Who's Who? Keeping Up with Identities in the Digital Age

In 1980, Robert Ludlum wrote an epic that became a Doug Liman-directed Hollywood spy fiction blockbuster in 2002. Which book? Which movie? What’s the context? Don’t wonder too much. We are talking about The Bourne Identity. The book and the movie revolved around the character Jason Bourne (played delightfully by Matt Damon) seeking to unlock his identity. 

Enough of a premise. Surely, you know what this edition of Beyond Endpoints will unfold. It’s Identity, folks! In business and tech terms, it’s Identity & Access Management (IAM).

IAM: Because Sharing is NOT Always Caring

What’s in the name? For IAM, it’s all in the name—managing the identity and access of users (employees) in an organization. Why IAM? Keeping the answer simple—security. Because corporate data, devices, and resources aren’t some sundowner beer pitchers. ‘Sharing is caring’ doesn’t imply or apply.

While IAM as a standalone solution has been around, and is fairly well-adopted worldwide, there are unchartered waters, an integration like no other beckons businesses.

IAM Meets UEM: A Brave New World 

Not all things around ‘brave new world’ are about Aldous Huxley. But a page out of the legendary classic, and we do have something. A world where identity & access management meets unified endpoint management (UEM). And it’s not far-fetched. It’s real! 

So, what does the amalgamation of IAM and UEM mean for businesses? A lot, we dare say!

Jason Bourne may have been the ultimate agent, but relying solely on hidden passports and burner phones wouldn't fly for long today. In a business context, securing just the "things" isn't enough anymore. The real game is about who has access and what they can do—securing user identities is the new mission-critical.

The access management aspect of IAM involves authenticating users based on one or more factors (2FA/MFA). Therein lies the talk of the tech and security towns—zero-trust network access (ZTNA). Jason Bourne may be a super-spy, but even he needs to prove his identity. Remember how he kept having to show that hidden tattoo to gain access? That's like MFA—another layer of security beyond just a password. 

If you remember, we did cover ZTN and MTD (mobile threat defense) in one of our earlier editions. 

When UEM and IAM come together, the dynamics of IT management swivel for businesses. The core is that the right user (identity) logs in to the right ‘device’ to ‘access’ the right data from the right place at the right time. Access is based on predefined conditions, where MFA comes into play. For a device or endpoint, the most basic of conditions is that it should be managed via the UEM or MDM solution. Then, there could be a thousand more conditions if admins wish so. Thousand, though, in this reference, is a figure of speech! 

Another fascinating element that IAM brings into the UEM frame is single sign-on (SSO). Think Jason Bourne juggling a dozen passports, each with a different alias and access to various intel. SSO is like having one master passport for all your digital identities. With SSO, you log in once and securely access all your work apps with a single set of credentials. No wonder 60-70% of organizations have either implemented SSO or plan to do so. 

IAM and UEM are two powerful forces for organizations and their IT and security teams. When available as an integrated solution, there’s so much on offer. For starters, you don’t need two separate dashboards. The cost-benefit is huge as well, wherein you don’t have to invest in two different solutions. Most importantly, you get to manage and secure endpoints, identities, and access sans the silos. 

Scalefusion OneIdP: A Confluence of IAM & UEM

The initiative behind this newsletter was to go Beyond Endpoints. And beyond endpoints, we went this year with the introduction of OneIdP. It’s our very own UEM-integrated IAM solution that offers all of what we covered in this edition. Innovations won’t stop for us as we intend to take OneIdP further to create an amazing confluence of IAM and UEM.

As we sign off this edition, we’d love to remind you that after a series of struggles, The Bourne Legacy still lives on. Simply because, in the end, he was able to establish his true identity.