Identity fabric

Build your identity fabric to unify digital identities, achieve zero trust, enable least privilege access, and strengthen enterprise IAM security.

Identity Fabric
What's on this page?
 
  • What is identity fabric?
  • Why implement identity fabric?
  • How does identity fabric work?
  • Identity fabric immunity
  • ManageEngine IAM

What is identity fabric?

Imagine a bustling city, where businesses and organizations of all kinds operate—some in towering skyscrapers, others in historic buildings. Each of these entities has its own way of managing the identities of its employees, customers, and partners. Some use modern cloud-based identity systems, while others rely on legacy on-premises solutions. As the city grows and evolves, the need to connect these disparate identity systems becomes increasingly critical.

Now, imagine a scenario where an employee from a consulting firm needs to access shared project management tools and client data hosted by their client's IT infrastructure. This is where the concept of identity fabric comes into play. With a well-designed identity fabric in place, the employee can securely authenticate and gain authorized access to the necessary resources, regardless of the underlying identity systems and without the need for manual intervention or repetitive logins. Identity fabric is like a sophisticated, interconnected web that weaves together all the systems across the city. It acts as a unifying layer, allowing organizations to manage identities and access policies consistently, regardless by of the underlying technology.

Think of it as a master tailor, taking the different threads (identity systems) and expertly crafting them into a cohesive, functional fabric. This fabric provides a single point of control, enabling organizations to define and enforce security controls centrally while still allowing each entity to maintain its unique identity infrastructure. With identity fabric in place, the employee can authenticate once and securely access resources across multiple organizations, and the customer can enjoy a seamless experience when engaging with different brands. It's a win-win for both organizations and the people they serve.

The beauty of identity fabric is that it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. It can be tailored to the specific needs of each city, with the flexibility to accommodate a wide range of identity use cases and technologies. It's a transformative approach that helps organizations navigate the complexities of modern identity management while also ensuring that security, efficiency, and the user experience remain top priorities.

In the end, identity fabric is the thread that binds the city together, enabling organizations to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

Why implement identity fabric?

  • Fort-Knox-like security:

    Identity fabric acts like a multi-layered security system, automatically detecting and preventing unauthorized access. Multi-factor authentication, risk-based checks, and anomaly detection work together to create a robust defense against cyberthreats.

  • Universal access—no more juggling keys:

    Think of identity fabric as a master key. It provides seamless access to all your tools and systems, regardless of their individual interfaces. There is no more remembering multiple logins or wasting time switching between platforms.

  • Bridging the digital divide:

    Modern businesses rely on a complex mix of on-premises applications, cloud services, mobile apps, and IoT devices. Identity fabric acts as a bridge, ensuring smooth communication and interaction between these disparate systems, fostering a unified and secure digital ecosystem.

  • Scalability that grows with you:

    Identity fabric is built to scale and can easily adapt to accommodate your company's growth. This means you won't need costly overhauls as your security needs evolve.

  • Compliance made easy:

    Staying on top of regulations can be a headache. Identity fabric helps by incorporating features like consent management, access reviews, and comprehensive auditing. This ensures your business adheres to legal requirements and industry standards.

  • Cost efficiency—streamline, don't splurge:

    Managing identity solutions can be expensive. Identity fabric eliminates this by integrating them into a single, cohesive framework. This reduces costs and simplifies administration.

  • Future-proofing your IAM strategy:

    The IT landscape is constantly changing. Identity fabric offers a flexible framework that can adapt to new technologies and emerging challenges. It empowers your organization to stay ahead of the curve and build a future-proof IAM strategy.

How does identity fabric work?

Imagine your identity management system as a tangled mess of wires, each connecting to a different application or service. Identity fabric comes in and cleans things up. It functions as an architectural overlay, integrating disparate IAM tools into a unified framework. This framework facilitates centralized access control for all user identities, applications, systems, and environments within an organization.

Here's the magic behind the scenes:

  1. Centralized hub: An application serves as the central hub, acting as the interface and integration point for all deployed IAM tools.
  2. API integration: This central hub leverages APIs to establish communication channels with each IAM tool within the organization's ecosystem.
  3. Data synchronization: Through these API integrations, the central hub orchestrates data synchronization across all IAM tools. This ensures consistent identity and access control information throughout the environment.
  4. Centralized policy management: The unified view provided by the identity fabric empowers administrators to define and enforce security controls from a single point of control.
  5. Unified identity management: This centralized approach enables the creation of a single identity for each user. This single identity can then be assigned access rights across all applications and environments, including both cloud-based and legacy systems.

In simpler terms, identity fabric brings order to the chaos of identity management. It creates a central hub, simplifies communication between different tools, and makes your entire system more adaptable and future-proof.

Identity fabric immunity: Fortifying your identity infrastructure

Your organization's data is like a treasure vault. Traditionally, securing this vault relied on a single, strong lock. But in today's digital world, cybercriminals are constantly devising new ways to crack these locks.

This is where identity fabric immunity comes into play. This concept goes beyond basic security, building a multi-layered defense system around your identity infrastructure. It recognizes that identities are a prime target for attackers and fortifies your system against both external threats and internal vulnerabilities.

Here's why identity fabric immunity is critical:

  • Fortifying the identity perimeter: Identity breaches are a major threat, allowing attackers to steal data, disrupt operations, and erode trust. Identity fabric immunity builds resilience, making it significantly harder for attackers to gain unauthorized access to your critical systems.
  • Zero trust, maximum security: This approach assumes no user or device is inherently trustworthy. Every access attempt is rigorously verified through multi-factor authentication and context-aware checks. Think of it as a layered security system, constantly interrogating access requests before granting entry.
  • Least privilege, maximum control: Identity fabric immunity ensures users only have the minimum access required for their roles. This minimizes the potential damage if an attacker compromises an account, as they won't have access to everything. Imagine issuing specific keys for specific doors, rather than a master key for the entire vault.
  • Continuous vigilance: Just like a well-trained guard, identity fabric immunity employs constant monitoring. It tracks user activity and identifies suspicious behavior, allowing for swift intervention if needed.

By weaving these principles into the core of your identity management system, you create a dynamic defense that adapts to new threats. This eliminates identity silos (isolated data stores); prevents unauthorized privilege escalation; and ensures only authorized users, devices, and applications can access your critical resources.

IAM with ManageEngine: Weaving the threads of your identity fabric

In today's complex, multi-cloud landscape, organizations need a robust identity fabric to securely manage access and identities across their diverse IT infrastructure. ManageEngine's IAM solution acts as the master weaver, seamlessly integrating the various threads of your identity ecosystem into a cohesive, centrally managed fabric.

By consolidating identity data from disparate sources, ManageEngine IAM creates a single source of truth for all user accounts, access privileges, and security policies. This unified view empowers IT teams to enforce consistent identity governance and access controls, whether users are accessing on-premises applications or cloud-based services.

But ManageEngine goes beyond just consolidation. It provides the advanced capabilities required to strengthen your identity fabric's resilience. Features like multi-factor authentication, risk-based adaptive access, and AI-powered threat detection help safeguard your organization against the latest identity-related security threats.

Just as a well-crafted fabric can withstand the test of time, ManageEngine equips your enterprise with the flexibility and agility to adapt to evolving identity management challenges. With its no-code integrations and automated identity orchestration, you can easily extend your identity fabric to accommodate new applications, identity providers, and access policies—without the need for complex custom coding.

Unlock the full potential of your identity fabric with ManageEngine—the trusted solution that weaves together the diverse threads of your identity landscape into a secure, centralized, and future-proof access management framework.

Connect, control, and secure with identity fabric—your enterprise’s identity ecosystem.

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