According to the World Economic Forum, 95 percent of data breaches are caused by human error. But many organisations still have no system in place to manage and control which employees have access to sensitive data and critical resources, putting their whole organisation at risk.
What Are Identity and Access Management (IAM) Tools?
Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools provide secure policies and applications to manage access to resources within an organisation.
They define who has access to digital resources, ensuring that the right credentials are used and that the right people are using them at any given time. And when credentials are stolen, they allow companies to revoke access instantly, removing any entry points for malicious activity. Learn more about the importance of identity and access management in today's digital world.
Top 10 Identity and Access Management Tools to Explore
There is a variety of IAM tools on the market, each allowing companies to gain control over who can access company resources and protect themselves against external threats. But, of course, not all IAM tools are made the same.
In this Top 10, we’re counting down ten of the best identity and access management tools in 2023, exploring how they streamline the access management process and ensure compliance across the organisation.
JumpCloud
We kick off our list with JumpCloud, an IAM solution provider on a mission to reimagine the directory as a complete platform for identity, access, and device management. The company’s cloud directory platform helps IT administrators to manage user identities across macOS, Windows and Linux endpoints, mobile devices, cloud infrastructure and storage solutions, web applications, WiFi and VPN networks, wherever and whenever employees need to work.
JumpCloud is one of the best AIM tools on the market, trusted by over 150,000 organisations and has more than 5,000 paying customers including Cars.com, GoFundMe and many more. It has also raised over $400M from world-class investors including General Atlantic, Sands Capital and CrowdStrike.
SailPoint IdentifyIQ
Committed to helping companies from all industries remain as secure as possible, SailPoint has become a flagship IAM tool for identity governance and compliance for years. IdentityIQ is renowned for its strong identity governance and provisioning capabilities and can be used as both a stand-alone, on-premises installation or as an Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) solution.
With this easy-to-use environment, business leaders can simplify access, while ensuring only the right people can unlock certain pieces of data and applications. You can easily manage and control access for a range of digital identities, from IT managers who need access to APIs and automation, to everyday customer service agents accessing customer data. SailPoint is one of the top AIM tools, trusted by a host of market-leading brands, including GM, GE, and Humana.
CyberArk
A leader in Gartner's 2022 Magic Quadrant for access management, CyberArk stands out as one of the most reliable companies for security access management and risk mitigation. The all-in-one ecosystem of services from CyberArk offers something to suit every need, from identity security solutions for any device, available at any time, to comprehensive defence against common cyber-attacks.
With CyberArk, companies can leverage an end-to-end solution for access management, capable of securing endpoints, third-party applications, mobile devices, and more. You can even unlock the benefits of artificial intelligence to help with keeping threats out of your company.
Twingate
Twingate is another market leader in the security space offering a range of tools to help keep companies safe and compliant in any landscape. You can leverage Twingate for more secure access to private data ecosystems. There’s also an extensive identity access management offering to give you complete control over how different teams in your workforce can leverage certain tools, applications, and automation.
The Twingate solution is easy-to-use, with an intuitive interface which enables organisations to implement zero-trust networks with more security, scalability, and control than the standard VPN environment. Because Twingate is deliverable as a cloud-based service, it’s also easy to configure, without the need to change any in-house infrastructure.
Oracle IAM
Oracle is easily one of the market leaders in innovative and cloud-based solutions for security and business growth. Oracle’s IAM tool is flexible and perfectly suited for growing organisations in need of flexible systems which can adapt according to their unique business needs.
Oracle’s IAM solution can support both cloud and on-premises deployments, making them perfect for business leaders embracing the potential of hybrid work. You can also access a wide range of extra forms of support and services from Oracle, including “ID” as a service.
Microsoft Azure Active Directory
The Azure Active Directory is one of the most powerful tools for managing user permissions and access in the world today. As a Microsoft product, only will the Azure Active Directory provide AD for your Azure services but it will connect to your on-premises AD instances, so you can unify identity and access management for your hybrid system.
While the solution isn’t officially labelled as an IAM tool, it offers everything you need to keep your business secure, including “conditional access” control, and multi-factor authentication. As well as giving your business administrators the power to determine which users should have access to which tools in your organisation, Azure Active Directory also provides a variety of other features, like multi-factor authentication and cybersecurity protection.
Google Cloud IAM
Another tech giant offering its own Identity and Access Management environment is Google with its Cloud IAM as part of the leading Google Cloud ecosystem. Cloud IAM ensures administrators can authorise and determine exactly who should be able to access and use different resources in a cloud environment. This ensures businesses have more visibility and control over the technology they leverage in the cloud.
The easy-to-use environment provided by Google Cloud IAM offers an aligned view into security policies across the entire organisation, with built-in auditing capabilities to assist with compliance processes. The clean and simple user interface is popular among a wide range of users.
IBM Security Identity and Access Assurance
IBM’s Security Identity and Access Assurance tool works hand-in-hand with company processes and operations processes and operations. It works by implementing Zero Trust Access by managing VPN connections and controlling access to SaaS packages. While this does require a fair bit of work to set up, it can then seamlessly control access to both cloud and on-premises systems – and users won’t even know it’s there.
One of IBM's standout features is its ability to protect privileged accounts. It enables organisations to protect and manage privileged accounts with enterprise-grade password security and privileged access management. It also discovers, secures, and manages these “super” accounts’ passwords to protect them from risks and act swiftly when an incident happens. IBM was named the only visionary IAM tool by Gartner and has become one of the most popular IAM tools on the market.
Ping Identity
The Ping Identity platform helps organisations navigate the critical digital transformation step of transitioning to the cloud, enabling a more centralised and scalable IAM experience. Whether you want an SSO or a risk-based, adaptive authentication platform, Ping’s adaptive solution packages let you only pay for what you need and give you room to grow. This makes it an ideal choice for organisations looking to increase the security of their cloud-based assets without compromising their customer UI.
Ping was named a leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for access management and is trusted by over half of Fortune 100 companies and is a favourite among banks. It is also one of the best IAM solutions on the market for implementing a zero Turst access architecture across a number of networks, enabling single sign-on while providing connection security through a companion application. The Ping platform can integrate with other IAM systems, including Active Directory, Azure AD, CA Technologies, Oracle, and IBM.
Okta
Our number one spot goes to Okta with its enterprise-grade IAM tool specifically developed to help companies manage resource access in the cloud. Okta has long been a leader in access management, but its acquisition of fellow IAM solution provider Auth0 in 2021 has catapulted it into one of the best IAM tools on the market. Built on zero-trust principles, Okta offers a wide range of features, including single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), password management and passwordless security.
It also boasts a database of 7100 services and an extensive API library that can be integrated into a host of popular applications, including Zoom, Slack and Salesforce for faster installation. Okta is also highly scalable, and companies can work hand-in-hand with the Okta team to build a comprehensive IAM architecture, perfectly suited to minimise risk in your business landscape.