Concepts - Basics of the identity platform: What is IAM

Question 1

What core functionality do IAM systems typically provide?

Answer 1

• Identity management
• Identity federation
• Provisioning and deprovisioning of users
• Authentication of users
• Authorisation of users
• Access control
• Reports and monitoring

Question 2

Summarise the process of authenticating, authorising, and accessing resources?

Answer 2

1. The user (resource owner) initiates an AuthN request with the IdP from the client application.
2. If the credentials are valid, the IdP sends back an ID token.
3. The IdP server also obtains end-user consent and grants the client application AuthZ to access the protected resource. AuthZ is provide in an access token, which is also sent back to the client application.
4. The access token is attached to the requets made to the protected resource server from the client app.
5. The IdP server validates the access token. If successful the request for protected resources is granted, and the response is sent back to the client application.

Question 3

List some of the most well-known authentication and authorisation standards.

Answer 3

• OAuth 2.0
• OpenID Connect (OIDC)
• JSON web tokens (JWTs)
• Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
• System for Cross-Domain Identity Management (SCIM)
• Web Services Federation (WS-Fed)