In the era of digitization, companies often operate, store or move their information with the help of IT. However, IT is still more vulnerable and at risk than previously thought. In particular, information and data kept in cloud systems should be protected by the measures taken by companies. These measures can be physical and sometimes systemic.
To achieve high security, companies prefer some security approaches. According to a survey in 2022, when asked how they were utilizing Identity and Access Management (IAM) capabilities and tools for the cloud, more than half of respondents indicated synchronizing in-house directories to public cloud directory services.
There are some practices that should be widely implemented for large and small businesses to manage authorization, authentication, and seamless monitoring of users on a large scale. Network Access Control best practices are of great benefit, especially for the control and management of devices and individuals who request access to the corporate network. In this article, we have given detailed information about what is Identity Management and Access Control and what are its beneficial practices.
What is Identity and Access Management?
Identity and access management (IAM) is a framework of policies and procedures created to manage digital identities and provide secure authentication for a business’s digital assets. It controls the entire lifecycle of user identities and entitlements across all enterprise resources, including cloud-based services and on-premises data centers. IAM software is used by enterprise IT departments to safely manage users’ access privileges and applications across on-premises and cloud-based systems.
The IAM framework is implemented using identity and access management software that usually comes with features such as single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and privileged access management (PAM). This centralizes identity management, controls access to digital assets, detects anomalies in user behavior, and informs IT and security teams about potential risks.
In order to protect user identities for workers, partners, and remote users, businesses can implement IAM systems on-premises or with cloud-based IAM. IAM solutions provide tools to manage users’ digital identities and ensure appropriate access to company resources. Administrators can utilize the solutions to keep an eye on user behavior, produce reports based on it, and implement rules to ensure compliance.
Identity and Access Management Best Practices
Businesses today do not compromise on providing a variety of applications and detailed user categorization by creating important access points and connection sets. The following best practices can be adopted to implement and use IAM programs effectively.
Adopt a Zero Trust policy
Zero Trust is a gold standard access management solution that users should not be trusted with and that they should constantly put up with security measures, even after verifying their identity. Continuous authentication should be provided when using on-premises and SaaS applications.
Every user is viewed as a suspect until access credentials are provided in the Zero Trust approach. There are no exclusions, not even for users with administrator privileges. The “principle of least privilege” ensures that users over the network only access the resources required by their role.
Get cloud-based applications
For on-premises data systems to be secure against cyberattacks, substantial efforts and funding are needed. For improved security and fewer maintenance costs, you might want to think about switching from traditional systems to cloud-based service providers.
By offering cloud-based applications, patch management tools, segmentation, encryption, and secure access control tools, it aids enterprises in enhancing their security posture.
Make Multi-Factor Authentication your standard
One of the basic pillars of secure IAM is the authentication procedure. Generally speaking, you shouldn’t rely entirely on passwords to protect your data. Instead, an excellent approach is to incorporate a type of multi-factor authentication into user access portals.
Before allowing access, MFA includes requesting one or more extra credentials. These credentials may be biometric data, codes delivered by SMS or email, or even social network account authentication. Third-party multi- or two-factor authentication providers can be readily connected with access control solutions, adding an extra degree of security.
Remove malicious accounts from your network
IT departments must constantly monitor user accounts and be extremely careful about malicious accounts. The actual users of their malicious accounts have likely moved to a different team or left the company, but their accounts are still active with designated access privileges.
These accounts are great entry points for malicious hackers to breach a business’s network. IT departments should monitor these accounts and deprovision them when they are no longer needed. IAM solutions help administrators take care of such accounts and ensure data security.
Conclusion
IAM is an excellent tool for businesses to map which end users have access to which IT system resources or applications. Businesses use centralized access management policies to successfully restore access control management while meeting IT security requirements. Working with IAM enables any business to securely manage its overall access control policy. Systems for managing user identities and access rights are known as identity and access management systems. When implemented with IAM, IT improves security and lowers risks from internal threats and hackers.
In conclusion, identity and access management lower the overall cost of security requirements while assisting businesses in increasing cooperation, productivity, and efficiency. These solutions don’t assume that once users log in, they will always have access. It enables companies to continuously monitor and secure access points and identities.
