Identity Access Management: What’s the Difference Between IAM, PAM and MFA?

What Is Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

IAM is an umbrella term that refers to the set of policies, technologies and processes that manage users’ identities and control their access to resources within an organization, explains Petros Efstathopoulos, vice president of research at RSAC. “IAM is crucial for ensuring secure interaction with web applications and cloud services, as it allows administrators to grant permissions to users and applications, thereby defining how these entities can interact with specific resources,” he says.

For example, IAM can be used to grant employee access to data on only certain customers, or to particular applications or files but not others.

In other words, IAM is a broad term, and a fundamental concept in security, that refers to three major tasks: identifying users, authenticating them and managing their privileges.

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How Does Multifactor Authentication Fit Within IAM?

MFA is a capability of an organization’s IAM program, says Brandon Traffanstedt, senior director for CyberArk’s global technology office. “It makes sure that users are properly authenticated in this process by enforcing the use of several controls, or factors, of proof when the user is trying to access something,” he says.

Users might be asked for a password alongside a biometric authentication, for instance, or a password and a ‘push’ to an authentication app or code on a physical device.

What Is Privileged Access Management (PAM)?

PAM can be thought of as a subset of IAM that is focused on powerful or sensitive access and normally used in scenarios whereby an individual (or machine) needs access to systems or services requiring stronger permissions than a standard user.

PAM is used to ensure that this highly sought-after access is hardened with extensive security controls.

“Privileged access can be associated with human users as well as nonhuman users, such as applications and machine identities,” Traffanstedt says.

Likewise, the definitions of privileged access and standard access continue to expand as more users and machines are given additional high-level access.

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What Are Single Sign-On and Role-Based Access Control?

Single sign-on is an authentication process that allows a user to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.

“SSO simplifies the user experience by reducing the number of logins required and enhances security by reducing the number of passwords users need to remember,” says Ted Kietzman, product marketing manager for Cisco’s Duo Security.

Role-based access control restricts system access to authorized users based on their role within an organization, Kietzman explains: “Basically, your role designates what you can and can’t access.”

How to Use IAM, MFA and PAM Together

The good news for IT leaders, Traffanstedt says, is that these security controls are complementary practices. “The best way to think about how they are implemented is from the perspective of what is valuable to your organization,” he adds.

That can be different for every business, but it typically includes protecting customer data while ensuring service availability, even as organizations deliver to their employees efficient access to the applications they need to work — but only to those applications.

It might also cover the intricate regulatory framework of the healthcare sector. “An effective identity security strategy starts with this and works outward to ensure that the right person has the right access at the right time,” Traffanstedt says.

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Implementing IAM, MFA and PAM in Modern Architectures

Modern systems have commoditized a lot of the IAM functions and capabilities, primarily as cloud services.

“The commoditization of IAM cloud services, toolkits and products enables organizations to design and implement a tailor-made system,” Efstathopoulos says.

These include readily available components that have been designed to collaborate with one another and improve usability and security. Kietzman says there are several benefits to moving IAM, MFA and PAM to a Software as a Service model, including reduction of management and maintenance costs, higher availability and scalability, and tooling that is updated consistently.

“However, making this choice and effort will depend on a given business’s IT stack,” he adds.

Future Trends in Identity and Access Management

Efstathopoulos says a key technological trend that will impact the future of IAM is the increasing use of AI and nonhuman agents in various industries. “Current systems in place are predominantly designed with the assumption that all agents involved are human,” he says, noting that IAM mostly authenticates human identities.

However, the increasing use of AI is giving rise to nonhuman agents capable of handling a wide range of tasks, from automated billing to chatbot-based customer support.

As the number of nonhuman agents involved in various businesses functions increases, Efstathopoulos says, “we would need to revisit and adjust the identification, authentication and access management strategies in order to integrate these new identities and address the additional security challenges that may arise.”