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Entitlement

Entitlement

It is standard that you need permission to enter someone's home. Or that not every employee at a company may simply enter the server room. Entitlement translates this principle to the digital world and to identity and access management.

What is an Entitlement in Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

Within IAM, an entitlement is a right, permission, or authorization to access digital systems, applications, data, or other resources. After identification (who is the user) and authentication (is the user who they claim to be), these determine the user's access, edit, and usage rights (what the user is allowed to do). In IAM, entitlements are the foundation of authorization management. It is a crucial part of security, ensuring that only authorized users have access to specific data. By limiting entitlements to only the users who need them, you minimize the risk of unauthorized access to critical resources.

What are User Permissions?

Loosely translated, an entitlement is a user permission. User permissions are the specific rights assigned to an individual user. User permissions determine what a user can do within a system, application, or other digital environment. This can range from access to specific data or features to the ability to edit or delete information. A person's user permissions often depend on their role in the organization.

What is the Difference Between Roles and Permissions?

Roles and permissions are often used as synonyms. Although both are important concepts in IAM, they do not mean the same thing. An entitlement or user permission is an individual authorization that grants a user access to specific systems, applications, functionality, or data. Roles are collections of user permissions that you assign to a defined group of users.

How are User Permissions Assigned?

The authorization model of an IAM solution is responsible for granting and revoking user permissions within connected systems. The advantage of a structured, automated approach to granting and managing entitlements is reduced human error, ensuring that the right users have access to the systems, networks, software, applications, and devices they need. An IAM system provides several ways to assign entitlements to users. The three primary methods are:

  • Role-Based (RBAC): The IAM system determines whether a user is authorized by assigning them a specific role or placing them in a specific group. Imagine a large company with multiple departments. By assigning an employee a role, they receive access to all applications and data required for that role. For example, an accountant has access to financial applications and data, while an HR staff member has access to HR software and personnel records.

  • Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC): In ABAC, users are authorized based on specific attributes. These characteristics can include job function, department, location, or even a specific customer or project they work on. Within the IAM application's authorization model, you can define which applications or data they may view based on these attributes.

  • Workflow-Based (Service Automation): With workflow-based permissions, rights are granted based on a process or workflow. Some user permissions carry too much risk to assign automatically. Other user permissions trigger costly licenses that are only needed occasionally. For these types of permissions, you can start a workflow to assign the necessary access rights. This ensures that no access is granted without the required approvals and that user permissions are automatically revoked after a defined period.

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