What Is IdP Security and What Benefits Does It Provide?

For a system to remain secure, it needs to verify the identity of its users whenever they want to access it. This is particularly useful in companies that use cloud computing systems and provide work accounts to their employees. It prevents cybercriminals from gaining unauthorized access to the system and maintains its integrity. Identity Provider Security solutions facilitate this identity verification and are essential to companies and organizations that value privacy and want to safeguard their sensitive information.

What is IdP Security?

IdP security is a cloud-hosted service that stores and manages user digital identities and uses them to verify said users when they want to log into a platform. IdPs identify users with username-password combinations and other foolproof unique identifiers.

IdPs are not strictly human identifiers, they all also verify the identities of computers and software that is connected to the system in use. A user’s digital identity has three quantifiable factors (also called authentication factors) that can be verified by a computer system. These are knowledge, possession, and intrinsic qualities:

• Knowledge refers to information that the user knows; this includes account usernames and passwords.
• Possession refers to the device the user uses to access the protected system, such as their smartphone or computer.
• Intrinsic qualities refer to innate qualities of the user, like their retina scan, face ID, or fingerprint.

An IdP security system will use one or more of these authentication factors to confirm a user’s identity. When they use more than one, that process is called multi-factor authentication.

Who Does IdP Security Benefit?

IdP security is used in any system where users have to confirm their identity before they can access it. This applies but is not limited to software applications, social media sites, and business cloud platforms. Companies use it to ensure their sensitive data stays out of the reach of cyberattackers.

IdP security solutions store user digital identities securely and make them readily available to platforms that need them whenever a user wants to log in. IdP security service providers take extra caution when storing user identity records, and companies work with them because storing them otherwise can leave the identity records vulnerable to attacks. Organizations that use IdP security solutions benefit in the following ways:

Identity management and access control

Identity management is crucial to cloud security because it ensures that only the right people can use an organization’s cloud systems. Access control supplements this by limiting employees’ access in the cloud platform to the parts that relate to their jobs in the company. IdP facilitates these two features.

Streamlined user experience

IdP security service providers work with single sign-on (SSO) service providers to simplify the user authentication process.

Data protection regulatory compliance

Organizations are obliged to keep their customer’s personal information private and out of the hands of cybercriminals that can use them for nefarious purposes. IdPs help organizations safeguard the data in their possession so they stay compliant with data protection laws.

Endnote

IdP security solutions protect organizations from cyberattackers seeking unauthorized access to their system. They store and verify user identities whenever someone tries to log into a protected platform. IdPs are essential for companies that operate in a cloud platform because they allow their employees to work from remote locations without having security concerns.