Top Identity and Access Management Tools (IAM)

Even with a strict password policy, that isn’t enough to safeguard your cloud assets or source code. Well-designed policies and a robust security culture cannot overcome the fallibility of human beings. Ninety-five percent or more of all security flaws originated from human error. If you want to reduce the likelihood of mistakes being made, how do you do it?

It is knowing the advantages and disadvantages of Identity and Access Management tools and using appropriate tools to address the weaknesses.

What is Identity and Access Management?

Who has access to what data in an organization’s network is managed by identity and access management (IAM), a collection of policies, tools, and applications? In the context of DevSecOps, this means access to things like code registries, CI/CD pipelines, internal and external blogging, PaaS, internal networks, log, and even Slack. You and your company need to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to all your resources.

A primary goal of identity and access management solutions is to control who can access sensitive information by monitoring their credentials. Once credentials are lost, stolen, or shared, you lose control over who has access to what. Only authorized individuals should be able to access sensitive information, and your identity and access management solution strategy and execution should give you that peace of mind. To accomplish this, you’ll need the proper equipment.

How are Identity and Access Management Tools Useful?

To better control who has access to what, Identity and Access Management (IAM) software was developed (authentication and authorization). Identity and access management tools are designed to simplify administering user accounts and permissions.

An identity and access management solution will typically have policy definition capabilities. According to this policy, different users will have other responsibilities. The permissions for each defined role will be determined. This authorization grants access to a granular set of resources.

Solutions for identity and access management typically consist of the following essential components:

• Information about who has access to what is stored in a database.
• Software for managing user permissions, such as creating, reviewing, and removing profiles.
• Logging and reporting for auditing and access logs

Some IAM systems, such as AWS IAM, are very complex and necessitate the assistance of security professionals in defining and maintaining the policies. Some plans are complicated, while others have user-friendly interfaces allowing even non-technical people to create approaches. It’s important to remember that this simple installation could be a security risk if the guidelines aren’t well thought out.

Removing access from an individual should be as simple as adding it with a good IAM tool. The security and efficiency of your business depend on having a simple process for revoking access when an employee leaves.

Tips for Choosing Top Identity and Access Management Tools

A good identity and access management tool should address the following three concerns:

The question is: who can enter? Verification is required for all accounts before access is granted.
Whose account needs entry to what resources? It must correctly assign roles and privileges to each user account and grant only the necessary rights.
What are they doing with all that info? Once users have been granted access, they must be monitored to detect any malicious activity or issues with resource access.

The Best Identity and Access Management Tools

Microsoft Azure Active Directory

Due to Microsoft’s entry into the IDaaS (Identity as a Service) market in 2014, Azure Active Directory was born. Because Microsoft develops it, this identity and access management tool works exceptionally well with Windows Server Active Directory. It is, therefore, ideal for use with Microsoft operating systems and servers.

Fundamental Characteristics:

• Hosted in the “cloud.”
• compatible with Microsoft’s cloud-based services
• Controls a sizable client base

Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory is a complete identity and access management (IAM) cloud solution. Thousands of user accounts’ permissions can be easily managed. In addition, a single authorization credential can be used to grant access to and launch cloud apps for all employees of an organization, regardless of the operating system they use at the time.

SolarWinds ARM. – Access Rights Manager

SolarWinds Access Rights Manager is a first-rate IAM solution in every respect. In addition to facilitating the management of access permissions, the features of this package include the classification of sensitive resources, the auditing of resource access, and the detection of potentially compromised accounts. It’s an access rights management system and a data loss prevention and compliance auditing tool.

The Access Rights Manager’s primary purpose is to provide administrators with more fine-grained management of user credentials than is available through Active Directory’s default user interface. While the Access Rights Manager can’t make Active Directory do more than its interface will allow, it can go above and beyond A.D.’s capabilities by looking at user account activity and resource-user relationships.

Whether you need to deliver a custom service across clouds, support physical hardware, optimize multiple database platforms, conduct security operations, or perform ticketing and service management, SolarWinds can unify all of this into one platform and make it so much simpler to manage.

The bottom line is — all these things are interconnected and need to work together seamlessly for your business to function at its best. They help to facilitate and encourage collaboration between teams, build consensus, and help solve problems faster.

ManageEngine’s IAM Solutions

ManageEngine’s provides a comprehensive IAM tool that helps organizations efficiently manage user identities and access permissions within their Active Directory environment. It offers a range of features to streamline user provisioning, enhance security, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

ManageEngine’s Active Directory Manager

If you have more than one instance of Active Directory, ManageEngine ADManager Plus can serve as a unified interface for all of them. In addition to NTFS file storage and Microsoft 365, your network permissions system may also be implemented using Active Directory.

You can standardize user accounts across environments and maintain access control by consolidating your A.D. systems into a single console. This is an essential prerequisite for companies that must demonstrate their adherence to data privacy standards.

You can ensure that your enterprise’s IAM is consistent across environments and resources by centralizing the management of Active Directory with the help of the guides provided by ADManager Plus, which can then be used to develop a practical access management strategy.

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is a system control service that demonstrates conformity to data security standards like GDPR, GLBA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and SOX. This service monitors all data access across a network, including all servers and applications.

Fundamental Characteristics:

• Analysis of user behavior
• Controlling the safety of your files
• Disclosure of Compliance

The software has a module that analyses user behavior that can detect insider threats and account takeovers. This keeps track of everything that happens with each account and flags any unusual patterns. In addition to recording its findings in a reportable format, the service will also sound an alarm to inform technicians of a currently occurring data breach.

ADAudit Plus’s moniker isn’t the clearest. Active Directory auditing is not the focus of this service. Instead, it is an auditing system that tracks user activity by looking them up in Active Directory. This tool monitors Active Directory and alerts administrators to unauthorized changes, preventing malicious actors or disgruntled employees from compromising security.

Oracle’s Cloud Identity Management

Organizations must be dynamic to be competitive, but that can be a challenge with a highly distributed environment, increasing security risks, and countless devices to manage.

Oracle Public Cloud is a  cloud service that meets various business needs, such as storing and managing data, providing networking services, hosting application tests, and much more. Oracle Cloud includes the Identity Cloud Service (IDCS), an IAM that allows organizations to modernize their IAM.

Fundamental Characteristics:

• Free, Open Source, and Cross-Platform for the Cloud
• Instances of Active Directory interfaces

IDCS aids businesses in gaining superior, centralized control over user access to on-premises digital assets, PaaS, and SaaS.

The IDCS is a scalable IAM service composed of independent “micro-services” that handle their connections to assets and data processing. For this reason, it is an excellent fit for dynamic, expanding businesses.

Oracle Identity Manager (OIM), which manages identities throughout their entire lifecycle, complements Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution, Oracle Identity Governance Cloud Service (IDCS) to provide a comprehensive IAM framework for any deployment model.

Identification and Access Management for IBM Security

Since IBM Secure Identity and Access Assurance are designed to blend in with an organization’s existing workflow, network users won’t even know it is in use. This IBM system’s design aids in compliance reporting and threat intelligence by recording all actions taken by each user, safeguarding sensitive data stores, and detecting unusual patterns of behavior that may indicate a compromised account.

IBM Secure Identity and Access Assurance seamlessly integrate with an organization’s workflow, ensuring that network users are unaware of its usage.

Fundamental Characteristics:

• Control over who can access what in a given account or group
• Security based on several different factors
• Authorization with a single login

This service also manages user access across multiple systems in the cloud and locally. The software can also handle VPN login information.  Onboarding, detecting inactive accounts, and notifying removal at the time of an employee’s departure all contribute to effective account lifecycle management.

This is in comparison to IAM methods that make users feel unsafe. Silent security manages identities and access to resources on a network without disrupting system performance or user experience. This IAM shines in its capacity to guard against the compromise of privileged accounts.  Potential buyers should notice that this makes enterprise-grade password security and privileged access management possible. View this client story here.

Sum-Up

In conclusion, identity and access management (IAM) is crucial for organizations seeking to secure digital assets and protect sensitive information. With the increasing complexity of cybersecurity threats, robust IAM tools are essential. This article has provided an overview of the top identity and access management tools available today, highlighting their key features, benefits, and notable use cases. Whether a small business or a large enterprise, selecting the right IAM solution can significantly enhance your security posture and streamline access management processes. Consider your organization’s specific needs, evaluate each tool’s features and capabilities, and make an informed decision to safeguard your digital ecosystem effectively. Remember, investing in a reliable IAM solution invests in the long-term success and resilience of your organization’s cybersecurity framework.