Cloud Identity Free or G Suite Basic/Business assigned users display in user lookup results and you can add them as Jamf Pro LDAP accounts. Secure Google LDAP service requires a different configuration than standard LDAP servers. Identity Authentication is a cloud service for authentication, single sign-on, and user management in SAP cloud and on-premise applications. It can act as an identity provider itself or be used as a proxy to integrate with an existing single sign-on infrastructure.
Updated on February 2, 2021
There’s been a movement in the past few years to innovate in the identity management space – for a variety of reasons including cloud transformation, remote work, security, and more. Most of that innovation in the IAM space has been around cloud identity management – shifting the process of authentication and authorization to the cloud.
Unfortunately, the initial take on this was effectively single sign-on to web applications or what many have called IDaaS. More recently, though, next-generation approaches have moved on from just extending Active Directory to developing full blown IAM systems in the cloud, without the need for on-prem infrastructure or add-ons, endemic to the IAM industry.
Definition of Cloud Identity Management
Cloud identity management is a lot more than just a simple web app SSO solution. Think of this as the next generation of IAM; a holistic shift of the entire identity infrastructure to the cloud, including the identity provider, SSO, MFA, PAM, IGA, and much more. Called JumpCloud Directory Platform, this approach is the modern adaptation of the traditional, on-prem and legacy solutions like Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), along with their add-ons of web application single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, privileged access management, identity governance and administration, and more.
The modern adaptation of the directory service is optimized to be used across any device, on any operating system, with any on-prem or web-based application or any cloud, on-prem, or remote resource. Modern cloud IAM solutions are also focused on being multi-protocol to enable virtually any IT resource to connect in their ‘native’ authentication language.
A Modern Cloud Identity Management Solution such as a Cloud Directory Platform Lets You:
- Securely connect employees to their devices (systems, mobile, servers), IT applications (on-prem or the cloud), files (cloud hosted or on-prem) and networks via VPN or WiFi
- Leverage best in class security using Zero Trust principles
- Limit management overhead and improve security and user manageability
- One touch provision users to virtually all of their IT resources and with HRIS integration
- Connect your cloud servers (hosted at AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or elsewhere) to your existing AD or LDAP user store
- Extend your existing AD or LDAP directory to the cloud
- Manage your Windows, Linux, and Mac desktops, laptops, and servers regardless of location
- Connect users to applications that leverage either LDAP or SAML-based authentication
- Manage user access to VPN and WiFi networks securely through a cloud RADIUS service
- GPO-like capabilities across Mac, Windows, and Linux devices for remote system management
- System-based and application-level multi-factor authentication (2FA)
In a sense, all of these capabilities create a platform that connects users to virtually all of their IT resources regardless of provider, platform, protocol, or location while also enabling admins to automate the on-boarding and off-boarding process. Further, in an era of security, privacy, and compliance being top of mind, a modern cloud identity management platform can provide detailed visibility into all access transactions.
As IT admins know, legacy identity management solutions struggle in an era of cloud services, mixed-device environments, Google Workspaces/Microsoft 365, AWS, and more. The JumpCloud approach to cloud identity management makes quick work of being a modern directory or extending your existing directory to the cloud with a powerful, easy-to-use SaaS-based solution.
Positive Impacts of Cloud Identity Management
Cloud identity management can be crucial to your organization. It can influence the productivity of your employees in an era of remote work and the security of your organization when IT can’t physically control all variables. It can also have a massive influence on what technology solutions you choose. If you are locked into certain platforms or providers because of your existing directory service / identity management solution, take a look at a vendor-neutral cloud identity management solution.
Drop us a note to learn more about how JumpCloud’s modern take on IDaaS can support your organization. Please also check out our cloud identity provider for yourself by signing up for a free account. Your first 10 users and 10 systems are free. Also, you’ll get 10 days of 24×7 Premium in-app chat support.
Cloud migration, cloud adoption, and digital transformation—which depending on the expert can be seen as variations on the same theme—have dominated enterprises’ dreams and cybersecurity professionals’ nightmares for the past few years. For the former, the benefits they offer are more than enticing for enterprises of all sizes and industries. Moving to the cloud can provide a theoretical infinite scalability to your enterprise’s IT environment, streamline business processes, consolidate your corporate assets, and ultimately improve your profit margin.
However, cloud migration isn’t a simple process, especially when it comes to maintaining proper cybersecurity protocols. Moving your enterprise’s assets and proprietary data to the cloud requires greater control over which employees can access those cloud resources. Furthermore, your IT security team needs to ensure that the users claiming to be your employees are in fact your employees. In short, your enterprise needs to implement a cloud identity management solution to your new digital environment.
But what does that mean? And how does it compare to legacy or traditional identity and access management? Here’s what you need to know:
What is Identity and Access Management?
It can be easy to assume that the answer to the question “what is identity and access management?” is “passwords.” The two do tend to be conflated, yet it is in fact so much more than that.
Identity and access management is one of the staples of a comprehensive cybersecurity platform—possibly the most important if some surveys are to be believed. At its core, identity and access management solutions define and manages the identities and access privileges of the users in your enterprise’s network. These solutions handle the circumstances in which users receive privileges…or are denied those privileges if security teams deem it necessary.
Identity and access management solutions handle onboarding—bringing an employee into the enterprise’s network for the first time—the management of their access lifecycle as they work in the enterprise, and offboarding—the opposite of onboarding. In other words, this component of cybersecurity grants the right permissions to the right users at the right time and makes sure that users are who they say they are via authentication (which can, indeed, involve passwords).
How Does Cloud Identity Management Differ?
In the modern business context, cloud identity management can be seen as the next step or next generation of identity and access management solutions. It can also be seen as a combination of Identity as a Service and Enterprise Mobility Management. Traditional or legacy identity and access management solutions are designed to handle logins and user activities in a centralized location, on enterprise/proprietary applications, and on known endpoints.
Cloud Identity Connect
On the other hand, cloud identity management differs from the traditional model in that it is optimized for integration across devices, operating systems, applications, and resources. This is essential, as cloud migration will open access to endpoints outside of enterprise control and across locations.
Cloud identity management can manage user access to WiFi networks, connect cloud servers, and facilitates authentication. The latter is essential—it prevents outside threat actors from reaching your databases and (in a least privileges security model) it keeps insider threats at bay. Authentication protocols need to expand and scale as the IT environment scales, ensuring more security while balancing an ideal user experience.
In other words, cloud identity management can foster better identity coordination and reduce overhead—all significant benefits in a digitally transformed enterprise.
Other Components of Cloud Identity Management
Cloud identity management can leverage SAML-based authentication and multifactor authentication, but it can also help IT security teams manage the real challenges of decentralized user accounts. Access to cloud databases and assets need to be tightly monitored, especially during the onboarding and off-boarding processes. The solution can also track which users are accessing what and when, which is vital information not only for security but for regulatory compliance.
Cloud Identity Summit
So is cloud identity management right for your enterprise? It can be hard to say. You need to figure out how your digital transformation has moved assets and processes off-site to cloud services, and how those cloud services are accessed now. Does your current identity and access management solution handle cloud storage? Or is it time for a switch? If the latter, it may be time to start evaluating your options—your employees, customers, and reputation are counting on you to secure them. Don’t let them down.
Ben Canner
Ben Canner is an enterprise technology writer and analyst covering Identity Management, SIEM, Endpoint Protection, and Cybersecurity writ large. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Clark University in Worcester, MA. He previously worked as a corporate blogger and ghost writer. You can reach him via Twitter and LinkedIn.
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