Identity and access management is the discipline that enables the right individuals to access the right resources at the right times, for the right reasons (Gartner). ‘Access’ and ‘user’ are integral to Identity and Access Management.
‘Access’ refers to the actions that are permitted by a user. For example, view, create or change a file. ‘Users’ refers to employees, partners, contractors or clients.
An Identity & Access Management framework allows managers to control user access to critical information within their organization. Systems used for Identity & Access Management include single sign-on, two-factor authentication, multi-factor authentication and privileged access management.