Identity and Access Management

Authentication versus authorization.

Authentication proves who you are; authorization decides what you may do; identity management maintains both over time.

Forests, Group Policy and Tier 0 thinking.

Microsoft's on premises directory service, providing authentication, authorisation, policy and object management for Windows environments.

Tickets, SPNs and the attacks that target them.

A ticket based authentication protocol that proves identity to services without sending the password across the network.

Cloud identity, tokens and hybrid synchronisation.

Microsoft's cloud identity and access management service, the identity control plane for Microsoft 365, Azure and thousands of federated applications.

Federated SSO patterns and their pitfalls.

One authentication event, evaluated by a central identity provider, granting access to many applications through issued tokens or assertions.

Method strength and phishing resistance.

Requiring two or more independent factors, something you know, have or are, before granting access.

Signals, controls and safe rollout.

Policy that evaluates signals about the user, device, application, location and risk at sign in, then grants, blocks or constrains access.

Tiering, JIT, vaulting and PAWs.

Controlling, brokering, recording and time limiting administrative access to the systems that can change everything else.

Lifecycle, reviews and separation of duties.

The lifecycle and oversight side of identity: joiner mover leaver automation, entitlement management, access reviews and separation of duties.