What is Identity Analytics?

What Is Identity Analytics?

Identity Analytics is the process that identity and access management practitioners use to get actionable intelligence into how employees, vendors, contractors and other users of an organization’s IT infrastructure access and use applications and sensitive information. Identity analytics leverages functionalities such as access log analysis, machine learning (ML), and other advanced technologies to help organizations gain insight into the overall health of their Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) program. It is a critical component of modern identity and access management (IAM) systems, helping organizations make better decisions, improve user experiences, enhance security, ensure compliance with regulations, and reduce the overall TCO of their IAM strategy.

Traditional vs. Modern Identity Analytics

Traditionally, organizations used manual role definition processes to gain insight into the strength of their IGA posture. At baseline, this was a time-consuming and error-prone effort; and keeping pace with organizational changes was a constant struggle.

Today, as organizations move more applications and sensitive data to cloud-hosted environments, they need to innovate to eliminate outdated permissions, reduce the number of security vulnerabilities, and improve inefficient access control processes. The advanced modern Identity Analytics processes offered by SaaS-based IGA solutions are essential for organizations trying to streamline and improve role management and identity governance in new environments.

Key Features of Identity Analytics

• Behavior analysis tools that monitor user behavior to detect anomalies, such as unusual login locations, times, or devices to help identify potential insider threats or compromised accounts.
• Access optimization analysis of access patterns to identify unnecessary or excessive permissions and supports least-privilege access policies to reduce security risks.
• Role mining and discovery tools to identify patterns in user roles and permissions across the organization and help streamline role-based access control (RBAC) by creating more efficient role structures.
• Risk scoring functionality that assigns risk scores to users, devices, or actions based on predefined criteria and prioritizes actions like access reviews or authentication challenges for high-risk entities.
• Compliance auditing tools to track and report on user access to meet regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, etc.) and simplify audit processes by providing detailed identity-related insights.
• Advanced fraud detection and prevention algorithms to spot patterns indicative of fraud or account takeover attempts and facilitate proactive security measures.

Identity Analytics Tools and Technologies

• Machine Learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for pattern recognition and anomaly detection.
• Big data platforms to process large volumes of identity-related data.
• IAM solutions to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems, applications, and data.
• An identity fabric that centralizes control of hybrid and multi-cloud environments and supports any human or machine identity.

Identity Analytics Use Cases

• Real-time threat detection using unauthorized or suspicious access attempt identification.
• User lifecycle management ensuring users have appropriate access throughout their employment or engagement.
• Adherence demonstration to legal and regulatory standards for compliance audits.
• Assignment optimization of roles and permissions.

Benefits of Identity Analytics from a SaaS-Based IGA Solution

• Improved decision-making: Intelligent features like ML automate the recommendation of personalized roles for each user and assign the most appropriate roles based on individual needs.
• Simplified access control decisions: Users can leverage a self-service user portal where they can request access themselves instead of bogging down the help desk.
• Permission risk mitigation: Data-driven recommendations significantly reduce the risk of assigning incorrect permissions, dramatically boosting overall security posture.
• Increased user productivity: Assign roles faster and more accurately to get users access to the resources they need sooner, maximizing their productivity.

Where to Learn More about Identity Analytics and Get Help

Leveraging Identity Analytics helps organizations streamline role management, enhance security, and equip their IGA team with the data-driven insights they need for optimal access management and consistent compliance adherence.

See how Omada Identity Analytics provides true innovation to help your organization meet business and regulatory challenges, make better decisions, and lower identity and access management costs in the process.