Technology continues to advance at full speed. We are witnessing rapid progress in many areas, from developments in end-user devices to artificial intelligence applications, from automation technologies that touch our daily lives to space technologies. The applications we use during the day, the number of login applications in various ways has increased without being ignored. We log into many accounts, from social media accounts to e-mail accounts, cloud storage systems accounts and accounts we connect to for games, and the number of these applications and systems is increasing day by day.
These technological developments, which we have personally experienced, of course also show themselves in corporate information systems. At the point we have reached today, corporate information systems and software are also growing day by day and diversifying within the corporate structure. Employees connect to and work on many applications during the day for their work. The increase in the number and complexity of these applications that increase working efficiency also makes it difficult to manage the account information of the users, and at some point, the need to manage user accounts, identities and authorizations. In this article, we will focus on the concept of identity management, which offers solutions to this need in corporate structures.
What is Identity Management System (IDM)?
IDM, short for Identity Management; It means the identity management system that forms part of the holistic access and identity management (IAM) approach. The holistic access and identity management approach includes identity database systems (organization-specific databases such as LDAP, ActiveDirectory, Postgresql, etc.), identity management system (IDM) and access management systems (SSO, CAS, OAuth Access and authorization (AAA) system software. ). IDM systems are located between databases and access management systems, organize the credentials in different identity databases in corporate structures and present them to the access system according to usage scenarios.
The Identity Management System communicates with systems that keep identity information on it in corporate structures. If we give an example of communication systems; directory systems, human resources systems, e-mail systems, ERP software, etc. systems can be counted. With the communication established by the Identity Management System with these systems; provides centralized management of new accounts, identities, and authorizations. When necessary, it can perform many operations such as reading, writing and synchronizing.
Identity Management System What are the Advantages of IDM System?
In corporate structures with a high number of users, editing, changing, adding/removing identity information creates a workload for system administrators. In scenarios where each identity database needs to be touched, more than one technical staff allocates time and coordinates for the relevant process. For example, when an employee leaves the job, his information should be deleted from all identity databases in the corporate structure. For example, when a user leaves the job, the Active Directory administrator of the institution, the personnel managing the human resources database, the personnel managing the document management system, etc. spend time to delete their credentials in many databases. IDM enables these processes to be automated from a single center.
The correct management of user credentials beyond the time spent is of great importance in terms of cyber security. For example, if the identity information of a dismissed personnel in the systems used in the corporate structure is not deleted, it will be possible for this person to gain access to the corporate systems and cause harm. It is possible with the Identity Management System to quickly cut off the access of the desired number of users to corporate systems from a single point in order to ensure cyber security when necessary. In addition to these advantages, IDM can easily perform audits related to identity information and authorizations and prepare reports for IT managers to review.
In addition to the advantages that Identity Management Systems provide directly through their own features, it is proven by experience that during the commissioning of the Identity Management System in corporate structures, uncertainties and deficiencies in existing accounts, authorizations and processes arise. In the analyzes made before the Identity Management System is put into use or after the commissioning, such situations are corrected and the identities, authorizations and processes within the corporate structure are regulated as they should be.
To summarize, the advantages of Identity Management Systems are;
- Facilitates Corporate Identity Management
- Reduces Workload
- Contributes to Cyber Security
- Clarifies Identity, Authority and User Processes
Viper Identity Management System System
Today, open source software and systems developed as an alternative to commercial software and systems have surpassed their commercial counterparts in terms of feature, quality and consistency. For the security of data, which is vital for corporate structures such as identity information, there are open source systems whose source codes can be seen and proven to be safe. Among the open source Identity Management Systems, the product that stands out with its quality, consistency and security is the Viper Identity Management System. Viper Identity Management System running on the server communicates directly with other identity databases, via web services or Java-based packages called "Connectors", and can perform operations such as reading, writing, deleting, updating in a central and secure manner.
It can also perform central verification processes by working in integration with authentication systems (SSO, CAS, Auth2.0) that use industry standards at the point of access management. The advantages of the Viper Identity Management System are as follows;
| Viper Identity Management System | Business Identity Management Products | |
| License Fee |  |  |
| Cyber security | | |
| Open Source Code | | |
| Linux Support | | |
| Support Services | | |
Viper Identity Management System supported by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM is used in various public institutions. For detailed information about the Viper Identity Management System, you can contact the Pardus team.
