Identity and Access Management: High-level Conceptual Framework

Information security is shifting from a traditional perimeter-based approach to an identity-based approach where the organization's boundaries are where their digital identities exist. The organization has multiple stakeholders having access to various organization resources. Systems and applications are part of organization resources that help them achieve their business goals. These systems and applications are internally or externally exposed to allow all stakeholders to have seamless access, thus making identity and access management a big challenge. Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a fundamental part of information security. It plays a critical role in keeping the organization's information security posture resilient to cyber attacks. This paper will identify various components of an IAM solution that are essential and should be considered while implementing and assessing the IAM solution and provides a high-level IAM framework that will allow information security professionals to assess the IAM security posture of an organization.