempt, meaning any request it doesn’t have total confidence in can be elevated to a higher risk level – meaning further authentication checks, or the attempt can be blocked entirely.
A good IAM platform should not compromise security for user experience and vice-versa. Users nowadays expect immediate, pain-free results from their digital experiences. To help create a seamless experience modern IAM solutions utilise self-service options. These can ensure peak productivity, enabling users to perform simple 24×7 functions such as password resets, account unlocks, device enrolment and more. A simple self-service option can reduce help desk calls by up to 60%, greatly freeing up staff whilst enabling a positive user experience.
IAM platforms which perform multiple risk checks also enhance the user experience, as they only require MFA steps if risk is identified.
Whilst identity management administration can be complex, some IAM solutions help simplify and accelerate the creation and administration of access control and user experiences across a number of systems. Leveraging reusable templates, policies, and settings can reduce administrative time greatly.
With 53% of people reusing passwords across multiple accounts, many companies may choose to eliminate the password side of authentication due to security concerns. Some IAM solutions combine multi-layered risk analysis through biometric authentication and mobile apps, thus removing the need for a password. Using biometrics with risk checks such as device, location, IP address and behaviour provides far better protection than a simple username-password combination or 2-factor authentication (2FA) alone, as well as enhancing the user experience.
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