Glossary / Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a framework that helps organizations achieve two critical objectives: manage digital identities and control access to resources. It ensures that the right individuals, devices, and systems have appropriate access to specific applications, data, and other resources.

IAM is essential to data security in the cloud and on-premises. As bad actors continue to use more sophisticated methods and technologies, IAM helps ensure that your data is secure.

What is IAM (identity & access management)?

IAM is short for identity and access management and is a combination of tools, policies, and technologies that allow administrators to create, manage, and remove digital identities, define the level of access privileges associated with credentials and prevent unauthorized access.

A user could be anyone, including employees, customers, vendors, and partners. Devices that request access could include smartphones, computers, servers, and more. Each user or device is given a single digital identity, which is maintained and monitored to ensure the right access policies are applied.

Why is IAM important?

Before the cloud, networks were protected by a firewall which acted like a fortress keep adversaries out and protect the data, applications and systems within it. With the advent of the cloud, hybrid-cloud, and multi-cloud, cybersecurity depends on identity management systems.

IAM is crucial for protecting sensitive data and ensuring business continuity. It plays a key role in managing user access to critical systems, minimizing risks of unauthorized access, and helping companies maintain regulatory compliance.

With cyberattacks evolving and escalating faster than organizations can keep up with, it’s clear that identity is now at the heart of cybersecurity. IAM is a key piece of the cybersecurity puzzle, ensuring access permissions are properly aligned with business needs and limiting exposure to potential breaches.

What are the benefits of IAM?

IAM’s benefits contribute to both security and efficiency within an organization. By centralizing identity management and automating processes, IAM can balance the demands of improving security with optimizing operational workflows and user experience.

Some of the key benefits of implementing IAM include:

Enhanced security: IAM helps mitigate risks by enforcing strong authentication mechanisms and controlling who can access specific resources.
Helps with regulatory compliance: Permissions are managed and audit trails maintained to help organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements and avoid costly penalties both financial and reputationally.
Improved operational efficiency: Automating identity-related tasks, like onboarding and de-provisioning, reduces administrative burdens and the risk of human error.
Better user experience: Features like Single Sign-On (SSO) provide users with seamless access across applications without the need to remember multiple passwords.

How does IAM work?

IAM works by creating and managing digital identities for users, devices, and systems, assigning roles and permissions based on each identity’s requirements. Identities are authenticated using methods like passwords or multi-factor authentication (MFA). Once authenticated, IAM verifies that each identity can get access through authorization protocols while ensuring appropriate levels of access are enforced.

These processes are managed through access control models such as Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) or Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC).

What are the key components of IAM?

A comprehensive IAM system typically includes the following components, which you can read more about in our blog post, “Understanding the 7 A’s of IAM.”

Authentication is about ensuring individuals and systems are who they claim to be before granting them access to resources. It’s the first layer of defense against unauthorized access and plays a critical role in protecting sensitive information.
Access control determines who can access certain resources within an organization. By implementing access controls, organizations can limit exposure to sensitive data and systems, reducing the risk of data breaches.
Authorization specifies what actions an authenticated user is permitted to perform. Authorization relies on predefined policies and roles, ensuring that users can only perform tasks they are authorized for based on their role or the attributes they possess.
Administration and governance (also referred to as simply Governance) involves managing and controlling the lifecycle of digital identities and access policies. This includes creating, updating, and deactivating user accounts, as well as defining and enforcing the rules that govern access to resources.
Attributes are specific pieces of information associated with a user or resource, such as a name, role, or security clearance.
Audit and reporting functions are critical for maintaining transparency and accountability and reducing risk within IAM systems. Auditing involves the systematic review of access and authorization activities to ensure compliance with policies and regulations.
Availability refers to the ability of identity and access management services to remain continuously operational and accessible, even during disruption. Availability is especially important in today’s always-on business environments, where downtime can lead to significant financial, operational, and reputational damage.

Strategies for implementing IAM

Implementing IAM involves several critical steps that go a long way in achieving success and effectiveness. From assessing specific needs to continuously monitoring access, each phase plays an important role in establishing a robust IAM framework.

Here are five key strategies you should take when implementing IAM:

Assess organizational needs: Identify key systems and data requiring protection from cyber threats and establish access levels based on your business requirements.

Choose the right tools: Adopt an IAM platform that integrates with your current IT environment and supports identity federation, SSO, and MFA and is flexible for evolving requirements.

Define policies: Establish and document IAM your policies, to define roles, access controls, and compliance requirements.

Deployment planning: Gradually roll out your new IAM solutions, starting with high-risk or priority systems.

Monitor and audit: Continuously monitor user access, perform regular audits, and make adjustments as necessary.

What is an IAM solution?

An Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution is a system of tools, policies, and processes that helps organizations securely manage and control access to their resources. It makes sure the right people and devices get the right level of access to the right resources at the right time.

Types of IAM solutions and identity services

An identity provider (IDP/IdP) is the most common type IAM solution but there are also several increasingly common identity services that organizations are using in conjunction with IDPs. Below are some of the types of IAM solutions that cater to different scenarios and organizational requirements.

Identity providers (IDP/IdP)

An IDP can be cloud-based, on-premises, or a hybrid of both cloud and on-prem.

On-premise IDP: Sometimes referred to as a legacy solution, on-premises means that your IAM solution is installed and managed at an organization’s data center(s).

Some examples of on-prem IAM solutions include SiteMinder, Ping Identity, Oracle Identity Manager (OAM), and IBM Security Identity Manager.

Cloud-based IDP: Delivered as a service and hosted in the cloud. These are great for scalability because they allow for more flexibility than on-premises solutions. Some examples are Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, and AWS Cognito.

Hybrid IAM solution models: Hybrid IAM combines cloud and on-premise solutions. In reality, this is where the majority of organizations are today, some out of necessity as a result of the challenges of migrating off on-premises; and for others, it’s a strategy to provide the capabilities needed from each solution as well as redundancy for IAM resilience in case of outages.

Identity services

Federated or SSO: A service, like Okta, that grants authenticated end users access to several systems with only one set of credentials.

Privileged Access Management (PAM): PAM solutions, like CyberArk and BeyondTrust, are identity services that control the access of privileged users to critical systems. It helps to secure sensitive data and prevent insider threats.

Customer IAM (CIAM): Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) is a solution designed to securely manage how customers interact with an organization’s applications and services. It focuses on delivering seamless login experiences, personalized interactions, and robust security while ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Popular examples of CIAM solutions are Auth0 (Okta) and ForgeRock (Ping Identity).

Learn more about CIAM

Identity Governance and Administration (IGA): Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) ensures proper management of user identities and access rights across an organization. SailPoint and Saviyent are two IGA solutions that many organizations rely on. They enable identity lifecycle management, role-based access controls, and compliance reporting to enhance security, streamline operations, and meet regulatory requirements.

What are the challenges of IAM?

While the benefits of IAM are clear, implementing it brings about a set of challenges that organizations must address to ensure success. The challenges often relate to the complexity of environments, maintaining least privilege, and delivering a seamless user experience.

Here are some of the common challenges often associated with IAM:

Complexity in multi-cloud environments: Managing identities across different platforms with varying security protocols is a common challenge.

Access creep: Users often accumulate unnecessary permissions over time, which may introduce security risks.

Scalability: Making sure IAM infrastructure can scale with an organization’s growth is critical but can be difficult to maintain.

- User experience: Balancing robust security with a seamless user experience is a universal cybersecurity challenge, and IAM is no different.
- Regulatory compliance requirements: IAM supports regulatory compliance challenges by providing secure access controls, detailed activity logs, and automated processes to ensure adherence to standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2.

Security: IAM can reduce reliance on outdated systems, and automating user provisioning, which minimizes the risk of security gaps and inefficient processes.
Interoperability: By enabling seamless integration across diverse systems and platforms, using standardized protocols like SAML and OAuth IAM ensures consistent and secure access management.

How are authentication and authorization in IAM are different?

How does IAM improve security?

IAM significantly improves security by deploying various controls and mechanisms that protect sensitive data and ensure only authorized individuals have access; these measures help prevent data breaches and provide better visibility into access activities. The benefits below outline some of the main ways IAM enhances security:

Minimizing unauthorized access: Restricting user permissions to the least privilege required for their tasks (Principle of Least Privilege).

Using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Requiring multiple forms of identification reduces the risk of unauthorized logins.

Monitoring and auditing: Keeping track of access attempts allows administrators to identify suspicious activities quickly.

Centralized access control: Ensures a consistent application of security policies across the organization.

What are the future trends in IAM?

IAM is continuously evolving, as it is driven by technological advancements and the need to address emerging security threats. Understanding future trends can help organizations prepare and adapt their IAM strategies accordingly.

Here are some key trends shaping the future of IAM:

Identity Orchestration: Tools to unify and manage identity across various platforms will be increasingly essential, especially for hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Zero trust security: More organizations will adopt a zero trust approach, requiring strict verification for every user, device and app attempting to access network resources.

Decentralized identity: The adoption of blockchain and self-sovereign identity models could shift control over identity data to users themselves.

AI in IAM: Artificial Intelligence will play a role in monitoring user behavior, automating role assignments, and enhancing identity analytics.

IAM predictions for 2025