{"id":6962,"date":"2022-05-17T23:48:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T06:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strata.io\/?p=6962"},"modified":"2023-09-28T22:00:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T05:00:02","slug":"idql-hexa-new-identity-standard-policy-orchestration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strata.io\/blog\/governance-standards\/idql-hexa-new-identity-standard-policy-orchestration\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing IDQL & Hexa: a new identity standard for Policy Orchestration"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6987″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]What\u2019s especially valuable about IDQL\/Hexa is it coordinates consistent policy across cloud platforms and the tech stack. This open-sourced, vendor-neutral approach is needed to expedite adoption across vendors, developers, and business users alike.<\/i><\/strong>
\n<\/i>– Jack Poller, Senior Analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG)<\/p>\n


\nCloud computing <\/span>offers many benefits<\/span> \u2014 agility, scalability, efficiency, and speed to name a few. Yet, it also creates big challenges for security and the administration of identity and access policies, especially with the rise of multi-cloud. Recent research reveals that the majority of organizations have at least three clouds and expect to <\/span>use four or more by the end of 2022<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each cloud platform that your enterprise adopts has its own proprietary set of policies.\u00a0<\/span>Then, looking up and down your stack, each layer \u2014 application, identity, data, and network \u2014 has its own version of the policies. So, there’s a multiplying effect with all of the different combinations making it hard to understand which policies are even in place and almost impossible to manage them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When we talked to our customers as well as IT leaders and decision-makers about this topic, we heard a common refrain: \u201cWe want to have a common policy set that is independent of the target systems,\u201d and \u201cthere isn\u2019t a common way to express policy across all the systems we manage, and that is a huge gap that should be addressed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where IDQL and Hexa come in and what I\u2019m thrilled to be able to introduce to the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is IDQL \/Hexa?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

IDQL and Hexa are two sides of the same coin, each contributing their part to a Policy Orchestration solution.\u00a0<\/span>IDQL, or Identity Query Language, is the declarative, standardized policy language format that can be translated into a target system’s proprietary or bespoke access policy format.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Hexa is the open source reference implementation of the IDQL policy standard. Anyone can download and utilize the currently available connectors in the Hexa GitHub <\/a><\/span>repo<\/span>, or they can develop connectors for additional environments to expand the reach of Hexa.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do IDQL and Hexa work?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Hexa is the open source project that makes IDQL operational <\/span>in the real world by connecting to target systems and performing the three main functions of Discovery, Translation, and Orchestration. Together, IDQL and Hexa perform:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Policy discovery<\/b><\/p>\n