Essential Guide

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Editor's note

Disruptive technologies of the past several years, including cloud, mobile apps and the internet of things, makes it tougher than ever for infosec pros to ensure efficient and effective use of their company's identity and access management system. This guide covers the fundamentals of IAM systems and IAM-associated issues, including the business concept and technology. It delves into how mobility affects an IAM system and also covers issues like password policy and management, Azure AD and provisioning tools for the enterprise user. It also delves into the now critical issue of privilege creep -- how to recognize it and remedies to stop it. This guide will help infosec pros implement and oversee their identity and access management system.

1Password management and policy in IAM systems

Passwords are central to securing the network and, therefore, password management is central to any identity and access management system. This section examines the password management tools available, how best to use them and what to avoid.

2Privileged users, privilege creep and tools that can manage them

Edward Snowden, the NSA employee who stole and released thousands of sensitive documents, undertook a security breach that succeeded in making enterprises more aware of the threat of "inside" attacks on their system security. But has awareness led to action? In this section learn about the issue of insider attacks, the danger of so-called privilege creep and ways to manage such security hazards in general and via an IAM system.

3Handling mobile in an identity and access management system

Once employee-owned mobile devices hit the enterprise, and BYOD became the norm, IAM got a whole lot more complicated. In this section, learn how to secure identity and access even in a large enterprise where employees bring in multiple personal devices each day. Mobility has changed just about everything in the information security world, including the challenges a corporate identity and access management system must face.

4Where AD and Azure AD fit into any IAM system

Active Directory (AD) is a key aspect of any identity and access management system today. A directory holds user account information and AD is Microsoft's trademarked system to, among other things, authenticate and authorize users and computers by checking submitted passwords and determining whether the person signing on is a regular user or an administrator. With the huge increase in dependence on cloud, companies have needed a cloud-based AD. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is Microsoft's multi-tenant directory based in cloud that manages identity services. This section of our guide looks in depth at both AD and Azure AD, reviewing recent developments and methods of making these vital services, and related ones, more secure.