Cloud Identity

Cloud Identity is the management of digital identities in and for cloud-based IT environments. Authentication, authorization and policy management are brought together in a cloud-based identity service that serves as the central point of control.

Typical building blocks are a cloud directory or identity provider as the leading instance, synchronization or federation with existing local directory services, and the connection of SaaS applications via standards such as SAML, OpenID Connect and SCIM. In addition to human users, machine and workload identities (service accounts, API keys, application identities) are gaining importance, and their number often significantly exceeds that of employees.

Especially in hybrid environments, central cloud identity management reduces complexity: access to distributed services follows uniform policies and remains traceable. Cloud identity is thus a core topic of Identity Security, because identities in the cloud form the de facto security perimeter.