Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solutions help organizations efficiently manage digital identities and access rights across diverse systems.
They improve visibility, segregation of duties, role management, attestation, analytics, and reporting.
These capabilities are essential for identity security and help businesses strengthen their security posture, streamline operations and meet compliance requirements.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security to online access. It requires two or more factors of verification, usually a one-time password or biometric factor such as a fingerprint.
This helps keep the user’s data safe from hackers and phishing attacks. MFA also offers peace of mind to users and their customers.
MFA is simple to implement, and many operating systems, web platforms, and service providers have incorporated it into their security settings for single users or small businesses. It doesn’t require complex password resets and can be easily integrated with a broad range of applications, freeing IT teams to focus on more strategic tasks.
Authentication based on usernames and passwords could be more reliable, and users need help remembering them. MFA is a great solution to address this problem.
Risk-based access control (RBAC)
The proper identity governance and administration vendor can help organizations streamline reviewing and approving user access to various apps and resources. This can make access certification easier, more consistent, and more auditable while helping to minimize risk and reduce costs for compliance regulations like HIPAA and SOX.
Many identity governance and administration vendors offer risk-based access control solutions, but these are not all created equal. For example, some vendors may not provide risk-based authentication capabilities, whereas others might not require users to verify their identity with additional factors (such as biometrics).
With Risk-Based Authentication, access to sensitive data is dynamically permitted or denied according to an organization’s estimated security risk. This helps to prevent account takeovers and frustrate attackers.
In addition to risk-based authorization, many solutions also offer real-time threat detection. These tools use session characteristics and device behavior monitoring to detect anomalous activities that could indicate a security breach.
With risk-based access control, organizations can easily prevent account takeovers without causing user friction or frustration. They can also protect the most sensitive information and keep privileged accounts out of the hands of hackers.
Single sign-on (SSO)
SSO allows users to use a single username and password to access multiple applications. This makes it easier for IT to manage user access and reduces the chances of security breaches because it eliminates the need for re-using passwords.
Organizations must first set up an identity management system or a database of identities to implement SSO. Once that’s in place, an SSO provider can match users’ login credentials and identity information.
Once the SSO service has verified that a user’s credentials match their identity, it issues an authentication token to the user and returns it to the application. Authentication tokens are written in a language called Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and use communication standards to ensure they’re valid.
SSO is a great way to simplify and streamline user logins but it has some downsides. One of these is that troubleshooting and resolving authentication errors can be difficult. Another is that the service may not work with some applications because of software issues or changes in the environment.
Delegated administration
Delegated administration is a core tenet of modern Identity and Access Management (IAM). This ability allows organizations to reassign control of identity management processes, such as access requests and password resets and even enables employees to request and manage account credentials for external contractors or consultants directly to non-IT users.
This approach to decentralized role management reduces the burden on a central IT team and improves security. It also helps business owners understand who has access to specific resources, empowering them to make informed decisions about who should have access and how to receive it.
For example, agencies working with government contractors may add or remove staff frequently, which traditionally puts the responsibility of onboarding and offboarding new members on the central IT team. With delegated administration, these tasks can be distributed to the contractor’s staff, who are better suited to take on this responsibility.
Modern delegated administration tools facilitate this self-service functionality and B2B IAM model, delivering a robust user experience that aligns with the rest of the organization’s internal systems. Ultimately, this enables business owners to perform basic IT tasks in a secure and guided fashion, increasing efficiency and improving productivity.
APIs
APIs are the software intermediaries that allow applications to communicate with each other. They’re critical to modern businesses because they offer easy ways to add new data and functionality.
Using APIs to share data within your company can help streamline workflows and automate processes, reducing costs and improving productivity. They can also enhance your customer experience by providing a faster way to publish updates and new content across all platforms.
In addition, APIs help protect sensitive information. They provide explicit authentication, limiting the amount of data shared with other applications that don’t have permission to access it.
An API must be able to handle the scalability and performance demands of an application. Moreover, the call structure and response must be simple and consistent.
As with any software, an API must be developed and tested throughout its lifecycle. Specifically, it should be designed for reliability and scalability and include security features that protect data from unauthorized access or alteration.
