The importance of identity and access management (IAM)

When it comes to IAM, authentication and authorization are crucial. Authentication is the phase where an interface establishes your identity and/or the validity of your account. Authorization is the phase where you receive or grant privileges on that account.

When you’re accessing a third-party service on a customer’s behalf, there’s often a process where they sign in to the service with their credentials. However, your customers never share these credentials with you and grant your software limited authorization to access the service on your behalf.

The most ubiquitous example of this is the Login with... buttons you see on many apps and sites, allowing you to sign in to a website using Google, Facebook, Amazon, or another major player with a lot of customer accounts.

Let’s say the app has previously been registered with Google. It sends you to Google with a code identifying the app and some...