Set your eyes on the Target!

1015red_F1CoverStory.jpg
So in my previous posts I’ve discussed a couple of key points in what I define as the basic principles of Identity and Access Management;

Now that we have all the information needed, we can start to look at your target systems. Now in the simplest terms this could be your local Active Directory (Authentication Domain), but this could be anything, and with the adoption of cloud services, often these target systems are what drives the need for robust IAM services.… [Keep reading] “Set your eyes on the Target!”

What's a DEA?

In my last post I made a reference to a “Data Exchange Agreement” or DEA, and I’ve since been asked a couple of times about this. So I thought it would be worth while writing a post about what it is, why it’s of value to you and to your business.
So what’s a DEA? Well in simply terms it’s exactly what the name states, it’s an agreement that defines the parameters in which data is exchanged between Service A and Service B. … [Keep reading] “What's a DEA?”

The Vault!

Vault
The vault or more precisely the “Identity Vault” is a single pane view of all the collated data of your users, from the various data source repositories. This sounds like a lot of jargon but it’s quite simple really.
In the diagram below we look at a really simple attribute firstName (givenName within AD) DataFlow
As you will see at the centre is the attribute, and branching off this is all the Connected Systems, i.e. Active Directory.… [Keep reading] “The Vault!”

Where's the source!

SauceIn this post I will talk about data (aka the source)! In IAM there’s really one simple concept that is often misunderstood or ignored. The data going out of any IAM solution is only as good as the data going in. This may seem simple enough but if not enough attention is paid to the data source and data quality then the results are going to be unfavourable at best and catastrophic at worst.
With most IAM solutions data is going to come from multiple sources.… [Keep reading] “Where's the source!”

Brisbane O365 Saturday

On the weekend I had a pleasure of presenting to the O365 Saturday Brisbane event. Link below
http://o365saturdayaustralia.com/
In my presentation I demonstrated a new feature within Azure AD that allows the automatic assigment of licences to any of your Azure subscriptions using Dynamic Groups. So what’s cool about this feature?
Well, if you have a well established organisational structure within your on-premise AD and you are synchronising any of the attributes that you need to identity this structure, then you can have your users automatically assigned licences based on their job type, department or even location.… [Keep reading] “Brisbane O365 Saturday”

It all comes down to "Requirements"

In my l last post, I discussed the basic concepts of Identity Management. In this post I’m going to talk about the need to clearly identify the business requirements for IAM as a whole and not just to a specific technical need. More often than not IAM projects are spawn to satisfy a specific need, and realistically these today are around the adoption of specific cloud technologies, and Office 365 is the most obvious one.… [Keep reading] “It all comes down to "Requirements"”

It's time to get your head out of the clouds!

head-in-the-clouds1
For those of you who know me, you are probably thinking “Why on earth would we be wanting to get our heads out of the “Cloud” when all you’ve been telling me for years now is the need to adopt cloud!
This is true for the most part, but my point here is many businesses are being flooded by service providers in every direction to adopt or subscribe to their “cloud” based offering, furthermore ICT budgets are being squeezed forcing organisations into SaaS applications.… [Keep reading] “It's time to get your head out of the clouds!”