Third-party identity management

Third-party identity management is the implementation of policies, procedures, and applications to manage vendor access to sensitive data. These efforts have become increasingly important as organizations rely more and more on a wide range of external vendors to drive productivity, efficiency and bottom-line success.

A key component of a vendor privileged access management strategy, third-party identity management is focused on safeguarding critical information, which can be compromised by unauthorized access or cyberattacks. As part of third-party identity management, organizations verify user identities and employ measures including adherence to the principle of least privilege, as well as multifactor authentication. The least privilege principle ensures that each user is granted the minimum level of access required to perform their specific tasks. This means that vendors and contractors are only allowed to access the data or systems necessary for their work, and only during the times when their access is required. Multifactor authentication provides a secure, auditable chain of trust wherever, whenever, and however users interact with data.

A well-implemented third-party identity management protocol provides a host of benefits, including increased operational efficiencies, complying with global and local regulatory compliance (and thus increasing the likelihood of being approved for cybersecurity insurance), and protecting business assets, income, and reputation.