Employees need to access their organization’s resources, such as data, files, and applications. The traditional way was to have most workers work on-site. This is where business resources were kept securely behind a firewall. Employees could access the things they need once on-site and logged in.
Currently, hybrid work is more common. And workers need reliable and secure access to organization resources whether they are working remotely or on-site. This is where an identity and access management system comes in. The information technology department needs a better way to control what users can’t and can access. This means that sensitive information and functions are restricted to specific individuals.
Identity and access management also ensures the security of organization resources. Also, Government agencies can use it in criminal investigations. You can read more here.
How it Functions
Two parts exist to grant secure access to a company’s resources. They include:
- Identity management: Checks a login attempt against a database of identity management. This is a continuous record of everyone with access. As people join or leave, the organization must update this information constantly. Roles and projects change, and the scope of the organization changes. Multifactor authentication increases levels of security. It requires users to verify their identities.
- Access management: An identity and access management system verifies a person or thing attempting to access a certain resource. Once the resource matches their identity, access management helps keep track of resources the thing or person has permission to. Many organizations grand different access levels to resources and information. Factors like project, security clearance, tenure, and job title determine these levels.
The primary goal of an identity and access management system is to ensure authentication and authorization occur securely and correctly at every access attempt.
Why an Identity and Access Management System is Important
An identity and access management system is a vital tool for safeguarding organization resources against cybersecurity threats. It ensures consistency of user access policies and rules across the business.
Also, it ensures entitlement to organization resources is correctly and accurately applied as employees change roles within the business. Without monitoring access activities and resources, businesses become vulnerable to data breaches and compromised users.
It’s a vital tool for cloud environments to help businesses manage access consistency between different cloud services and in-site data centers. Businesses need an identity and access management system to allow for greater visibility into their users and activities.
From national identity registry and voter management to refugee registration and border control, an identity and access management system has many applications. All these applications show the importance of biometrics in criminal investigation, security of organizations and their workers and resources.
