Identity Access Management

Identity and access management decides who gets into your systems, what they are allowed to do once inside, and how that permission is proven. Many organizations manage it through a central directory service.

Key concepts

• Identity answers who someone is. Authentication proves that claim. Authorization decides what the verified person may open, change, or approve.
• Grant least privilege as a default. Give every account only the access its role requires, then strip away permissions that accumulated over the years.
• Multi-factor authentication is the strongest single control on an account. Passwords alone get guessed, reused across sites, and stolen in bulk.
• Administrator accounts deserve separate handling. Use dedicated admin logins, limit who holds them, and log everything those accounts do.
• Joiners, movers, and leavers need a defined process. Access should follow role changes quickly and disappear the day someone departs.

Why it matters for your business

Many damaging intrusions break nothing at all; the attacker simply logs in with credentials that still worked. Dormant accounts, shared logins, and forgotten admin rights are the gaps they look for first. Tight identity practices shrink what any single stolen password can reach, and checking whether those controls hold up in practice is what penetration testing is for.