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An Exploration of IDaaS Solutions

Identity Management in the Cloud Era: An Exploration of IDaaS Solutions

Navya Gurijala

Cloud Computing (ITS-532-B03)

Barcus Jackon

University of the Cumberlands

March 17, 2024

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An Exploration of IDaaS Solutions

Introduction
IDaaS was born in the era of digitalization as not just an instrument but rather this is a

pillar in cybersecurity and modern information technology. IDaaS can be considered as a

service model that utilizes cloud technology and is solely concerned with keeping individual

identities safe. Through the creation of up-to-date and all-encompassing service, that caters to

a myriad of operations, such as authentication, authorization, and provisioning and managing

of user accounts becomes possible (Vo et al., 2019). Incorporating a subscription model,

IDaaS offers a scalable and flexible answer to the problems about identity management to

those organizations that have asked to rely on the competence of specific vendors. It not only

facilitates functionally but also strengthens the system, making it more secure and more

efficient throughout the process of administering digital ID.

It is by no means an exaggeration that IDaaS is invaluable to the current IT,

differentiating itself in many aspects. With the businesses more and more go cloud and starts

using cloud for their operations and resources, the cybersecurity, therefore, will become more

important thing to think about. The introduction of cloud-based applications and services

made it imperative for end users to securely and effectively gain access to these resources,

hence it is vital to have IDaaS now more than ever before (Yao et al., 2019). This way, IDaaS

services provide the necessary layer of security to guard against unwanted access to sensitive

resources by users who may not have such rights. Along the lines of this, not only it

decreases the management time but also risks signification of the unauthorized entry which

rises the security posture of the organization.

These Cloud based IDaaS products are also inherently scalable as they are designed to

cater to the dynamic nature of modern IT businesses. With the growth of the entity as well as

the diversity of the staff, the notion of an access management can alter quickly, in the
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An Exploration of IDaaS Solutions

process. While as in the past applications of on-site or on-premise identity management

systems may become obsolete, yet they cannot keep up with the ever-changing needs, which

may lead to security vulnerabilities and management inefficiencies (Gomaa et al., 2019).

However, IDaaS stands out from the crowd by offering an extremely scalable and lightweight

cloud solution, rather than a traditional on-premises approach that requires a considerable

budget to spend on new hardware and software.

Challenges Related to Identity Management

Regarding identification management, which is a key compnent of the IT

infrastructure of organizations, this involves the tasks and processes of managing and

securing user ids. At the same time that it provides multiple benefits for an organization, the

area is facing various issues as well, and demands great responsibility from the management

in resolving these problems and ensuring flawless business operations.

The main difficulty in an optional system of identifying individuals is the fact that the

most dangerous users' data will be open to unauthorized access and cyber

attacks. Identification and authentication systems hold incredibly private data which contains

personal information such as ID details, password, and other vital information. This marks a

leading point once it comes to rummage operation of the hackers and cybercriminals. The

risk is compounded by clever miming phishing attacks, malware and other detrimental

driving forces such as, those intended to gain access to these systems. However, it is vital to

provide the safety of these systems without interfering with the user’s access or its proper

functioning that requires a delicate balance and consteous effort always (Vo et al.,

2019). Society faces the constraint of having to deal with number of requirement concerning

identity management and data protection regulations that go hand in hand. Organizations in

Europe and the USA, which process personal data for the users, have to comply with
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An Exploration of IDaaS Solutions

regulations, including, but not limited to, the EU General Data Protection Regulation

(GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (Gomaa et al., 2019). Unlike the

other regulations; compliance with privacy stipulations is mandatory; it is not an option it

requires regular audits, updating of privacy policies and the management of secure data,

respectively. The noncompliance may attract a heavy penalty but shall really deprive the

organization of the good image.

On the other hand, two main issues, scalability, and flexibility, can be seen as identity

management systems challenges. Technology is advancing with exponential growth and so

also the challenge of organizations in need of systems that can adjust and scale to the

maximum required. Common identity manager system can unmerely endure frequent changes

and more the stress which will then culminate into gaps in security and hinder efficient

operation. The inherent necessities for doing either of these necessitate the investment of time

and resources which is often considerable for the organization (Vo et al., 2019). The fact that

the application of security measures and user convenience will remain to be one of the main

problems Very rigid verification processes may be precursors of anxiety and work output

reduction as users learn not to like intricate login processes. On the other side of the medal

however, excess advantage to access may lead systems being overused and at the mercy of

unauthorized use (Yao et al., 2019). The ESSIAM is tasked with the responsibility of finding

the appropriate balance between security and a decent experience with the end user;

therefore, this cannot be overlooked. Last but not least, explicitly tying IDaaS to existing IT

infrastructure takes place for the most part under specific conditions. A typical organization

now utilizes a variety of a cloud based options and aging legacy systems that use their own

set of protocols and standards. The epitome of this comprises a need to meticulously organise

and implement the IDaaS solutions within the considerable range of the heterogeneous
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An Exploration of IDaaS Solutions

ecosystem. This can prove to be somewhat intricate and labour-intensive, and hence merits

well-endowed technical skills and forwardness.

IDaaS Solutions Offered by Various Companies

With IDaaS, providing a cloud solution for ID management, everyone will be able to

mange their digital identities effectively and safely. In the world of the present-day leading

technology companies marry their capabilities of identifying such tech sectors of information

technology ecumenical development, and, these unique suites of technical features are able to

meet the diverse needs of the modern businesses. Bellow is shortly about the top IDaaS

products developed by the leading market actors. Azure AD from Microsoft is a cloud-based

identity and access management system that provides broad range of features exposing a

diversity of functions (Yao et al., 2019). It is meant to let you comfortably navigate between

various applications and services, both within your private data center as well as the

cloud. Among Azure AD’s signature functions, there are Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities,

which grant users the access to applications using one pair of credentials, as a result,

harmonizing the convenience and on the security fronts. By way of Multifactor

Authentication (MFA) that provides multiple forms of verification, an additional level of

protection besides passwords is added (Gomaa et al., 2019). Conditional Access Policies let

organizations permit user, location, device, and application in access with additional explicit

controls. These aspects makes Azure AD a befitting and good working system for

organization that need to simplify identity management policies.

Okta is a cloud-based identity technology that is especially suitable to support

seamless integration of identity and management services. The main feature is automated
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An Exploration of IDaaS Solutions

provisioning that makes manipulation of users’ accounts easy and fast, as it provides

transition through several applications.Okta SSO (Single Sign-On) and MFA (Multi-Factor

Authentication) are at the core of its technology. This ensures that the users experience

confidential flow as well as security of their data. Lifecycle management goes a long way in

pinning down user access rights exposure to suit their employment period in the

organization. Okay product’s platform is highly recognized for its simplicity in operation,

integration feature and comprehensive security mechanism (Vo et al., 2019). The Google

Cloud Identity is a scalable SaaS with superb identity mangement, device management,

application management and other services. This is meant to help organizations with every

size; it's a unified platform, allowing you to configure and customize users and devices for

each service. “ Google Cloud Identity ” includes all necessary tools: from cloud applications

to mobile devices, taking advantage of all possible methods by Google which is one of the

most reliable and secure platforms in the world (Gomaa et al., 2019). Its functionality plays a

crucial role for enterprises involved in a Google-centric field because Google Workspace is

integrated alongside with other Google services.

The IBM Cloud Identity Platform is specifically designed to provide corporate

network security as well as cloud-based application security by integrating multiple tools for

the management of identity and access. Its functionality set comprises control access, identity

governance (IG), and Single Sign-On (SSO) services, one of which targets simplify the

management of users that require to access applications and services (Yao et al.,

2019). IBM’s systems include security and compliance functions that are as sophisticated as

most. They help companies protect secret data from disclosure and adherence to rules and

regulations. By using Salesforce Identity, identity services can be integrated with the

Salesforce’s fully featured platform. The scalable solution that this brings is that it allows

managing identities for more than one application or device. It does so by providing SSO
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(Single Sign-On) that covers marketing, commerce, and third-party developer

tools. Salesforce Identity is mainly designed for companies and organizations seeking an

identity management solution which integrates perfectly with Salesforce’s ecosystem,

whereby it ensures that the system is user friendly, secure, and scalable.

Conclusion
The Identification as a Service (IDaaS) has maintained its firm ground, being

regarded as one of the inalienable components of the modern IT strategy since flexible

identity management architecture has met the emerging challenges. Cloud based service

model gives us a complete set of tools and libraries that cover the whole range of delicate

cybersecurity issues in identity administration from the point of view of both, reliability and

flexibility. Through consolidating user identity management onto these IDaaS platforms,

businesses can enrich their organization’s overall security, present access to different

resources and create more user-friendly experiences while adhering to tough data protection

regulations (Yao et al., 2019). The importance of IDaaS can be seen in that the technology

can evolve according to real-time business needs towards a scalable solutions that can grow

along the organization changes. Thanks to this elasticity, the ID-as-a-Service platforms are

equipped with holistic cybersecurity features that help businesses stay afloat amidst the

growing cybersecurity threats and security breaches. Further, IDaaS systems help in

compliance with a widely advancing data protection laws framework which companies

operating in several jurisdictions, tends to become quite burdensome to them. However, the

outlook for the IDaaS trend looks amazing considering all the factors mentioned above. The

industry looks good to prosper, which engenders various main drivers of growth for

it. Firstly, the race of cyber threats seem to no end but makes the demand for cutting-edge

cybersecurity solutions rise, among which is IDaaS – a very important element for protecting
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sensitive user identities from being tampered. Secondly, given the trend of the world today

which is moving to cloud services even deeper, it is these cloud-native identity management

solutions that can be integrating seamlessly with a lot of cloud systems and applications that

should be looked into. A close-to-end data protection landscape and its regulation around the

globe demands that identity management becomes more responsible and secure now that only

IDaaS solutions are competent enough to comply with the request.

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References
Vo, T. H., Fuhrmann, W., Fischer-Hellmann, K. P., & Furnell, S. (2019). Identity-as-a-

service: An adaptive security infrastructure and privacy-preserving user identity for

the cloud environment. Future Internet, 11(5), 116.

Yao, Y., Chang, X., Mišić, J., & Mišić, V. B. (2019). Lightweight and privacy-preserving ID-

as-a-service provisioning in vehicular cloud computing. IEEE Transactions on

Vehicular Technology, 69(2), 2185-2194.

Gomaa, I., Abd-Elrahman, E., Saad, E., & Ksentini, A. (2019). Virtual identity performance

evaluations of anonymous authentication in IDaaS framework. IEEE Access, 7,

34541-34554.