Alexis Kestler
Identity access management (IAM) is one of the most critical elements of a modern digital security strategy. As companies embrace remote workforces and migrate to the cloud, they need to manage and secure access to an ever-expanding set of apps, data and infrastructure.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore the key capabilities and benefits of robust IAM, evaluate 9 top tools, and provide recommendations to help you choose the right solution.
The Growing Importance of IAM
With data breaches constantly making headlines and ransomware attacks crippling businesses, securing your digital assets has never been more crucial. Integrating an identity and access management platform needs to be a top priority.
Here‘s a look at some key statistics that highlight the escalating need for robust IAM:
- 80% of breaches involve compromised credentials (Verizon)
- 63% of data breaches involved weak or reused passwords (Verizon)
- Average cost of a data breach is $4.35 million (IBM)
- 52% of companies have expanded use of privileged access management (Gartner)
Meanwhile, digital transformation is dramatically expanding your company‘s attack surface:
- 55% of companies plan to be fully remote (Gartner)
- 82% of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud by 2025 (Gartner)
- Companies use 129 different SaaS apps on average (Blissfully)
This massive growth in access points and cloud adoption is making IAM essential. Next, let‘s explore why identity management needs to be the foundation of your security strategy.
Why is Identity Management So Important?
IAM gives you centralized visibility and granular control over access across your digital environment. Here are some of the core benefits that demonstrate why robust identity management is critical:
Tightens access control
With IAM, you can set contextual access policies, require multifactor authentication, and instantly revoke access. This prevents both external and insider threats.
Automates provisioning
Onboarding new users and providing access takes minutes instead of days. Automation also ensures employees only retain access to approved resources.
Improves regulatory compliance
Detailed audit logs enable you to monitor user activity and prove compliance with regulations like HIPAA and PCI DSS.
Enhances productivity
SSO and self-service capabilities allow users to securely access the resources they need to be productive.
Reduces IT overhead
By automating manual processes and using machine learning to handle access requests and approvals, IAM reduces the burden on IT teams.
Optimizes costs
You can eliminate orphaned accounts, share licenses across users, and right-size permissions. This cuts software costs and infrastructure waste.
Strengthens data security
Advanced encryption, anonymization, and masking controls keep sensitive data protected. This enables secure collaboration and analytics.
Supports digital initiatives
Whether launching online services, partnering via APIs, or leveraging cloud platforms, IAM provides the identity layer for your digital business.
With cyberthreats growing in frequency and impact, making IAM the foundation of your security strategy has become imperative. Next, let‘s explore the key capabilities and components of a robust identity access management solution.
Core Capabilities of an IAM Platform
The most robust enterprise IAM platforms provide a wide range of integrated capabilities to manage identities and secure access. Here are some of the key components:
Single sign-on (SSO)
SSO enables users to authenticate once and gain access to all permitted resources and applications. This improves convenience and security.
Adaptive multi-factor authentication (MFA)
MFA requires users to verify identity using multiple credentials. IAM solutions let you apply MFA adaptively based on risk profiles.
Automated user provisioning
IAM tools automatically create/delete accounts and assign access rights as users join, move around, or leave the organization.
Role-based access control (RBAC)
RBAC allows you to define user roles with specific permissions rather than individually managing every access point. This improves efficiency and compliance.
Access reviews and certifications
Reviews of user entitlements enable you to ensure permissions are appropriate. Certifications verify data owners approve access.
Access request workflows
Self-service workflows allow users to easily request additional access while still ensuring approvals and oversight.
Privileged access management
Heightened controls restrict privileged access to admins, service accounts, and executives along with extensive monitoring.
Mobile and API security
IAM helps secure access from mobile apps, IoT devices, and application interfaces. This protects access from all endpoints.
Unified directory
A centralized identity repository consolidates all user identities and access permissions in one place for simplified management.
Security intelligence and analytics
Robust reporting provides visibility into access. Analytics uncover risky behavior patterns and unusual activity for investigation.
These integrated IAM capabilities enable enterprises to unify identity management, put controls in place, and add intelligence. Now let‘s explore the top IAM solutions on the market.
Top 9 Identity and Access Management Platforms
Okta
Okta is the market leader in identity access management, trusted by over 15,000 organizations worldwide. Their intelligent platform securely connects users to technology and applications.
Key Strengths
- Full range of IAM capabilities with exceptional depth and flexibility
- Access and authentication policies powered by machine learning
- Simple single dashboard for all identity processes and reporting
- Over 7,000 application integrations and APIs for custom apps
- Industry-leading multifactor authentication and mobility management
Okta makes managing and securing identities elegant and simple for IT teams. Their platform is both comprehensive and extensible enough for the most complex environments.
Microsoft Azure Active Directory
Azure AD is Microsoft‘s cloud-based identity and access management service. It‘s seamlessly integrated across Microsoft‘s ecosystem including Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure.
Key Strengths
- Unified identity management across Microsoft‘s entire suite
- Robust access management and security monitoring capabilities
- Over 5,500 pre-integrated SaaS apps and simple API connectivity
- Cost-effective pricing, bundled with Microsoft products
- Managed service model ideal for resource constrained IT teams
For organizations committed to Microsoft solutions, Azure AD provides a tightly integrated IAM foundation that extends identity context throughout applications and data built on Microsoft‘s cloud.
IBM Security Verify
IBM Security Verify provides intelligent identity governance and administration with context-based access decisions.
Key Strengths
- Attribute-based access policies improve security posture
- AI recommendation engine for access and certifications
- Easy-to-use, interactive dashboards and reporting
- Integrates with leading IAM platforms and tools
- Flexible deployment models include cloud, on-prem and hybrid
IBM Security Verify simplifies implementing least privilege access models and maintaining compliance. It adds AI and automation to strengthen identity governance across hybrid environments.
SailPoint IdentityIQ
SailPoint IdentityIQ delivers identity governance capabilities with advanced AI, automation, and integrated threat detection.
Key Strengths
- Automates provisioning/deprovisioning and access certifications
- AI-driven model detects anomalous behavior and risky access
- Hundreds of out-of-the-box connectors and data templates
- Customizable reporting and executive-ready dashboards
- Platform optimized for cloud scale and performance
With a strong focus on automation and intelligence, SailPoint IdentityIQ enables organizations to rapidly scale IAM across a dynamic hybrid IT ecosystem.
Saviynt
Saviynt unifies identity governance, administration and cloud security with a modern, microservices-based platform.
Key Strengths
- Converged workforce and customer identity lifeecycle
- Fine-grained attribute-based access policies
- API-based identity store integrates with data sources
- No-code workflows for access requests and certifications
- Optimized for multi-cloud deployments and DevOps velocity
Saviynt helps organizations gain visibility across identities and manage access risk as they migrate business-critical applications to the cloud.
Ping Identity
Ping provides comprehensive hybrid and cloud identity and access management solutions for the enterprise.
Key Strengths
- Standards-based federated identity and single sign-on
- MFA, API security and identity orchestration capabilities
- Pre-integrated identity and risk intelligence
- Flexible on-prem, cloud and hybrid deployment
- Robust access policies and user management
Ping allows companies to securely connect employees, customers and partners while supporting legacy on-prem infrastructure. Their flexible identity platform integrates with nearly any application or data source.
ForgeRock Identity Platform
The ForgeRock Identity Platform offers full-spectrum identity management, access management and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Key Strengths
- Consolidates access management, identity management and directory services
- Advanced authentication including biometrics and behavior profiling
- Identity relationship management and orchestration engine
- Highly extensible and programmable using REST APIs
- Market-leading scale and performance
ForgeRock provides identity and access management capabilities to manage identities across people, services and things. Their platform is uniquely flexible and extensible.
CyberArk Identity
CyberArk Identity focuses on securing human and machine identities and privileged access across hybrid infrastructure.
Key Strengths
- Discovers and secures SSH keys, service accounts and more
- Just-in-time privilege elevation and isolation
- Detailed monitoring and audit logging for admins
- Integrates with CyberArk Privileged Access Security
- Reduces attack surface across hybrid infrastructure
CyberArk Identity minimizes standing access privileges and implements least privilege policies to reduce risk.
Auth0
Auth0 secures access for web, mobile, and legacy applications with extensive authentication, authorization and user management capabilities.
Key Strengths
- Developer-friendly APIs and SDKs
- User management portal and identity protocols like OIDC
- Social, passwordless, and MFA authentication
- Powerful rules engine for fine-grained access policies
- Simple integration directly into modern web/mobile apps
Auth0 simplifies adding robust access management to customer-facing apps and API workloads. Their identity platform is versatile, extensible and easy for development teams to implement.
Now that we‘ve explored the key players, let‘s discuss criteria for selecting the right IAM solution.
Key Factors for Choosing an IAM Vendor
With many enterprise-ready options, the key is selecting a platform aligned to your specific use cases and environment. Here are crucial considerations when evaluating vendors:
Deployment model
- SaaS, on-premises and hybrid models each have tradeoffs
- Evaluate Integraion requirements with on-prem apps/data sources
Breadth of capabilities
- Do you just need SSO or robust access governance?
- Do you manage customer identities, IoT devices, etc.?
Ease of use and automation
- Seek intuitive interfaces to empower non-technical users
- Automation is critical to reduce workload for IT
Total cost of ownership
- Consider upfront, maintenance and integration costs
- Beware of complex or inflexible pricing models
Scalability needs
- Analyze expected user/workload growth
- Cloud-native platforms scale elastically
Regulatory compliance
- IAM underpins compliance with regulations like HIPAA and GDPR
- Look for certifications and out-of-the-box controls
Vendor viability
- Seek financial stability and commitment to ongoing R&D
- Look for leadership in IAM-focused analysts like Gartner
Prioritizing your key requirements and use cases will help you zero in on vendors that best fit your needs.
My Recommendation
While all platforms featured offer robust capabilities, I believe Okta is the leader in the market due to the exceptional breadth and depth of their platform.
Okta‘s unified identity platform is wonderfully flexible yet simple to manage. It includes AI-powered access policies, extensive integrations, built-in mobility management, and much more.
Okta offers an array of deployment models to support legacy infrastructure. And their contextual access controls and adaptive MFA provide unparalleled ability to secure access while improving the user experience.
For both rigorous security and ease of administration, Okta stands apart. Their superior access intelligence enables true least-privilege access models while extensive automation simplifies cumbersome IAM processes.
Conclusion
Managing and securing identity is now mission-critical for digitally transforming enterprises. Legacy perimeter defenses are no longer sufficient as companies embrace cloud platforms and a distributed workforce.
Integrating a modern identity access management solution allows you to shrink the attack surface by putting controls in place across all access points. Advanced capabilities like AI, automation and analytics enable smarter, more adaptive access policies.
While all the featured vendors provide robust IAM capabilities, Okta leads with a uniquely elegant yet comprehensive platform. Their solutions help security teams gain end-to-end visibility over access and intelligently enforce least-privilege policies across today‘s heterogeneous IT ecosystems.
Ultimately, identity is the new security perimeter. Organizations that strategically invest in securing both workforce and customer digital identities will gain a strong competitive advantage. They‘ll be able to securely connect their business, enable seamless collaboration, and operate free of disruption.
