Multi-Cloud Identity and Authentication

Multi-Cloud Identity and Authentication

Introduction

The cloud computing market is growing fast. By 2020, an estimated $250 billion will be spent on SaaS applications, and by 2021, the number of active mobile devices worldwide will exceed 4 billion.

Identity In The Cloud

The term 'identity' is a broad concept, and the definition of identity continues to change as technology advances. In the context of cloud computing, however, we define identity as:

"A set of data related to an individual or entity that allows you to connect with other users or devices over a network."

This definition is simple enough for anyone in cybersecurity and data science. Still, it's also powerful because it opens up opportunities for innovation on both sides: how we identify ourselves and authenticate our identities.

Why Multi-Cloud Identity and Access Management?

There are better fits for the multi-cloud world than the traditional identity and access management approach. It's time to rethink how you manage your users, applications, and data.

In the past, organizations used a single on-premise system that stored all their user credentials, application logins, role definitions, and policies. With this model:

• Security was provided by keeping everything within your own four walls (aka perimeter).
• Reliability came from having one system with no moving parts that could break down or go bad over time as it aged. As long as you had power in your building and internet connectivity, things were good enough for most businesses to get by without worrying about uptime or performance issues too much beyond occasional outages due to maintenance windows or other scheduled events. And if something did go wrong? Well, take it offline until it’s fixed; after all, there are always plenty more servers just sitting around waiting their turn to be deployed in case one fails unexpectedly!

Multi-Cloud Identify Federation Use Cases

Multi-Cloud Identity Federation use cases.

Multi-Cloud Identify Federation is a way to connect multiple cloud services under a single identity. For example, if your company has accounts in both AWS and Azure, you can connect them using iDaaS technologies. This enables you to manage all of your applications within one standard user interface and enables users to easily access both clouds from any device without creating new credentials for each service.

Multi-Cloud Identify Federation also helps with governance by consolidating all users’ access rights into one place to manage them centrally. This reduces security risks associated with having separate identities for each platform, as well as making it easier for administrators to audit user activity across the organization because there will be less fragmentation between systems than would otherwise occur if everyone had their own set of credentials at every site they were authorized on (which could mean dozens or even hundreds of different logins).

Multi-Cloud Deployments

Multi-Cloud Deployments

With the increased use of cloud computing, multi-cloud deployments are a growing trend. These deployments involve multiple public or private clouds that different providers may manage. While most organizations are adopting some form of a multi-cloud strategy, this approach can be complex and require special attention from security teams.

As with any significant change in technology or process, an organization should ensure that its existing policies and procedures are updated to account for changes in how services are consumed in a multi-cloud environment. For example, suppose an organization has access controls based on IP addresses. In that case, it must ensure that these rules do not prevent users from accessing applications hosted outside their network while working remotely. In addition to reviewing access controls and ensuring they don’t block users from accessing apps hosted on other networks (such as Office 365), organizations should also review their governance policies regarding data storage and retention—for example, if a team member leaves the company but continues using personal devices with access to sensitive information stored on those devices; this could result in unauthorized access without appropriate security measures being put into place first so make sure all relevant parties have been notified beforehand so they can take appropriate steps against such situations happening again."

There are over 100 tools out there.

If you're looking to solve the identity and access management problem, there are over 100 tools. Some are designed for a specific use case, such as cloud-native micro-services or container security. Others are more general-purpose and can be used in a variety of scenarios.

The good news is that many of these tools offer open-source licenses, which means you can know that your company won't have to pay for an enterprise license when you only need it for personal usage (such as checking Gmail from your phone). On top of that, these tools also tend to be free or very inexpensive when compared with traditional software licensing models.

Conclusion

There are over 100 tools out there. The key is to find the right tool for your use case and understand what it can and can't do. For example, if you're looking for a tool that lets users access all of their cloud applications from one place without having to log in constantly, look no further than Google's enterprise mobility management (EMM) software suite. On the other hand, if you're more concerned about securing sensitive data across multiple platforms, something like Okta or Bitium will work better for your needs since they both offer multi-factor authentication options and single sign-on capabilities.