IAM or Identity and Access Management is an enterprise system that determines and assigns roles and access privileges of people on the network. The IAM tool creates roles and determines what resources the roles have the access to and then the assignment of the roles is managed. It also makes user that user can only access the resources they have been assigned with and approved to use. This is applicable to both customer identity management and employee identity management. The gist is to make sure that every user is assigned a single digital identity and each of them is assigned the roles being applicable to them and the access every roles permit them to.
Every user has a digital identity or the login credentials. Then this identity is assigned to the roles which give them access to data and application they need. IAM can also be termed identity management or rights management and is liable for processing user requests for accessing the resources.
IAM systems also review the roles and access permissions to make sure all users gain access to what they require. It determines permissions and is also liable for revoking rights when the users transfer to different roles within the company or leave the business altogether. Access management is aligned to the security principle of least authority. This is more like working on a need to know basis where the users have access to info and resources they need to perform their job. This security baseline can be chaotic at times but is the ideal way to offer optimal security for the complete network.
Nowadays, it is important to maintain a secure network for every company as data breaches are a common thing. Breaches expose the companies to risks that can cause them financial penalties apart from the damage to the company image.
Benefits of Identity and Access Management
The execution of IAM systems and the best practices lets you expand your network to employees and users without exposing the network to the risky matters. This increases efficiency and reduce operating costs by letting the company to use a single network for internal operations and client related tasks.
Identity management lets the access to be extended for on the job applications and mobile apps and SaaS tools with no kind of negativity affecting network security. Well managed identities offer administrators with more control over the user activities and permissions. This significantly reduces the internal and external breaches. Internal breaches are common, but one fourth of them are caused accidently. IAM makes sure that the company networks stay secure and compliant with regulations.
