AuthZ 101 - The Architecture of Authorization

A quick session on how most authorization systems work

Atul Tulshibagwale, CTO, SGNL
June 20, 2023
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TL;DR: Join a LinkedIn Live session I’m hosting on June 28th at 9 AM PT to learn and discuss the critically important, yet evolving area of access management / authorization.

Access management, or authorization, is now central to any identity management strategy. And since most security is now identity-driven, it is central to any security strategy. It has always been on the charter of most identity teams, but compared to authentication it has quite often taken a back seat - until now. This shift was amply evident in many recent identity and security conferences. A number of factors have contributed to it being considered more important than before:

  • Most successful data breaches in enterprises have involved the human element, including privilege misuse, stolen credentials or social engineering. This is a growing trend and according to the latest Verizon Data Breach Incident Report 2023, 74% of successful breaches were of this nature.
  • Access management or authorization becomes critically important in cloud-based zero-trust architectures, because besides authentication, it is often the most important way in which data can be secured.
  • There is a growing realization about the limitations of the conventional approaches to authorization or access management. Role-based access control and more recently, attribute-based access control have grown in importance, and organizations are realizing the complexity of managing these technologies

Evolving Space

Even as access management / authorization grows in importance, it is also evolving as a technology area. Modern demands such as fine-grained access control, dynamic and centralized decision making and a plethora of enforcement points including SaaS, OPA, internal apps, microservices, Linux, IaaS/PaaS, etc. is causing rapid change in how access management technologies are architected and implemented.

Learn About Authorization - Live!

Want to learn more? Watch the LinkedIn Live session SGNL hosted on Wednesday, June 28th, 2023, at 9 AM PT, “AuthZ 101: The Intro to Access Management You’ve Always Wanted.”

In this 20 minute session, Atul explains various concepts in access management to help identity decision makers and practitioners get up-to-speed on the increasingly discussed security topic.

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