How to succeed with your IGA implementation .

Identity Governance – Steps and tips to consider before IGA implementation

Implementing Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) is critical for organizations to effectively manage access rights, maintain security, and meet compliance requirements. However, successful IGA implementation requires careful planning and a structured approach. In this article, we outline key considerations, best practices, and actionable steps to ensure a smooth and effective IGA implementation process, from defining organizational strategies to selecting the right technology and access control models.

Organizational

• Define a clear Identity Governance strategy, identify key stakeholders, and assign roles and responsibilities based on each stakeholder’s role and involvement in the governance process.
• Ensure the plan aligns with the organization's goals and compliance requirements.
• Analyze and understand the organization’s identity landscape. It is crucial to identify the identity master source, target systems and applications, identity types, and processes. Additionally, assess the risks and potential gaps that must be addressed during the design and implementation phase.

Guidelines and Policies

• Ensure that organizational guidelines and policy documentation, including the requirements from recent EU directives, regulations, member state legislation, standards, and security best practices, are up to date.
  
  • For example, the EU directives such as NIS2 and GDPR must be considered when updating guidelines and policies.
  • International standards like ISO/IEC 27001:2022 are also widely used. If the organization is in the U.S., the NIST CSF framework can be utilized.

Processes

• Identify and define IGA-related processes in your organization, such as Joiner-Mover-Leaver processes. These defined processes should be automated during implementation to reduce errors during execution.

Access Control

• Based on the selected product and the access control model it supports, implement access control using RBAC, ABAC, PBAC, ReBAC, or a hybrid model.
• Adopting a least-privilege approach is a key design principle.
• Implement continuous monitoring to analyze identity activities and detect and respond to any anomalies.

Technology

• Ensure the selected technology integrates seamlessly with the existing infrastructure, meets future requirements, and provides a secure means of accessing resources.

Way of Working

• Partner with experts who have knowledge and experience in IGA and the selected technology.
• Plan the implementation in manageable phases that are feasible and require reasonable effort.
• Maintain constant collaboration and communication with stakeholders.

Even though these steps may seem extensive, there are no shortcuts to building a high-quality IGA implementation. Therefore, it is crucial to perform thorough preparatory work before starting the actual implementation.

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