5 Benefits of Moving Your Identity and Access Management (IAM) to the Azure Cloud

According to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Incident Report, eight out of 10 data breaches are caused by employee misuse and mistakes that led to credential theft, successful phishing attacks, and security system compromise.[1] To prevent these types of breaches, you should consider moving your Identity and Access Management (IAM) to the cloud.

Here are 5 benefits of establishing your IAM in Microsoft Azure.

1. Improves your security visibility and controls

IAM in the cloud enhances your security controls for your organization by providing clear visibility into your employees’ roles, permissions, and access capabilities. Tracking all activity happening in your systems enables you to quickly investigate issues as they arise and proactively act to prevent misuse to happen in the first place.

2. Enhances workstation authentication and management

Securing authentication in a cloud IAM is a primary line of defense for your security posture. Making sure users are who they say they are is a crucial step in the digital identification process. Authentication can take many forms such as basic passwords but increasingly moving to Single Sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and biometrics like fingerprints and facial recognition.

3. Establishes the foundation for Zero Trust

A strong IAM in the cloud approach sets the stage for implementing a Zero Trust model. Zero Trust assumes that there is no typical security edge and that networks can be local, in the cloud, or hybrid. Zero Trust assumes breach so demands explicit verification and limiting users access to as-needed only. Zero Trust is more effective in a cloud environment because of its better visibility into data, assets, and risks. The cloud also provides the speed and agility necessary to keep pace with ever evolving technology.

4. Reduces reliance on on-premises Active Directory

In an Azure cloud environment, there is no on-premises IAM footprint needed. All devices are managed in Azure AD and cloud solutions like Intune. All users and groups are cloud native and the user identity lifecycle is managed through Azure AD.

5. Reduces costs

Many organizations have multiple IAM solutions that need to be updated. Transitioning to a single IAM solution in enables you to reduce your on-premises footprint, consolidate vendor IAM applications, and reduce licensing and maintenance costs. If you are already paying for Azure AD through your Microsoft 365 licenses, it’s not necessary for you to pay the added cost of other IAM solutions.

The Neway Solution

Neway’s Cloud and Application Services enable you to leverage the breadth and versatility of the Microsoft Azure cloud computing service including your IAM program. We help you optimize Azure for options like software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). The Azure platform enables you to deploy your applications and services on Microsoft-managed data center infrastructure.

For more information on how Neway can help you migrate your IAM to the cloud, contact us today.

[1] DBIR, Data Breach Investigations Report, 2008-2022, Verizon, 2022.