Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS). What is it?

We are already familiar with many terms in the world of cloud technologies, such as Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The last to join this list was the identification as a service (IDaaS) phrase.

First, why do we need IDaaS? More and more companies associate their development with cloud technologies, so they need to find a balance between identification in the cloud and locally, not to mention how to manage it. This problem is intended to solve IDaas.

In addition, IDaaS can have a positive effect on reducing the cost of IAM (Access Control Solutions) solutions. And that is not all. IAM is faced with difficulties everywhere, both in terms of business and technology. For example, the concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) comes around the world. According to this concept, users can enter the network of enterprises all over the world from any personal device, such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Obviously, this causes a lot of controversy about security and access control.
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Many services in companies, such as administrative, security and auditing, try to create their own security solutions in order to reduce financial costs. But these solutions are not so effective due to poor management and control over them, which allows unauthorized intrusion into the organization’s network by intruders.

There are already several public incidents in the world that have caused losses of tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as great reputational losses. As an example, it is possible to cite the case of Dropbox, whose employee used the password to enter the internal system of the company with which he previously entered LinkedIN. The password for the account was obtained by attackers and used to log in to the Dropbox system. It is estimated that they took over more than 68 million employee accounts and all of them were sold on the black market. So, in 2016, it turned out that all these Dropbox accounts were posted on the Internet.

This case shows how identity management of employee credentials can protect company assets from hacking. Since 2012, cloud technologies have been growing at a significant pace, thereby bringing to the forefront the protection and management of credentials.

All of these aspects together led to the emergence of the IDaaS platform. A number of companies are already successfully using this model, and it has positively recommended itself, as it adds another layer of protection for user credentials, and also helps with compliance with regulatory requirements. Since security requirements are constantly growing due to the increasing hacker attacks, IDaaS can significantly help those teams of professionals who are now working on securing the network, because IDaaS complies with most security standards.

From the point of view of the service provider, this functionality is basic for any IDaaS platform. The supplier of such a platform should constantly introduce innovations to increase the attractiveness of the service for customers. In addition, these solutions must support cross-platform authentication, such as portable biometric sensors, to be truly necessary for customers.

It is curious to observe the development of IDaaS platforms in the next few years. This trend is in its infancy.