Secure SSO with Keycloak
Keycloak - customizable and secure identity and access management
The white paper describes the implementation of an own Single-Sign-On solution with the help of Keycloak and compares it to other SaaS based approaches. Qvest has experience in development of Keycloak customizations and the operation of scaling Keycloak instances, providing benefits for both your customers but also for your employees
Introduction
Cloud computing, mobile applications and networked systems are expanding. This makes managing user identities and access rights more complicated and demanding. Companies require a professional, flexible and economic identity and access management (IAM) to provide security for their digital space, but which IAM solution is appropriate?
This white paper explains the basic concepts of IAM, highlights the role of identity and access management in modern IT infrastructures, briefly outlines common software solutions and the possibilities for individualization as customer IAM, and presents the free open source software Keycloak as managed service. This white paper also highlights the features, benefits and use cases of Keycloak. With the knowledge presented here, companies can make a more informed decision about their IAM strategy.
Importance of IAM in modern IT-Infrastructures
Adhere to compliance regulations, guarantee data security according to the strict guidelines such as GDPR and optimize the user experience: IAM is crucial to fulfill these requirements. Companies implementing a reliable IAM system increase their security, improve productivity and customer satisfaction, and comply with regulatory requirements such as GDPR (EU Data Protection Regulation), HIPAA (US Health Information Protection Act), and PCI DSS (Security Standard for credit card transactions).
The following example explains one of the major advantages of an IAM system: A large company operates a heterogeneously grown IT infrastructure with a variety of IT systems – including email, internal applications and public clouds. However, a centralized user management is missing. Employees manage their login details for each system separately. The result: an increased risk of security breaches – for example, if an employee leaves the company and still has access to a system because the IT department has lost oversight.
To increase efficiency and security, the company is introducing an IAM system. With its central user database, it is now possible to easily manage and oversee access rights for each employee. Particularly popular in this context: the single sign-on (SSO) functionality. Users only need to log in once into the IAM system and can then access all connected IT systems. If an employee leaves the company, IT can deactivate the account with a single click and thus revoke all access privileges for all systems at once.
Logins can also be done via YubiKey or Passkey, depending on the security requirements of the company. Not only are employees happier because they no longer have to manage multiple login details; They are also able to log into the relevant systems more quickly - and all of this while maintaining the same level of security.
Conclusion: An IAM system streamlines and automates the management
of user identities and access rights. Companies thus improve the security,
efficiency and compliance of their IT infrastructures.
