Compliance Glossary

The NIST Identity and Access Management (IAM) Framework is intended to help organizations ensure that only authorized individuals have access to critical resources, reducing unlawful access and data breaches into information systems. The framework guides organizations in developing and maintaining digital identities, as well as administering effective access controls.

The NIST IAM Framework majorly deals with:

• Authentication: Implement mechanisms that verify user identities.
• Permission Management: Permission needs to be aligned with roles of users for the right level of access.
• Role-Based Access Control: This framework enables robust security by defining access based on user roles.

In addition, it promotes monitoring of activities of users and events for proactive identification of suspicious behavior. It also lays emphasis on training and employee awareness about IAM policies to ensure their effective implementation and adherence.

Some other things that are included in the NIST framework include security and compliance best practices and work towards integrating with any other applicable NIST frameworks, such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and the Risk Management Framework (RMF), to give a 360-degree view of risk management.

NIST conducts regular research on new and emerging threats and technologies to come out with updated standards for IAM.