Identity Access Management (IAM) essentially refers to managing a user’s digital identity and the level of access granted to them over tools, applications and data within a business system. Access is usually granted using employee IDs, email addresses, facial recognition and other means of identification.
IAM is deployed by organizations worldwide to protect sensitive data on both external and internal fronts.
Let’s talk of a more mundane example. IAM works exactly like a membership card for an airline. You could purchase an airplane ticket to fly, but it would not give you exclusive access to VIP lounges and other airport amenities unless you are a premium member.
Organizations, more or less, deploy the same policy over access to data. However, not every employee has access to all data for security reasons. An IAM policy would ensure that an organization implements a system of security and solution to reserve access to members it only approves. IAM technology has been evolving for decades. Modern IAM platforms can manage access across the enterprise including on-premise and cloud applications and services.
Why are companies fast adapting to the IAM architecture?
The benefits are simple:
- It allots every particular user with a unique identification denoted by the IT department
- Diminishes expenses related to the management of identity
- Offers secure access to the company’s credible resources and data
- Provides the IT department with an option to track activity to maintain data security
- In the longer run, it helps in cooperation with auditory bodes, compliance and security regulations
How do companies implement IAM?
Strategy
The initial step should be an assessment of your current environment and related pain points. Based on this an IAM strategy and roadmap should be developed for your organization.. The strategy would be based on the goals that an organization is trying to achieve with IAM. In most cases, compliance, improving security, and gaining better visibility of the access that users have will be an ideal foundation for the strategy to start with. It’s important to know your company’s requirements, dependencies, and limits. It would be important to draw forecasts on successful implementation and how it would ultimately benefit the organization. Finally, it is also required to controls to validate that that IAM policies are consistently followed throughout the organization.
Defining an IAM policy
The next steps is to develop the policies which will be implemented in the IAM system. These polices should include a variety of details such as: How will new hires be processed and what access with they be given? What birthright access should users have and what will this access be based on. Similarly, what should happen when people move between jobs and who should terminations be processed. There are also other items such as approval workflows, separation of duties rules, etc. Depending on the current corporate landscape, a successful IAM deployment can be transformative in how a company manages its identities. Organizations operating on a stringent budget would need to reevaluate the cost-benefit factor when implementing. Any IAM policy must not increase a company’s overheard by a large margin.
Audit
Many companies today spend weeks to months every quarter in reviewing access across application to compile the data needed for auditors. During this data collection process, compliance teams work with the business to review each user’s access and where corrections are needed, they need to be addressed in a timely manner. This process can be disruptive to each person’s primary job. Once IAM has been implemented, it provides a foundation to greatly simplify audits. The IAM system can automate the data collection from each of the applications and then provide the reviewers with an easy to use interface for reviews. Where access is not approved, the system can automatically revoke that access. Reports can be generated to provide auditors with visibility into when access was granted, why, and the reason why a user may no longer need it.
Tracking progress
After a structure is introduced and implemented successfully, it is time to measure progress. It requires careful observation, analysis and internal audits to review the system’s performance against the established data security and access objectives.
OpenIAM’s robust Internal Access Management framework
Based in New York, the self-funded OpenIAM was established in 2008 to simplify how identity access management solutions can be implemented. OpenIAM pioneered what Gartner calls “converged architecture” for identity and access management. OpenIAM also introduced the first fully containerized stack that could function in a cloud-native setting. Identity Governance, Web Access Management, Multi-Factor Authentication, and Privileged Identity are all components of the OpenIAM stack, which offers a unified solution to customers.
The public sector, financial services, healthcare, education, telecommunications, and manufacturing are just some industries that currently use OpenIAM at the enterprise level. Partners like Indra (Global), Thales (Global), and TUV Rheinland (Germany) are integral to OpenIAM’s success.
OpenIAM has a world-class, distributed product engineering team of experts with advanced degrees who work together to develop ground-breaking new products. While OpenIAM always executes towards its product roadmap, it also takes an agile approach when work with strategic relationship to accelerate the development of features which may be needed. This approach has helped to develop true partnerships with model clients and partners and resulting new features been introduced that set it apart from the competition.
OpenIAM’s stacks are globally used in healthcare, human resource management, recruitment and other industries for more optimized data security and access management and onboarding and offboarding processes.
