Identity and access management (IAM) is a framework of business processes, policies and technologies that facilitates the management of electronic or digital identities. With an IAM framework in place, information technology (IT) managers can control user access to critical information within their organizations.
IAM encompasses how :
How roles are identified in a system and how they are assigned to individuals;
Adding, removing and updating individuals and their roles in a system;
Assigning levels of access to individuals or groups of individuals; and
Protecting the sensitive data within the system and securing the system itself.