Identity Governance Guide
Learn the ins-and-outs of access management and how an end-to-end identity governance and administration tool like Lumos can help.
Learn the ins-and-outs of access management and how an end-to-end identity governance and administration tool like Lumos can help.
Remember that intern that had access to your database last summer? Are you confident that their username and password were deactivated now that they have a full-time job at your rival’s business? What about that audit request that came through last week—will you be able to pull the information you need to stay in compliance and avoid penalties?
These very real worries aren’t the fault of you or your IT team. Everyone is doing the best they can with the tools they have. The real issue lies in how difficult it is to stay on top of permissioning, especially when companies are growing, with roles quickly changing.
Here at Lumos, we’ve seen it time and time again—IT teams are buried under repetitive tasks and can’t take the time to set and enforce best practices for security and compliance.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help. With our identity governance tools, your IT team can dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s to make sure your systems are as secure and compliant as possible. We’ve put together this comprehensive guide to identity governance to help you understand this complex topic. We’ll take a look at some identity governance examples, as well as answer questions like “what is an IGA framework?” Let’s get started!
Identity governance, also known as identity governance and administration (IGA), is a broad term that covers all of the strategies to manage individual user access within an organization. Imagine you’re a superhero and you’ve got an awesome secret underground hideout for all your training montages and urgent phone calls from the mayor. You need a way to make sure your butler can get in while your bumbling friend (after all, she doesn’t know you’re a superhero) or the evil villain can’t. Identity governance is key here—you could employ a technology strategy like installing a retina scanner outside the door or create a policy with your friend that she is only allowed in certain rooms of your house.
This is, of course, a lighthearted analogy to help illustrate the identity governance definition—there are many types of technology, policies, and processes you can employ to secure your company’s sensitive information.
Although often shortened to just “identity governance,” the full term of identity governance and administration does include an important distinction.
Identity governance relates to activities like:
In addition to all of these, identity administration encompasses duties like:
These activities are all closely related, but essentially, think of identity governance more as “policies” and the administration part as “tasks needed to implement those policies.” In other words, IGA as a whole addresses the core IT functions of authentication, authorization, privacy, data protection, and regulatory compliance.
The main difference between IGA and IAM (identity and access management) is the scope: IGA encompasses a broad range of policies and processes while IAM is more narrowly focused on granting access rights. When comparing identity governance vs identity management, it’s important to note that these concepts are closely related and often the definitions overlap.
While IGA has many benefits, the next level of identity governance involves security models known as “least privilege” and “zero trust.” These overarching philosophies help cybersecurity professionals get in the right mindset to prevent bad actors from wreaking havoc.
But remember - the door wasn’t shut all the way! The new person in the room didn’t actually use the retina scan to enter, nor did they speak upon re-entering the room. The nefarious Copycat is notorious for shapeshifting! It would be so easy to ignore this, as you’re working away. He was only gone for five minutes! Plus, it may seem silly to have Arthur back out of the room and use the retina scan to enter and provide his spoken secret word that only he and you know. However, it’s the only way you’ll have peace of mind.
As you can tell from the above example, even two different verification methods isn’t enough. After all, The Copycat might be able to copy even the eye structure and pass a retina scan or weasel the password out of Arthur after tying him up in a closet. To fit with zero trust security principals, you’ll need to continuously monitor him to see if he has any suspicious behavior and if he can continue to pass identity checks. He has to constantly earn your trust, and you have to be continually calculating whether he is who he says he is.
To learn more about least privilege and zero trust, you can download our free resource today!
Unfortunately, there isn’t one single IGA standard that can be applied to all situations; there are, however, many different standards that may need to be folded into your identity governance framework. These largely depend on your industry and individual priorities—like SOX, HIPAA, or NIST SP 800-207. Creating your own framework involves setting specific goals for security and compliance, and selecting the right IGA tools to support your objectives.
Let’s take a look at these three US standards—SOX, HIPAA, and NIST SP 800-207—to understand their purpose.
These are just a few examples of the standards and regulations that you may want or need to consider when developing your IGA framework.
Identity governance solutions, like that offered by Lumos, provide the tools and technologies to manage user identities and their access rights within an organization. With the right solution, you can ensure that only authorized individuals can access specific systems, applications, and data—all according to their roles and responsibilities.
With an end-to-end IGA solution like Lumos, you can breeze through access requests and user access reviews. You’ll be able to control and manage access to SaaS, cloud, and internal tools. In fact, you can:
With Lumos, your IGA dashboards are user-friendly and optimized to fit your workflow! Let’s take a look at a few examples:
As you can see from this dashboard, Lumos makes access reviewing a snap. You’ll be able to see what permissions are given to each employee, their last activity, and what department they fall under. Plus, you’ll have a simple interface to approve or deny the access.
Employees can use Lumos to ask for access to any app they might need. Your IT team will receive this simple notification, allowing efficient approval or denial of requests.
You can implement Joiner-Mover-Leaver workflows and provision access through direct integrations, your SSO Provider, iPaaS platforms or APIs with the help of this streamlined dashboard.
IGA use cases can be found in almost any industry: from SaaS to finance, healthcare, education, government…the list is endless. In today’s digital landscape, companies across the spectrum need to secure their systems in order to prevent bad actors from wreaking havoc. IGA solutions like Lumos help businesses protect themselves and their customers—as well as save time and money by eliminating repetitive tasks for IT teams.
For a practical example of how identity governance can make a big difference, let’s take a look at how Chegg partnered with Lumos. This student-first connected learning platform had a big problem: their support staff was bogged down with repetitive accessing tasks. Additionally, they needed a way to ensure that their access reviews were SOX-compliant.
With Lumos, they found an IGA solution that saved them both time and money. Brian McGuiness, VP of IT Operations at Chegg, noted the quick results: “our support staff now focuses on more complex issues. In our experience, the return on investment was almost immediate.”
These results weren’t just based on a gut feeling—the quantifiable impact from using Lumos was:
Choosing the best solution for your organization should involve considering factors like comprehensive coverage, scalability, advanced reporting, and more. After all, there are many identity governance and administration vendors and solutions out there promising the world. We’ve put together this short checklist to help you evaluate IGA tools, so you can select the right solution for your business’s unique needs and objectives:
It’s important to look for a solution that covers all aspects of identity governance—including provisioning, deprovisioning, access requests, and more.
You’ll want a tool that helps you comply with the regulations and standards of your industry.
The only thing you can count on is change—so cover your bases with a solution like Lumos that can accommodate more users and increasingly complex scenarios over time.
At the end of the day, people want tools that are intuitive and straightforward, so be sure to consider the user interface and experience for both administrators and end-users.
It’s vital that the solution integrates seamlessly with your entire tech stack, instead of disrupting your existing workflows.
Look for a solution that relieves the burden on your IT team, reducing manual tasks and freeing them to focus on more strategic assignments.
In order to make data-based decisions, you need easy-to-access information. Be sure that the reporting capabilities are detailed and audit-friendly.
You’ll want a true partner like Lumos to help you navigate IGA effectively.
Be sure to evaluate the tool’s cost compared to the value it brings to your organization.
Are you ready to transform how your organization manages user access? With Lumos, you’ll have unparalleled visibility and control over your identity governance. And did we mention that you’ll have the workflow automation power of an IGA tool combined with the visibility and cost management controls of a SaaS management solution? Lumos is truly an end-to-end solution to help your IT team achieve compliance, drive productivity, and manage costs.
Simple next steps you can take: