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Identity and Access Mgmt

Identity and Access Management is a simple topic, with very complicated answers,  It asks two key questions; Who are you, and what can you access?   To describe this in very basic terms, it is the practice of managing users' electronic identities and the methods by which they can access various resources.

 

As these products have matured and grown, they have extended the core platforms and services to offer stronger forms of authentication, authorization based on risk, and more detailed access definitions.  User provisioning based on roles and relationships has become critical, as well as the ability to virtualize identities.

 

Products that perform Identity and Access Management typically function in four areas; directory services, identity administration, access management, and audit.

 

Directory services are the key building blocks for most identity management platforms. The source of the data, the distribution of that data into the directories that require it, and who holds authority for maintaining the data in the directory are all aspects that must be managed carefully.

 

Identity administration can include user and group management, delegated administration, and approval workflows. Not only should it automate the process of forming, deleting or changing a user identity and associated privileges, there may also be a need for a user to delegate certain of their responsibilities to others in an automated fashion.

 

Access management allows IT professionals to control user access to enterprise resources. While identity administration manages the user identity data, access management is the guard at the door that determines which users may access what information.

 

Audit both related administrative and access activities. Organizations require the ability to demonstrate that account administration and access controls are performing according to policy.

 

Be sure to pilot the processes, not just the technology. Many organizations that have begun identity-management efforts say that business-process issues present bigger hurdles than the technology.  Document, document, document.  In the process of giving access to your resources to individuals, there can be no room for things to fall through the cracks.  Not giving someone all the resources they need to do their job is just plain irritating.  Removing an exiting employee from everywhere but (insert critical component here) could be disastrous.

 

Finally, watch out for industry consolidation.  As the security product space compresses and big names buy the little ones to get into the market or expand their portfolio or improve their technology or even blatantly squash competition, the product you buy today from the "other company" could be part of "the big company" before you know it.

 

Other Information about Identity and Access Management

The Dot Net Factory

An automated and centralized identity management platform is the only viable means for delivering consistent service and maintaining control over application security. As the only Identity Lifecycle Management solution built on a platform that incorporate ...

EmpowerID
Wave Systems Corp.

Passwords are weak. Tokens are expensive. Don’t compromise on security or price. Wave Virtual Smart Card does anything your physical smart cards and tokens do, but it starts with hardware you already have: the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a hardware se ...

Wave Virtual Smart Card

The Windows Identity Foundation helps simplify user access for developers by externalizing user access from applications via claims and reducing development effort with pre-built security logic and integrated .NET tools.

Windows Identity Foundation
PistolStar Inc.

PistolStar, Inc. maker of PortalGuard offers an on-premise turnkey user authentication solution-set for companies with external-facing web applications to their employees, contractors, suppliers, and vendors. This all-in-one integrated design includes two ...

PortalGuard

PixelPin is a B2B2C solution which replaces passwords with pictures. Users choose a picture and click on it in 4 places in sequence to sign in. Key benefits of PixelPin's picture password Simple, quick & easy to use across all platforms On mobile d ...

Tools4ever, Inc.

UMRA is a complete User Management System that simplifies Active Directory Management across all your systems. While managing user account and authorization processes in Active Directory and adjacent systems, UMRA also offers delegation of user account ma ...

UMRA
Swivel Secure Ltd

PINsafe from Swivel Secure allows tokenless two factor and strong authentication without the expense and hassle of carrying around tokens maing it suitable for large scale and corporate through to small deployments. Using a simple PIN extraction proc ...

PINsafe
Hitachi ID Systems, Inc.

Bravura Identity is an integrated solution for managing identities, groups and security entitlements across systems and applications. It ensures that users are granted access quickly, that entitlements are appropriate to business need and that access is r ...

Bravura Identity
Hitachi ID Systems, Inc.

Hitachi ID Bravura Privilege secures access to elevated privileges. It eliminates shared and static passwords to privileged accounts. It enforces strong authentication and reliable authorization prior to granting access. User access is logged, creating st ...

Hitachi ID Bravura Privilege
Hitachi ID Systems, Inc.

Hitachi ID Bravura Identity is an integrated solution for managing identities, groups and security entitlements across systems and applications. It ensures that users are granted access quickly, that entitlements are appropriate to business need and that ...

Hitachi ID Bravura Identity
Hitachi ID Systems, Inc.

Hitachi ID Bravura Pass is an integrated solution for managing credentials across systems and applications. It simplifies the management of passwords, tokens, smart cards, security questions and biometrics. Bravura Pass lowers IT support cost and imp ...

Hitachi ID Bravura Pass

Oracle Identity Federation (OIF) is a complete, enterprise-level solution for secure identity information exchange between partners. OIF reduces account management for partner identities and lowers the cost of integrations through support of industry fede ...

Oracle Identity Federation
Oracle

Oracle Access Manager allows users of your applications or IT systems to log in once and gain access to a broad range of IT resources. Oracle Access Manager provides an identity management and access control system that is shared by all your applications. ...

Oracle identity and access management solutions secure access to enterprise applications for both cloud and on-premises deployments. Flexible protection for your workloads Oracle Identity and Access Management solutions provide deployment options to pro ...

Oracle Identity and Access Management

Oracle Unified Directory is an all-in-one directory solution with storage, proxy, synchronization and virtualization capabilities. While unifying the approach, it provides all the services required for high-performance Enterprise and carrier-grade environ ...

Oracle Unified Directory

DirX Access is a comprehensive access management and identity federation solution for protecting Web services and Web applications against unauthorized access. User access is controlled and enforced on the basis of central role-based security policies ...

DirX Directory enables the secure storage of unambiguous digital identities and is designed to handle a potentially very large number of users. Other data, such as the public keys for a public key infrastructure, can also be stored and managed reliably ...

DirX Audit provides a platform for the central collection, normalization, storage, and analysis of audit trails from different audit sources. Auditors can use DirX Audit's web-based user interface to analyze and correlate the audit logs in the central ...

CyberArk Software

Protect, monitor and control privileged access, with on-site deployment. Deploy in your datacenter, private or public cloud, to meet regulatory compliance or organizational needs Confidently migrate to SaaS with the backing of CyberArk’s proven expertis ...

Privileged Access Manager
Core Security

Access Assurance Suite is an intelligent identity and access management (IAM) software solution that enables organizations to deliver informed provisioning, meet ongoing regulatory compliance, and leverage actionable analytics for improved identity govern ...

Access Assurance Suite