What is Identity and Access Management(IAM)?

Identity and access management (IAM) or identity management (IdM) is the administration structure that manages users' digital identities and ensures that the right employee of an organization can use the right resources (application or data) without any interference. The IAM process encompasses everything that happens behind a sign-in form.

The three basic workflows of an IAM process are identification (a user providing their identity), authentication (verification of identity), and authorization (providing access to the verified identity). The IAM process begins with assigning a digital identity to every employee in the organization. IAM manages those identities, verifies them when signing in, and allows them access to resources. By allowing only the verified users to access the resources, it helps organizations keep their data safe and control a user's access to only the systems and data they are privileged to access.

IAM protects users' credentials from hackers who intend to steal their data. When we use an application, we often need to go through a sign-in process. Applications allow users to sign in by entering their credentials like username and password. Those applications need to be protected from hackers, password breaches, and so on. All these are enabled by IAM.

To know why IAM is important, click here.