Foundations of Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Every secure system relies on knowing exactly who is accessing it and what they are allowed to do. As cyber threats evolve, understanding the core principles of Identity and Access Management (IAM) has become an essential requirement for anyone entering the technology and security fields. This text-based course guides you from absolute beginner to confidently explaining and structuring identity systems. By working through clear explanations and practical scenarios, you will learn how to design secure access policies, evaluate authentication methods, and align your security practices with modern industry standards. What you'll learn: - Understand foundational IAM terminology, including authentication, authorization, and accounting. - Compare modern federation protocols such as SAML, OAuth 2.0, and OpenID Connect. - Implement access control models, including Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC). - Apply Zero Trust security principles to enforce the policy of least privilege. - Analyze Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) strategies and Single Sign-On (SSO) architectures. - Manage the identity lifecycle, from initial provisioning to continuous auditing and deprovisioning. You will start by mastering core definitions and security frameworks before moving into practical policy design and modern decentralized identity architectures. This course is designed for aspiring cybersecurity professionals, system administrators, and IT beginners with no prior IAM experience. Start reading today to build a secure, professional foundation in identity management.