ConvergeOne Blog

Identity + Access Management (IAM) Challenges in the Public Cloud

Written by C1 | Jul 27, 2021 2:00:00 PM

With public cloud adoption becoming the way of life for the increasing number of organizations looking to solve business challenges with remote working, questions about its security implications are inevitable. However, security has many different meanings and challenges in the public cloud with native solutions.

Identity + Access Management Foundations

The principle of least privilege should always be the foundation upon which identity and access management (IAM) is set. Basically, a user, program, or process should have only the minimum privileges necessary to perform the job requirement.

IAM lets the organization manage the access by which identity has access to what (Role) for which resource (Job Requirement).

What IAM Issues Are There?

Typically, with cloud-native solutions carried by Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), there is a vast range of services and tool sets to use for most solutions. However, there are also some limitations to this. The areas below must be taken into consideration for any cloud approach:

  • The Inability to inadequately detect, prevent, and monitor
  • Lack of governance and compliance
  • Excessive privileges (admin accounts, too many)
  • Morphed/zombie accounts (former employees)
  • Users bypassing enterprise IAM accounts
  • SaaS accounts zombie

What Can We Do to Alleviate the Issue?

There are many third-party solutions that can be integrated into any public cloud to help with these issues, which are more relevant than ever today.

Let ConvergeOne help build out your security controls in your cloud environment or leverage our Cloud Strategy Workshop to ensure success in your cloud journey.

For further information, reach out to Martin Townend.