# What is Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

> Identity and access management (IAM) is the discipline and supporting technology used to establish digital identities and control their access to systems, applications, and data.

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## Content

It covers the identity lifecycle — from onboarding and role changes to suspension and removal — as well as authentication, authorization, access review, and policy enforcement.

IAM applies to workforce users, customers, partners, service accounts, workloads, and devices. A sound program connects access to a trusted identity, grants only what is needed, records decisions, and removes access when the underlying need ends.

### Key points

- **Core questions:** Who or what is requesting access, how is the identity verified, what may it do, and under which conditions?
- **Typical capabilities:** Directories, identity providers, federation, single sign-on, MFA, provisioning, access governance, and policy engines.
- **Lifecycle dependency:** Joiner, mover, and leaver processes must reflect authoritative business data and cover non-human identities as well as people.
- **Important limitation:** Buying an IAM platform does not resolve unclear ownership, excessive roles, orphaned accounts, or weak approval processes.

### Related terms

[Privileged access management (PAM)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/privileged-access-management/>) · [Multi-factor authentication (MFA)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/multi-factor-authentication/>) · [Least privilege](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/least-privilege/>) · [Single sign-on (SSO)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/single-sign-on/>) · [Zero trust network access (ZTNA)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/zero-trust-network-access/>)

### Sources

[NIST glossary: Identity and Access Management](https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/Identity_and_access_management) · [NIST SP 800-63-4: Digital Identity Guidelines](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/63/4/final)

## Attribution and scope

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