Let's talk about IAM or IAM solutions. IAM stands forIdentity and Access Management.
IAM is the control of identities and accesses, it tells you who is a user in the company and what they are authorized to do for each application.
Identity and access management encompasses the control of users, accounts and applications within the information system.
The users are physical persons present in the company. Users should not be confused with accounts. HRIS is therefore a source of truth at the user level.
Accounts are all accesses created for users to access applications or software. Each user has several accounts. These accounts must be listed and known to everyone, otherwise they end up in the shadow it category.
Applications must also be known and listed in the company's IS.
What is Identity and Access Management?
Once identified, a user does not have full rights. This enables the company to control its internal security. Accounts with different levels of rights are not all equally sensitive in the event of a cyber-attack.
In this way, a user with the wrong rights and access will be immediately identified in a good IAM system, and can be quickly and easily corrected.
With changing usage patterns - telecommuting and face-to-face, cloud and on-premise - managing rights and access has become a real challenge for IT Departments, which is why identity and access management is so useful. It helps to frame and supervise all these sensitive points.
We distinguish between technical AMIs and governance AMIs.
One will handle the technical side of authentication, while the other will manage the user lifecycle and account management.
Can you manage your own Identity and Access Management?
Yes, of course, in the same way that you can also install the entire electrical circuit in your home yourself. But you need the skills, the tools, the overall understanding and a clean, reliable and fast technique.
If you do the electrical installation yourself, but your cables aren't properly connected, the fuses pop out at random, or you split up and are no longer able to manage the installation, this 'home-made' approach will be rather detrimental.
In IAM it's the same: it's difficult and cumbersome to maintain, so it's better to delegate it to experts, as the solution will be more sophisticated, less expensive and less cumbersome than a proprietary solution.
