What is Identity Governance & Administration (IGA)?

Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) is a framework that helps organizations manage digital identities and access rights across their IT environments. Think of it as the "who, what, and how" of access control. IGA ensures the right people have the right level of access to the right resources at the right time.

Core Components of IGA

IGA is typically broken down into two main components – Identity Governance and Identity Administration. 

• Identity Governance is the policy and oversight side of IGA. It focuses on the business processes and rules that govern access. Key functions include access certifications (or recertifications), where managers regularly review and approve user access rights to ensure they're still appropriate. This helps enforce the principle of least privilege, which dictates that users should only have the minimum access necessary to perform their jobs. Separation of Duties (SoD) is another critical governance function that prevents a single individual from having access to conflicting privileges, such as the ability to both create and approve a financial transaction.
• Identity Administration is the operational side that automates and streamlines the day-to-day management of digital identities. It handles the provisioning of user accounts and access rights across various systems, whether they're on-premises or in the cloud. This includes onboarding new employees and granting them initial access, as well as deprovisioning access when an employee leaves the company, a crucial step to prevent security risks. It also includes managing user lifecycles, from creating accounts to updating permissions as roles change, ensuring access rights remain current and accurate.

Core Benefits of Identity Governance & Administration (IGA)

The primary goal of IGA is to provide a single, unified view of all user identities and their corresponding access rights. This provides centralized visibility and control, which are essential for managing complexity in modern IT environments. By automating these processes, IGA reduces manual errors, saves time for IT and security teams, and lowers the overall security risk. It is also vital for meeting compliance requirements, as it provides the necessary audit trails to prove that an organization is effectively managing access and protecting sensitive data.

Implementing a modern IGA solution provides several key benefits:

• Enhanced Security: IGA enforces the principle of least privilege, ensuring users have only the minimum access needed for their job. It also helps with Separation of Duties (SoD) to prevent fraud and automatically revokes access when users change roles or leave.
• Streamlined Compliance and Auditing: By automating processes like access certifications, IGA simplifies demonstrating compliance with regulations. It creates comprehensive, easily accessible audit trails, making regulatory audits much faster and less burdensome.
• Improved Operational Efficiency: IGA automates the manual, repetitive tasks of managing user identities and access. This frees up IT and security teams to focus on more strategic initiatives. It also reduces help desk calls related to access issues, saving time and resources.
• Reduced Risk: By providing a unified view of who has access to what, IGA allows organizations to quickly identify and address potential security risks, such as over-privileged accounts or dormant accounts that could be exploited.

Businesses that Need IGA

IGA is essential for any business that must manage a large number of identities and their access rights. This includes:

• Regulated Industries: Sectors like healthcare (HIPAA), finance (SOX, PCI DSS), and government agencies have stringent compliance requirements for data access and auditing. IGA provides the necessary controls and audit trails to meet these mandates.
• Large Enterprises: Companies with thousands of employees and contractors face a significant challenge in managing user lifecycles, permissions, and roles. IGA automates user provisioning and deprovisioning, drastically reducing manual workload and the risk of orphaned accounts.
• Companies with Hybrid or Multi-Cloud Environments: As businesses adopt a mix of on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures, managing access across disparate systems becomes complex. IGA offers a centralized platform to enforce consistent access policies and provide a single source of truth for all identities.
• Organizations with High Employee Turnover: In industries with frequent staff changes, manually updating access rights is prone to error and creates security gaps. IGA ensures access rights are automatically revoked when an employee leaves, mitigating the risk of data breaches.