Glossary

Identity Access Management (IAM): A Comprehensive Guide for IT Leaders 

Identity and Access Management (IAM) frameworks manage digital identities and access to corporate resources. They enhance security by protecting against unauthorized access and tracking actions taken by authenticated entities.

Key Components of IAM

IAM manages user identities from account creation to deletion. Some of the key functions of an IAM system include the following:

Identification

Identification involves proving the identity of a particular person before creating an account for them. Typically, this is accomplished by presenting government documents (driver’s license, passport, etc.) that demonstrate that someone is who they claim to be. Identification typically occurs during the account provisioning process.

Authentication

Authentication is when a user proves ownership of a particular account. This is accomplished via credentials such as passwords, digital certificates, or biometrics. Authentication occurs every time a user attempts to log into an account.

Authorization

Authorization involves verifying that an authenticated user has the right to perform a particular action. This is accomplished by checking if the permissions and privileges assigned to that user allow the requested action. For example, if a user wishes to open a file, a computer will verify that they have read access to it before opening it.

Auditing and Reporting

Auditing is the third A in the “AAA” of IAM. The auditing process involves logging actions performed on a system. These logs should be monitored to help detect anomalous activity that could indicate a security breach and can be used to support forensic investigation and reporting to regulators.

User Management

User management deals with managing the information necessary to support authentication, authorization, and auditing. User information is typically stored within a centralized repository, such as Microsoft’s Active Directory. This repository includes information about the user’s identity, credentials, and assigned permissions. Credentials support the authentication process, permissions enable authorization, and identity data can be useful for auditing and reporting.

Identity Federation

Identity federation allows authentication data to be shared between multiple parties. This could allow users to sign in once to an organization’s systems and be authenticated to all of its applications or for users of one organization to access systems and applications of a partner organization without needing another set of login credentials. Identity federation involves the user authenticating to an identity provider (IdP) that attests to their identity to other systems. Protocols such as SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect are commonly used to implement identity federation.

Key Features and Capabilities

IAM systems can offer various features to enhance usability and security. Some key features that all IAM solutions should support include the following:

  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA requires a user to authenticate with two or more types of authentication factors. This makes it more difficult for an attacker to take over the account since they need to guess or steal multiple types of authentication factors.
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): RBAC defines roles and assigns permissions to those roles, which can then be assigned to employees. This is a more scalable and flexible form of access control since updating the permissions assigned to the role updates them for all employees assigned to that role.
  • Single Sign-On (SSO): SSO uses identity federation to allow a user to authenticate once and gain access to multiple applications and systems. This both improves the user experience and enhances security since it reduces the risk of weak passwords and password reuse.
  • Automated Provisioning and Deprovisioning: Provisioning and deprovisioning are when accounts are created and deleted. Automating this makes it more efficient and reduces the risk of errors.

Benefits of Implementing IAM

IAM provides various benefits to an organization and its users. Some of the most significant include the following:

Enhanced Security

Implementing IAM improves security by allowing an organization to control access to its IT resources. This helps to protect against data breaches, malware infections, and other potential threats to the business.

Improved Compliance

Data privacy laws mandate that an organization control access to sensitive customer data in its care. Implementing IAM is vital to this since it enables the organization to ensure that only legitimate users can access this protected data.

Increased Productivity

Implementing a centralized IAM system enables security teams to more easily provision, manage, and deprovision user accounts. This increases the productivity of the security team, especially when common IAM tasks are automated.

Cost Reduction

IAM decreases the risk of security incidents and can increase the productivity of security personnel. This enables the risk of significant financial losses and enables the company to reduce operational expenditures.

Better User Experience

IAM capabilities like federation and SSO reduce the number of passwords users need to remember and the number of times that they need to sign into an account. By doing so, they improve usability and employee productivity.

IAM Implementation Strategies

While most organizations perform identity management in some way, transitioning to a more formal IAM system can be a beneficial but complex process. To do so, take the following steps:

Assess Current Identity Management Practices

Without a centralized IAM process, an organization may be using a variety of platform-specific solutions or relying on built-in authentication capabilities within each application. Mapping out current practices helps to scope the IAM practice and identify the systems that need to be integrated.

Define IAM Objectives and Requirements

An organization may choose to implement IAM for various reasons, such as improving security, consolidating identity across platforms, strengthening regulatory compliance, or enhancing the user experience with SSO. Defining the goals of the IAM implementation helps to specify requirements for the IAM solution the company will implement.

Choose the Right IAM Solution

Organizations have various options when selecting an IAM solution, including deployment type (on-prem, cloud, or hybrid), built-in or third-party solutions, and more. When choosing a solution, it’s important to consider the organization’s existing identity management practices and the goals for the program to ensure that a particular solution can meet those goals. For example, zero trust network access (ZTNA) is worth considering if an organization plans to pursue a zero trust security architecture.

Define Access Policies

IAM is designed to control access to corporate resources and needs policies that define the rules for that access. RBAC is a solid choice for implementing access controls due to its scalability and compatibility with the zero trust security model. Defining least privilege access controls for a role ensures that users assigned that role will only have the necessary level of access.

Manage Privileged Accounts

Privileged account management (PAM) is a critical component of an IAM practice. These accounts should be configured with strong authentication and ongoing monitoring. Additionally, users with privileged access should receive additional training and be instructed to only use these accounts when necessary for a particular task.

Plan the Deployment

IAM manages access to corporate resources, so an issue during deployment can have significant impacts on corporate productivity and the user experience. Ideally, the deployment should be tested in a realistic environment first, then rolled out in stages to production systems. This aids in minimizing the potential impact of any issues on the organization.

Train Users and Administrators 

Transitioning to IAM requires training for both users — who need to understand how to use the new system — and administrators — who need to operate it. Administrator training needs to be more in-depth, providing information on how the system works, change management processes, and how to perform ongoing maintenance on user accounts.

Monitor and Optimize

IAM is central to a corporate security infrastructure, and IAM solutions should be continually monitored to identify potentially compromised accounts. This monitoring should also look for signs of potential issues with accounts and privileges, such as excessive permissions, idle accounts, or accounts that were not removed upon an employee’s departure.

Common IAM Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Implementing IAM can have significant benefits for an organization, but it can also have its challenges. Some of the most common challenges that companies face when implementing IAM include the following:

User Adoption Resistance

An organization may face resistance to IAM deployment due to its potential to disrupt employees’ existing workflows and existing automated processes. Security teams can overcome this by educating employees on the potential benefits of IAM (such as SSO) and providing training and support to those who might be impacted by the change.

Legacy System Integration

While many existing systems are designed to be managed by centralized IAM, the same may not be true for legacy systems. A security team may need to implement workarounds for this or take the opportunity to update outdated systems with a more modern and secure replacement.

Scalability Issues

Centralized IAM manages access to all of an organization’s applications and systems, which can produce a large volume of traffic and have far-reaching impacts if solutions don’t scale. Selecting a solution designed for scalability — such as a cloud-native platform — reduces the potential scalability risks of IAM.

Balancing Security and Usability

Implementing strong authentication measures can enhance security at the cost of a positive user experience. One option is to implement adaptive or step-up authentication, which requires a lower, baseline level of authentication for low-risk tasks and requires additional authentication steps before performing higher-risk actions.

Strong IAM is crucial to strong security, and the field is evolving as new technologies and techniques are used to improve access management. These are some of the most significant trends in IAM emerging today.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in IAM

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) have numerous potential applications in IAM. One of the most significant is to perform behavioral monitoring and anomaly detection to identify user activity or login attempts that are likely to indicate a compromised account.

Passwordless Authentication

Passwords are a weak form of authentication. Passwordless authentication systems use credentials other than passwords for user authentication, such as digital certificates stored on a smartcard or biometric authentication.

Decentralized Identity

Decentralized identity management implements identity management on a blockchain system. This eliminates centralized control over identity management infrastructure, which has potential benefits for security, availability, and censorship resistance.

Zero Trust Architecture

The zero trust security model mandates explicit authentication of every request for access to corporate resources based on least privilege access controls. IAM is critical to this since it provides the user authentication and authorization checks used to validate that a request is legitimate.

Adaptive Authentication

Adaptive or step-up authentication are known to base authentication requirements on the risk associated with a user’s request. Under normal circumstances, a user might only be required to enter a password to authenticate to the system. However, riskier activities — such as a login attempt from an unusual location or requests to access a critical resource — may require additional authentication actions, such as MFA.

IAM Approaches: On-Premises vs. Cloud-Based vs. Hybrid

IAM can be implemented in various ways using several solutions. In general, IAM deployments can be classified as on-prem, cloud-based, or hybrid.

On-Premises IAM

On-prem IAM installs IAM software on an organization’s own dedicated servers. This approach to IAM provides the organization with complete control over its IAM infrastructure, which can provide improved security and compliance. However, it can be more expensive and less scalable than other alternatives. Microsoft Active Directory is an example of an on-prem IAM solution.

Cloud-Based IAM

Cloud-based IAM solutions host IAM functionality in cloud infrastructure, potentially accessed via a service-based model. This approach to IAM is more scalable and cost-effective than on-prem offerings and can provide access to more up-to-date solutions. However, it also requires the organization to rely on a third-party provider for its IAM service. Okta, Entra ID, and Google Cloud IAM are examples of cloud IAM solutions.

Hybrid IAM Solutions

Hybrid IAM solutions combine on-prem and cloud-based IAM solutions into a single IAM deployment. This approach is well-suited to organizations with both on-prem and cloud deployments and those looking to move to the cloud. It also offers many of the benefits of both approaches since organizations can choose where certain functions are implemented. 

IAM in the Context of Broader Cybersecurity Strategy

IAM is important to security, but it’s also only one piece in a broader corporate cybersecurity strategy. Some key ways that IAM can be integrated with other elements of an organization’s security infrastructure include the following:

Integration with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

A security information and event management (SIEM) solution aggregates and analyzes security data from multiple sources within the enterprise. Integration with IAM can help map a user’s activities across multiple data sources and more accurately identify potential malicious activities and compromised accounts.

Role in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions are designed to prevent sensitive data from being shared with unauthorized users. IAM solutions play a role in verifying that sensitive data is being sent to someone with the right to access it.

Synergy with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Access to IAM data can enhance the speed and effectiveness of threat detection and response. With information about user activity, EDR solutions can more effectively detect suspicious activities and investigate a potential intrusion. Additionally, IAM and EDR integration can enable EDR solutions to lock user accounts that have been compromised by an attacker.

Measuring IAM Effectiveness and ROI

When considering an IAM investment or defending the choice after the fact, security teams need an effective way of measuring whether the solution did its job and brought value to the organization. Doing so requires defining all of the potential benefits of the solution and identifying potential room for improvement.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for IAM

When defining KPIs for IAM, organizations should consider the various roles that these services fill. Some examples include:

  • Compliance: Track KPIs related to whether IAM implements required controls or the percent of access requests that were managed in accordance with these requirements.
  • Security: Track whether accounts have implemented security best practices (MFA, strong credentials, etc.) and whether access is appropriately controlled based on the principle of least privilege.
  • Operational: Measure average latency in access requests due to IAM and how frequently account reviews are performed.
  • Zero Trust: Assess how well an organization’s existing IAM deployment maps to zero trust goals.

Calculating Return on Investment

IAM can provide various benefits to the organization, including preventing security incidents and improving the productivity of the security team and of the organization as a whole. To measure IAM ROI, organizations should assess the expected cost of potential security incidents identified and blocked due to the system, the time and resource expenditure saved by centralized and automated identity management, and the time saved by implementing SSO and reducing employee login attempts.

Continuous Improvement Strategies

IAM systems need to be continually monitored and updated to keep up with changing employee roles and the evolution of the corporate IT environment. However, the organization can also implement continuous improvement programs for IAM. For example, an organization may make a zero trust implementation a long-term IAM goal, working toward it by implementing the centralized system and tuning access controls to better implement least privilege access management.

Privacy and Ethical Considerations in IAM

IAM is essential for managing and monitoring access to corporate resources; however, it can be invasive and involves monitoring user activity. These are some key ethical and privacy considerations related to the use of IAM:

Biometric Data Concerns

Biometrics are the most secure authentication option because they use attributes unique to the user to identify them. However, this requires organizations to collect and store highly personal data, which could potentially be abused or exposed in a breach.

User Monitoring and Privacy

IAM is designed to monitor the use of corporate systems to prevent unauthorized access to corporate resources. However, many companies also have acceptable use or bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies that mix personal and professional activities on the same device. This can have privacy implications if a company accidentally monitors personal activities as part of its IAM practice.

Compliance with Data Protection Regulations

IAM is essential to compliance with data protection regulations since organizations should control access to protected data. At the same time, many of these laws also have privacy components that IAM might accidentally run afoul of. IAM strategies should be carefully designed to ensure full compliance with applicable regulations.

The Future of Identity Access Management

Without the ability to differentiate between real users and attackers and legitimate and malicious access requests, an organization can’t effectively protect its systems against potential threats. Implementing a formal IAM system can enhance an organization’s security, efficiency, and user experience. However, an IAM framework must be carefully designed and implemented using solutions that fit the organization’s needs.
Caso SASE Cloud offers IAM capabilities as part of a converged, cloud-native security solution. Learn more about how SASE can simplify and strengthen IAM across an organization’s entire IT environment.