Identity & Access Management
Secure identities. Seamless access. Stronger control.
Protecting the digital identities of trusted users and machines is the core objective of the North Star Identity Framework. Users — employees, contractors, partners, and customers — and machines — devices, applications, and systems — sit at the center of IAM. We build IAM on the fundamentals of authentication, authorization, and accounting, integrating auditing, logging, and monitoring for real-time oversight, and we align with NIST, SOC 2, and CIS to uphold strong security and compliance practices.
Identity & Access Management overview
Video coming soon
Identity Governance & Administration (IGA)
- Source of truth integration & identity lifecycle management
- Accelerated application onboarding framework
- Business rule-based access control & automated access request workflows
- Automated provisioning, deprovisioning, and access reviews
- Preventive & detective segregation of duties (SoD)
- AI-based access governance and identity analytics & reporting
Access Management & Advanced Authentication
- Web access management (WAM) & coarse-grained authorization
- Single sign-on (SSO) & multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Passwordless authentication — FIDO2, QR code, passkeys
- Adaptive, risk-based, context-aware authentication
- Directory services (DS) & virtual directory services (VDS)
- Biometrics & behavioral biometrics
RBAC & Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC)
- RBAC strategy, governance framework, and operating model
- AI-driven role engineering (bottom-up & top-down)
- Real-time, context-aware authorization
- Dynamic authorization framework with a centralized policy engine
- AI-driven risk scoring & adaptive controls
- Zero trust access enforcement
Privileged Access & Non-Human Identity
- Privileged account discovery, inventory, and governance
- Password / secrets vault management & automated rotation
- Privileged session monitoring and recording
- Just-in-time (JIT) access & least-privilege enforcement
- Non-human privileged account lifecycle management
- Cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM)
Customer Identity & Identity Threat Detection
- Self-service registration, identity proofing & verification
- Privacy & consent management, self-sovereign identity
- Social identity, SAML / OIDC / OAuth integration, JIT provisioning
- Identity threat detection & response (ITDR)
- Automated remediation & continuous identity resilience
Market Landscape
Identity Security Landscape
A vendor-neutral view of how leading IAM platforms cover the categories that matter — access management, governance, privileged access, customer identity, threat detection, and the emerging machine & AI-agent identity surface. We use this map to help clients choose and integrate the right mix of tools, not to sell any single one.
| Vendor | Access Mgmt / SSO | MFA & Passwordless | IGA | PAM | CIAM | ITDR / ISPM | Machine & AI Identity | Directory | Verification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OktaWorkforce & Customer IAM | Okta SSO, Universal Directory | Okta Adaptive MFA | Okta Identity Governance | Okta Privileged Access | Auth0, Okta Customer Identity | Identity Threat Protection, ISPM | Okta / Auth0 for AI Agents | Universal Directory | Auth0 proofing integrations |
| Microsoft EntraPlatform / hyperscaler IAM | Entra ID | Entra ID MFA | Entra ID Governance | Entra Privileged Identity Mgmt | Entra External ID | Entra ID Protection | Entra Agent ID, Workload ID | Entra ID (Azure AD) | Entra Verified ID |
| Ping IdentityAccess & orchestration | PingOne SSO | PingOne MFA, Passwordless | Access requests, reviews, SoD | Just-in-time privileged access | PingOne CIAM (incl. ex-ForgeRock) | PingOne Protect (fraud & risk) | — | PingDirectory | Verifiable credentials, ZK biometrics |
| CyberArkPrivileged & identity security | Workforce SSO | Adaptive MFA | Secure access governance | Privileged Access Mgr, Endpoint Privilege Mgr | — | Identity security posture (CORA AI) | Secrets Mgr/Conjur, machine identity (Venafi) | — | — |
| SailPointPure-play IGA | — | — | IdentityIQ, Identity Security Cloud | Privileged task automation | — | Identity Security Posture Mgmt | Non-Employee Risk Mgmt, Agentic Fabric | — | — |
| SaviyntPure-play IGA & PAM | — | — | Identity Governance & Administration | Saviynt PAM | — | Identity Security Posture Mgmt | Non-Human Identity Mgmt, Zuma (AI agents) | — | — |
| One IdentityGovernance & privileged access | OneLogin access/SSO | OneLogin MFA | Identity Manager | Safeguard | — | Change Auditor analytics | Emerging platform coverage | Active Roles (AD/Entra mgmt) | — |
| IBM VerifyEnterprise identity suite | Verify Access | Verify MFA | Verify Governance | Verify Privileged Identity Mgmt | Verify CIAM | Verify identity protection | Broader IBM Security portfolio | Verify Directory | Verify Trust (risk-based auth) |
| OracleCloud & enterprise IAM | OCI IAM, Access Management | Built-in adaptive MFA | Identity & Access Governance | — | Access Management extensions | — | — | Oracle Directory Services | — |
| BeyondTrustPure-play PAM | — | — | — | Password Safe, Privileged Remote Access | — | Identity Security Insights | NHI & AI-agent path mapping | — | — |
| DelineaPure-play PAM | — | — | Fastpath: provisioning, review, SoD | Secret Server, Privilege Mgr, Server PAM | — | Identity Threat Protection | Account Lifecycle Manager | — | — |
| RSAAuthentication & governance | ID Plus access | SecurID | Governance & lifecycle | — | — | Adaptive authentication analytics | — | Unified directory | — |
Coverage reflects each vendor’s primary published product lines and is intended as a directional planning reference, not a procurement guarantee. North Star Identity is vendor-neutral in this assessment; partnership status with select vendors is disclosed on our Partners page.
Featured offers
Two ways to start engaging our IAM practice.
Outcomes you can expect
- A single, governed source of truth for every human and machine identity
- Faster, safer access — fewer standing privileges, fewer support tickets
- Continuous compliance evidence for NIST, SOC 2, and CIS audits