Identity, Access Management, and Federation

One of the most crucial things to control to keep an IT system safe is who has access to it. Without strict controls on who can access a system, all other security measures are almost useless. If just anyone can access your data, nothing is secure. At the same time, for IT systems to be effective, people and other agents, such as apps, need to be able to efficiently access the data needed to fulfill their functions. Striking the balance between the security of data and the availability of data is the core of identity and access management.

Controlling access means having barriers that keep the bad agents out and the good agents in, both for physical and digital systems. Controlling identity means being confidently able to tell the two apart. Once people have gained access to systems, they should be able to efficiently access the right data and systems. Because people (and other agents) might have to access more than one system, often,...