Identity vs Access Management
Identity verification is a process that verifies the identity of a user of your system. It verifies different properties of the user’s identity, such as their name, email address, or phone number, to ensure that they are who they claim to be. This process is important because it helps to prevent fraudulent activities, such as identity theft and assign the right access to the right person in the end.
Access management is a process that manages the access to a system or resource. It is the process of granting or denying access to specific users or groups based on their roles, permissions, subscription or other criteria. This process is important and almost always critical to an organization acting in the digital space, as it ensures that only authorized users have access to the system or resources, and that they are granted the appropriate level of access.
When registering as a user on a digital platform, you need to be able to identify and authenticate yourself. That platform provider must first ensure that you can be identified uniquely. Traditionally verifying your email address and a password. In the last years, multifactor authentication, digital keys, biometrics, and other methods have become more and more popular for platform providers to identify their users. Once you have an identity, the platform grants you access to the resources you need to move forward.
As a business, you want to allow new users to register with the least amount of friction. To do so, you can allow them to identify themselves using well-known identity providers such as Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Apple, GitHub, etc. but here’s the catch, you do not want to delegate the access management part to a third party.
Remaining in control of the access management authorization to access resources is a critical aspect of your business when acting in the digital space.
A Typical Access Management Delegation Traps
Google Firebase offers to manage all contacts between your platform and your users, and allows you to configure access management and notification using its technology stack. By delegating this access management to Firebase, you will be able to leverage the power of its feature stack, such as two-factor authentication, encryption, and data protection, to ensure the security of your users’ data and prevent unauthorized access. On the other side, you must ask yourself then, who really owns the contact with your users? Is it Google or is it you?
For your organization, you need to make a choice between benefits and downsides. Between so-called free features and delegating a certain level of control to a third party.
Owning your Customers
You might decide that you want to keep control of your customers and the management of their data, by leveraging the identity providers out there, yet ensuring your own access management capabilities. The two practical solutions out there are self-baked solutions, with your custom code or using a framework, and self-hosted enterprise open-source solutions which you can operate yourself.
Advantages of Owning your Customers
By being in control of the contact with your customers, you can monitor all incoming and outgoing signals they receive. This way, you can ensure that they are always in a secure and trusted environment and strongly improve your understanding of your customers. Controlling the digital experience of your customers allows you to ensure receive a fantastic experience when navigating within your digital products’ ecosystem.
Aug 29, 2024
Published on Aug 29, 2024 by
Published on Aug 29, 2024 by
