AiVibeIdentity and Access Management (IAM)
Identity and access management (IAM) is the discipline and set of cloud services that authenticate users, applications and devices and authorise exactly which resources and actions each identity is allowed to access.
Identity and access management (IAM) is the set of policies and technologies that ensure the right identities, whether people, applications or devices, have the right access to the right resources. It covers authentication, which verifies who or what is requesting access, and authorisation, which determines what that identity may do. In cloud platforms, services such as AWS IAM, Microsoft Entra ID with Azure role-based access control, and Google Cloud IAM attach permissions to users, groups, roles and service accounts through policies.
IAM is the primary security control in the cloud, because almost every action is an API call that is allowed or denied by policy. Organisations use it to give employees single sign-on through identity federation, to grant workloads temporary credentials instead of stored keys and to separate duties between administrators, developers and auditors. Well-designed IAM also supports audit and compliance requirements, including those of ISO/IEC 27001.
The core principle is least privilege: grant only the permissions needed, for only as long as needed. Common weaknesses include long-lived access keys, overly broad wildcard permissions, unused accounts and missing multi-factor authentication for privileged users. Regular access reviews, permission analysis tools, centralised logging of access decisions and role-based or attribute-based access control models help keep IAM manageable as estates grow.
Key points
- Authentication verifies an identity; authorisation decides what it may do
- Cloud IAM controls nearly every API action through policies and roles
- Least privilege and temporary credentials reduce the impact of compromised accounts
- Access reviews and logging keep permissions aligned with actual need
Where AiVibe comes in
AiVibe Software Services delivers cloud solutions on AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud or on-premise, together with cloud security, legacy modernisation, data analytics and AI and machine learning services.
Related terms
- Shared Responsibility ModelCloud & AI Infrastructure
- Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)Cloud & AI Infrastructure
- Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA)Cybersecurity & Compliance
- ISO/IEC 27001Cybersecurity & Compliance
- Multi-CloudCloud & AI Infrastructure