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Identity and Access Management (IAM)

What is identity and access management (IAM)?

Identity and access management (IAM) is the set of policies, procedures, and technologies used to manage digital identities and control their access to systems, applications, data, and other resources.

IAM determines who or what is requesting access, how that identity is authenticated, what it is allowed to do, and when its access should change or end.

IAM can cover employees, contractors, customers, partners, administrators, service accounts, applications, devices, and workloads.

How does identity and access management work?

An IAM program commonly includes:

Identity creation and provisioning. An account is created and connected to relevant attributes, roles, groups, and resources.
Authentication. The user or system proves control of the claimed digital identity through a password, passkey, certificate, device, biometric factor, or multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Authorization. Policy determines which resources and actions the authenticated identity may access.
Access changes. Permissions are updated when a person changes role, a contract ends, a device is replaced, or a workload changes function.
Review and deprovisioning. Managers or system owners review permissions and remove unneeded accounts or privileges.
Logging and investigation. Access records support security monitoring, audits, and investigation of misuse.

Directory services and identity providers commonly store identity records and support single sign-on or federation. Separate tools may manage access reviews and apply tighter controls to administrative accounts. An organization may use one platform or several connected systems.

How is IAM different from identity verification?

Identity verification establishes or confirms that a human being is the person named in an identity claim. IAM manages the resulting digital account and its access rights. In a workforce case, an employer may verify a new hire before creating an account; IAM then handles authentication, application access, role changes, and deprovisioning.

Identity verification is not required for every IAM identity.

A service account has no civil identity to verify, and a low-risk customer account may not require a government document. Where reliable human identity is necessary, proofing can supply verified attributes before access is granted. Reverification may be used later for account recovery, a change of administrator, or another sensitive event.

Where is IAM used?

Organizations use IAM in several settings:

Workforce IAM manages employees, contractors, administrators, and their access to internal resources.
Customer IAM (CIAM) manages registration, login, consent, and account access for consumers or external users.
Partner or B2B IAM controls access for suppliers, distributors, and other organizations.
Machine identity management covers applications, workloads, services, devices, certificates, and cryptographic keys.

The controls differ by setting.

A privileged administrator may need phishing-resistant MFA and frequent access reviews. A consumer service may prioritize secure recovery, privacy, and high-volume login. A workload may authenticate with a certificate or short-lived credential rather than a human factor.

How can Regula help with IAM?

Regula can support identity proofing before an organization creates or restores a high-assurance account for an employee, contractor, partner, or customer.

Regula Document Reader SDK authenticates identity documents and extracts personal data from the visual inspection zone, machine-readable zone (MRZ), barcodes, and supported NFC/RFID chips. Its database contains more than 16,500 document templates from 254 countries and territories.

Regula Face SDK performs a 1:1 comparison between the person’s current facial image and a trusted portrait. Active or passive liveness detection can help confirm that a live person is taking part in the verification session.

The verified identity data can be passed to an IAM process for account creation, recovery, or reverification. Regula does not replace the identity provider, directory, authorization service, access-governance system, or privileged access manager.

Is IAM the same as authentication?

No. Authentication is one IAM function: it confirms that a user or system controls the credentials associated with a digital identity. IAM also covers account provisioning, authorization, access reviews, role changes, deprovisioning, and audit records.

What is the difference between IAM and CIAM?

IAM is the broader discipline of managing digital identities and access. Customer identity and access management (CIAM) applies IAM functions to consumers or other external users, commonly adding customer registration, consent, preference management, privacy controls, and large-scale account recovery. Workforce IAM concentrates on employees, contractors, and administrative access.

What does least privilege mean in IAM?

Least privilege means giving an identity only the access needed for its current duties and removing that access when the need ends. Roles, approval rules, time-limited permissions, and periodic reviews can support this principle. It limits the damage caused by a compromised account, an error, or deliberate misuse.

What is the difference between IAM and identity governance?

IAM covers identity lifecycle and access control as a whole. Identity governance and administration (IGA) concentrates on who should receive access, how access is approved and reviewed, and whether permissions meet policy. IGA is commonly treated as part of, or closely connected to, the wider IAM program.

How do SSO and MFA fit into IAM?

Single sign-on (SSO) lets a user authenticate through one identity provider and access multiple connected services. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) requires independent authentication factors and reduces reliance on a password alone. Both support authentication within IAM, but neither decides what the user is authorized to do or manages the full identity lifecycle.