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Identity & Access

Manage who can access what and prove their identity securely

Overview​

Identity & Access is the cornerstone of zero trust security. It answers three critical questions:

  1. Who are you? (Authentication)
  2. What can you do? (Authorization)
  3. How do you prove it? (Credentials & Tokens)

This section covers:

  • Authentication & Federation: How users prove their identity using MFA, SSO, and identity providers
  • Authorization Models: RBAC, ABAC, ReBAC, and PBAC for granular access control
  • Session & Token Management: JWT, opaque tokens, refresh tokens, and rotation strategies
  • Secrets Management: Vaults, KMS, encryption keys, and secure rotation

Key Principles​

  • Never trust, always verify: Every request must be authenticated and authorized
  • Principle of least privilege: Grant minimum necessary access, revoke when done
  • Defense in depth: Layer authentication (MFA), isolation (segmentation), monitoring (anomalies)
  • Separation of duties: Different roles for checking, approving, and executing sensitive operations

Challenges​

  • Credential management: Where and how to securely store passwords, API keys, certificates?
  • User experience vs security: MFA is secure but adds friction
  • Federated identity: Managing identity across multiple systems and organizations
  • Token lifecycle: Balancing security (short-lived) with usability (refresh tokens)
  • Privilege escalation: Detecting and preventing unauthorized access to higher-privileged resources

Next Steps​

Explore each topic in depth to design a robust identity and access system for your architecture.