An introduction to IAM for the IoT

Security administrators have traditionally been concerned with managing the identities of people and controlling access to systems that interact with their technology infrastructure. The concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), for example, can allow authorized individuals to associate mobile phones or laptops with their corporate account to receive network services on their personal devices. The allowed network services may be given once minimal security assurances are deemed to have been satisfied on the device. This may include using strong passwords for account access, application of virus scanners, or even mandating partial or full disk encryption to help with data loss prevention.

The IoT introduces a much richer connectivity environment than BYOD. Many more IoT devices are expected to be deployed throughout an organization than the usual one or two mobile phones or laptops for each employee. IAM infrastructures must be designed to scale to the number...