Security Experts Need Specialized Tools To Perform Their Daily Activities. Experts Working In Large Organizations Not Only Need Common Security Tools To Perform Their Tasks As Well As Possible But Also Need Tools To Manage And Access User Accounts.
This issue has made Identity and access management (IAM) tools to become one of the critical tools needed by cyber security managers.
Tools that allow essential and critical decisions to be made regarding identity recognition.
One of the critical points of authentication and determining the level of access is how to enter applications and systems and integrate them based on organizational posts.
Cybersecurity experts must balance security and usability to avoid unwanted security breaches.
Unfortunately, IAM controls’ weakness and lack of coordination with organizational authentication mechanisms have created a significant gap in this field. Hackers can use this gap to attack infrastructure, take over user accounts, and bypass security mechanisms. On the other hand, excessive strictness also disrupts the flow of business activities.
A large and confusing market of IAM tools
IAM technologies have come a long way in the past few years. Identity management in multi-cloud and hybrid environments, control of user accounts of senior managers, the possibility of monitoring user account login patterns, authentication based on risk criteria, and management of various parts of the user life cycle have become more accessible than before, thanks to significant developments in this field.
In this connection, Naresh Persaud of the Deloitte consulting company said:
“We see an interesting segmentation about IAM solutions. In addition, many possibilities are available to companies, such as smoothing user experiences through machine learning, integrating with cloud service providers to manage workflow better, or providing more information about IAM operations through advanced analytics to build strong security plans. ».
Because new capabilities have been added to these tools, countless submarkets have formed around these products, including independent products or devices that are a subset of a comprehensive platform.
This issue has given consumers access to many options, sometimes leading to experts’ confusion in choosing the best IAM.
JR Cunningham, chief operating officer of managed security services provider Nuspire, says: “Most manufacturing companies rely on identity governance and administration (IGA) tools and others on identity management tools to implement adequate security policies. PAM stands for Privileged Access Management, and others combine both devices to implement an efficient identity plan.
This problem has caused the dispersion of products in the authentication field to increase too much. In addition, most companies in this field offer multi-factor authentication technologies. The reality is that organizations need to properly define their current capabilities and requirements to ensure they purchase a product that fits their needs.”
How have IAM tools changed?
In this connection, Cunningham says, “Preparing an authentication strategy and choosing the right platform for it should be done based on following some points to select a forum compatible with the organization’s business policies. For example, businesses that do not have strong basic authentication capabilities, such as multi-factor authentication and single sign-on, will struggle to manage PAM tools.
An organization that does not have these two departments and appropriate identity management processes for employees cannot use all the capabilities that identity management and governance platforms provide in the best way. Typically, successful organizations follow the path of authentication, PAM/PIM, and IGA.
Naresh Persaud suggests that organizations, when evaluating authentication technologies, ignore the scalability of the installation and compatibility of the technology with all the applications used in the workplace, users, and lines of business.
He says: ” IAM tools, which can integrate and connect to different software, allow the organization to do its daily activities more freely. Of course, achieving such value is not an easy task.
Hence, one of the main challenges of implementing an IAM platform is harmonizing it with standard solutions. In addition, organizations can choose a predictable and replicable approach to scale their operations.
Applying a service-oriented operating model not only to scale with an IAM platform is helpful but it allows the organization’s security and information technology experts to inform business managers and all the people who should participate in setting the scale of IAM and realizing the value of this technology.”
Getting to know the best IAM tools
Now that we have become somewhat familiar with the concept of IAM and the necessity of using it in connection with the management of user authentication and their accounts in organizations, it is time to introduce the IAM tools that senior security operations managers need to improve authentication capabilities in the organization. Have.
Avatier
Avatier is one of the old companies active in managing and providing information technology and helpdesk services. Based on years of experience in delivering password and user account management tools, this company has designed and provided organizations with a comprehensive IGA platform. The company has invested significantly in automating its products and developed the Identity Anywhere platform as a complete authentication solution that can be deployed in cloud environments.
The latest version of this product can support seamless authentication without the need for passwords and integrate user experiences across collaboration platforms (for companies with business partners), cloud, and mobile, including Slack, Teams, and ServiceNow.
An efficient tool that can be customized. This comprehensive platform allows cybersecurity analysts to perform their daily tasks accurately. This tool connects over 90 organizations and 5 thousand media and software under the cloud. It provides organizations with a secure and high-speed communication channel without coding.
BeyondTrust
BeyondTrust is another successful company in providing PAM solutions. Based on internal initiatives, it has successfully designed a powerful and efficient tool for managing user accounts and access permissions to the cloud environment. In addition, the company’s PAM tool allows centralized management of remote access and endpoints of machines based on Windows, Mac, Unix, and Linux operating systems through Directory Bridge technology.
This company develops Cloud Privilege Broker technology as one of the powerful tools for managing access permissions to cloud infrastructure and virtual machines.
This product, included in the cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) tools, helps network and security experts manage rights related to multi-cloud environments. BeyondTrust has developed a communication mechanism associated with formulating legal requirements and policies.
A tool that has visualization and report generation capabilities. This issue has caused the Gartner Institute to describe it as one of the essential advanced tools in user account management. Customers can use advanced analytics through the company’s BeyondInsight analytics package.
CyberArk
CyberArk is one of the largest user account access permission management tool providers, offering a wide range of PAM solutions. In addition, the above tool can be used with the identity presentation model and in the form of identity authentication in the form of a service (IDaas) called identity-as-a-service. In 2020, this company succeeded in developing its software products and services by acquiring Adaptive.
So that the final tool produced by this company has various capabilities, such as multi-step authentication solutions for endpoints, integrated employee authentication, customer identity management, password-free authentication solutions, and self-service capabilities for managing user accounts; the company’s products offer powerful analytical capabilities and can be used to evolve security assessment plans further.
In addition, CyberArk has released a rich suite of cloud-centric user account management tools called CIEM. These capabilities include risk ranking, suitable for multi-cloud and large environments.
In this connection, Forrester Research Institute said: “CyberAr in the field of IDaaS is one of the essential choices for organizations looking for a risk-based approach to IDaaS. This company’s platform can synchronize with identity management tools.
ForgeRock
ForgeRock Company has prepared a comprehensive platform for managing access to employees, customers, and identifiers of Internet of Things devices, which can be used as a complete or separate package. The tool provided by this company includes robust identity management components for organizations looking for IGA features such as identity lifecycle management.
ForgeRock’s products are popular with developers and 2Ops engineers due to their ability to use the cloud and the company’s powerful REST API frameworks. Of course, the negative point related to this company’s products is their limited analytical capabilities compared to other companies, so it cannot analyze the behavior of clients and users.
Microsoft Azure Active Directory
Microsoft has quickly become one of the leading players in the IAM field with its Active Directory product, Microsoft Azure, which has more than 300,000 customers. Gartner attributes the rapid growth of Azure AD to the integration of Microsoft 365 and the Enterprise Mobility and Security EMS platform. This powerful integration has led to doubling the number of times users install this product.
Also, this product supports IGA and PAM technologies quickly and through Microsoft innovations. It is necessary to explain that CIEM technology support was added to the company’s product collection after the acquisition of CloudKnox Security.
One of the weak points of this product is related to the IAM tool for personal users. Azure AD features for this product are more limited than the pioneer products in access-level management.