Beyond IGA: SailPoint's Identity Security Cloud for the Modern Enterprise
Introduction
Identity governance and administration (IGA) platforms have become a fundamental building block for robust security strategies in modern enterprises. These platforms centralize the management and control of user identities and their associated access privileges across an organization's applications and infrastructure. SailPoint, a veteran in the field, has been at the forefront of IGA solutions. In recent years, SailPoint has strategically expanded its capabilities to align with the growing demand for unified identity security. This tech note will examine the growing need for these platforms and SailPoint's transformation to address evolving cybersecurity needs.
Source: SailPoint, The Core of Identity Security for the Modern Enterprise, 2024.
The Need for a Unified Identity Security Platform
The growing complexity of modern enterprise systems, spurred by cloud adoption and increasingly granular permissions models, has made identity and access management (IAM) a top concern. Traditional IGA solutions, while essential, now need to be part of a broader identity security strategy that includes risk analysis, proactive mitigation, and governance across both structured and unstructured data. Unified identity platforms, such as SailPoint’s Identity Security Cloud, aim to reduce risk by consolidating identity security functions that were often spread across siloed solutions.
Source: SailPoint, The Core of Identity Security for the Modern Enterprise, 2024.
SailPoint: A Company Snapshot
SailPoint was founded in 2005 in Austin, Texas. SailPoint is one of the pioneers in modern identity governance solutions. It consistently ranks as a leader in industry analyst reports (e.g. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Identity Governance and Administration and Info-Tech SoftwareReviews Data and Emotional quadrants) and is recognized by major customers within Fortune 500 companies and government entities. SailPoint's core mission centers on providing enterprise-grade identity security solutions to facilitate secure and compliant user access across complex IT environments while emphasizing a unified platform philosophy, underpinned by AI-driven automation and the belief that modern businesses need a holistic, risk-focused approach to identity.
- Acquisitions: SailPoint has strategically bolstered its offering through recent acquisitions. These include:
- Osirium: Privileged access
- ERP Maestro: SAP security and governance
- SecZetta: Non-employee identity management
- Core product offerings:
- IdentityIQ: A mature, software-based (on-premises) IGA solution known for its depth of features.
- Identity Security Cloud: SailPoint's SaaS-based IGA offering built on the company's next-generation SailPoint Atlas platform.
SailPoint's Identity Security Cloud: Features
SailPoint's Identity Security Cloud aims to provide a comprehensive identity security platform, with core capabilities centered around:
- Access Modeling: Facilitates the design and refinement of access roles, streamlining permissions management, and promoting the principle of least privilege.
- Lifecycle Management: Automates user provisioning, deprovisioning, and access modification across systems, ensuring consistency and reducing manual overhead.
- Compliance: Offers tools for auditing, reporting, and enforcing access policies in line with various regulatory standards (e.g. SOX, HIPAA, GDPR).
- Analytics: Provides insights into access patterns, usage trends, and potential risks.
Source: SailPoint, The Core of Identity Security for the Modern Enterprise, 2024.
Differentiating Features
With the ever-evolving cyberthreat landscape, a robust identity security platform needs to go beyond core IGA functionalities. SailPoint's Identity Security Cloud stands out from the competition through its focus on three key differentiators: AI-driven automation, extensive prebuilt connectors, and a commitment to a unified platform. These features empower organizations to achieve a more comprehensive and streamlined approach to identity security.
- AI and Machine Learning: SailPoint leverages AI and ML to analyze behavior patterns, identify outliers, provide access recommendations, and automate risk remediation workflows.
- Extensive Connectors: A rich library of native API and prebuilt connectors ensures seamless integration with a wide array of enterprise applications and systems.
- Focus on Unification: SailPoint emphasizes a unified, scalable identity platform providing a foundation for growth and advanced identity security use cases, rather than a point-solution approach.
Source: SailPoint, The Core of Identity Security for the Modern Enterprise, 2024
Additional Insights: Expanded Capabilities
Crucially, SailPoint has extended its Identity Security Cloud beyond traditional IGA with:
- Non-Employee Risk Management: Dedicated controls for managing and governing access for contractors, vendors, and other external identities. This can be extremely helpful for organizations with the burden of running a disjointed “contractor database” as an additional source of truth.
- Data Access Security: Helps secure and govern access to unstructured data stores with sensitivity classification and monitoring.
- Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM): Provides visibility and control over permissions granted to identities within cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP.
- Access Risk Management: Automates real-time access risk analysis and identification of potential risk in ERP solutions like SAP.
SailPoint on PAM: Integration vs. Standalone Solutions
SailPoint has taken a contrarian stance regarding privileged access management (PAM) solutions. They advocate for a unified platform approach that incorporates PAM functionalities alongside core IGA and advanced features like CIEM and data access security. This, they reason, streamlines administration, reduces overhead, and provides a more holistic view of access controls across the enterprise. However, it’s important to note that SailPoint continues to integrate with leading PAM solutions, allowing organizations to leverage existing PAM investments alongside SailPoint's Identity Security Cloud.
Conclusion
In a time when escalating identity-focused threats are at an all-time high, enterprises must go beyond traditional IGA to ensure a robust security posture. SailPoint's Identity Security Cloud offers a compelling blend of core IGA capabilities, advanced security features, and a unified architecture well suited for addressing emerging challenges in identity security. While it's essential to assess how well its features fit your specific organizational needs, SailPoint's commitment to a comprehensive platform makes it a strong contender in this space.
Source: SailPoint, The Core of Identity Security for the Modern Enterprise, 2024
Our Take
SailPoint's evolution reflects a welcome industry shift toward holistic identity security. Its expansion into areas like cloud entitlement management and data governance aligns with the critical needs of modern enterprises. The focus on AI-driven automation is particularly promising, with the potential to significantly reduce the workload of security teams and proactively address identity-related risks.