Gartner defines access management (AM) as tools that include authentication, authorization, single sign-on (SSO) and adaptive access capabilities for modern standards-based web applications, classic web applications and APIs. AM’s purpose is to give people (employees, consumers and other users) and machines access to protected applications in a streamlined and consistent way that enhances the user experience. For people, SSO is part of the enhanced experience. AM is also responsible for providing security controls to protect the user session during runtime. It enforces authentication and runtime authorization using adaptive access. Lastly, AM can provide identity context for other cybersecurity tools and reliant applications to enable identity-first security.
Password management (PM) tools are products that provide users with the means to reset their own passwords after an account lockout or when they forget their passwords. PM tools can also synchronize passwords for users across multiple systems, allowing users to access multiple applications with the same password.
Gartner defines user authentication as the journey-time process that provides credence in a claim to an identity established for a person for access to digital assets. User authentication is delivered by some combination of (a) an authenticator, (b) signals evaluation and (c) an authentication decision point, which may be from different vendors. User authentication is used to provide credence in an identity claim for a person already known to an organization. The credence must be sufficient to bring account takeover (ATO) risks within the organization’s risk tolerance. Without effective authentication, the security of and trust in that person’s digital interactions are deeply undermined. User authentication is foundational to and protects the value of other functions within an organization’s identity fabric, namely: runtime authorization, especially segregation of duties (SOD), audit (individual accountability), and identity analytics.