It’s an important aspect of your digital defenses from theft, sabotage and human error. However, not much is known to the wider public about the effectiveness of robust identity access management. In this article, we will take a closer look at this useful tool.
Why Is There a Need for Identity Access Management?
Employees, management, external contractors... not every user on an organization’s network is the same, both in terms of responsibilities and the trust afforded to them. This is the crux of the sophisticated concept of identity access management, also called IAM or IdM.
For security reasons, every user who logs onto the system needs to verify their identity – be they in-house workers, remote employees or external collaborators. Sophisticated verification tools allow the system to ask for credentials, including one or more ways to prove they are who they claim to be, before they verify these and grant access. IAM means holistic oversight of these roles, user accounts and settings, granting you full control of who can do what and how – or even when.
Why Use Multi-Factor Authentication for IAM?
Multi-factor authentication is among the best practices in the field, as each user is expected to prove they are who they claim to be in more than one way, by providing something they know (e.g. a password), something they have (e.g. a token generator), and something they are (e.g. their fingerprint).
This strategy prevents bad actors from logging on with stolen information, as they are unlikely to have acquired more than one of the above. Thus, only authorized users can log on to the system, which is kept safe from intruders and prying eyes.
What is Privileged Identity Management?
Privileged identity management and design looks at the needs of a company or other type of organization and creates roles for the users of its systems. For example, a lower-level employee needs to be able to access certain sets of data and certain applications on the organization’s system. He is given access to those, and nothing more.
Similarly, IT administrators need highly privileged access to be able to monitor the system, generate reports and adjust any settings. Therefore, their privileges are elevated.
What is the Zero Trust Model?
Zero trust architecture is similar to sharing confidential information on a need-to-know basis. A zero trust model does not trust any user or device attached to the network by default, even if they were previously verified or are connecting from a known location. Instead, it calls call for mutual authentication each time, adding one more layer of security to your systems.
Accutech’s proven experience and expertise in IAM can help your organization function more safely and more efficiently. Give us a call or send us an email today.
