User Life-Cycle Management

user life-cycle management - User life-cycle management covers the entire process of identity management over time. It includes the technologies used for provisioning and password resets but it also includes the processes and policies associated with these technologies.

Who decides what access a user needs; how easy should it be for a user to reset a password; do we need different levels of authentication for highly sensitive information; and when do we disable a user's account or delete it? These are all policy issues. The security architecture and tools that a company chooses need to support the policies in a way that's consistent with the organization's goals.

An organization needs to analyze the policies and tasks associated with provisioning access to information resources--this is highly visible to new customers, employees, or partners. But it also needs to look at frequently repeated tasks like password resets, moves and changes; to save time and reduce costs. A way to efficiently de-provision must be built into the architecture because un-used accounts, and accounts that are linked to people who no longer need access continue to be a major source of security breaches in the enterprise.

[Category=Geospatial ]

Source: RSA, 24 August 2011 07:50:28, http://www.rsa.com/glossary/