IAM in the Education Sector

Importance of Identity and Access Management in the Education Sector?


Upcoming podcast on 20th May: The Growing Importance of Cyber Security in the Education Sector by Kirk Yamamoto

The Education Sector has witnessed a drastic change from the year 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. All over the world, the education institutes shut down because of the pandemic. Students had to opt for e-learning instead of physical classrooms. Classes were shifted from physical to remote and on digital platforms and still continue to. This resulted in a massive amount of online traffic to keep up with.

As there are huge amounts of highly sensitive data involved in e-learning like contact details, social security numbers, financial information, academic records, and health data it makes profitable targets for hackers. It creates a huge problem for the education sector if hackers hack any of the sensitive data.

Most of the educational institutions have already faced security crises and are facing difficulty sustaining in this environment. It is their responsibility to provide a secure learning environment as it has become a high priority. To avoid this security crisis in the educational sector, Identity and Access Management (IAM) plays an important role.

But the question is why and how does the IAM solution help the educational sector? What are the advantages of using IAM in the educational sector? How will IAM solve the security crises in the educational sector? No worries! This blog has the answer to all your questions.

So, let’s get started!

First thing first, What is IAM?

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an important part of the entire IT security that manages digital identities and user access to systems, resources, and data across the company. IAM is the security management system. Being a security management tool lowers the identity-related access risks within a business.

Nowadays, for both on-premises and cloud implementation leading IAM solutions are available.

To diminish risks, upgrade compliance, and improve efficiency across the enterprise, you need to choose the best IAM security partner for your organization. Click here to know more about what IAM is and how to get started with IAM.

Why IAM Is Important For Educational Sector?

  • Enable effective access to multiple systems for a dynamic user base
  • Access to all your users’ devices and applications is controlled and secured
  • Accept the regulatory requirements of state and federal
  • Latest IT systems are offered to staff and students
  • Secure the identities

How does IAM Improve the Educational Experience for Students?

For the Educational Institutes, it is the need for an hour to provide the optimal digital experience. It puts pressure on the IAM providers to provide a secure platform to the educational sector to protect their data along with delivering top-notch experiences to students.

Below points show how identity management for education enhances the user experience of students and faculty:

Automated access: To complement the access requests and de-provisioning needs of the students and faculty, an ideal and effective IAM solution offers automated account provisioning. It diminishes the risk of human error as well as permits students to enjoy timely access to each resource they need.

Self-service capabilities: It enables both students and faculty to manage their accounts seamlessly. With an IAM solution, users can resolve their issues by themselves without any need to approach the help desk to solve their issues. For instance, include resetting passwords or requesting individual access.

User-friendly frontend: All the applications approved by the institute will be placed under one portal because of IAM’s features like the single sign-on. Students can enjoy access to multiple apps with a single click by remembering only a single login set.

Protect data privacy: All educational institutes have to deal with huge amounts of personal data along with various financial and sensitive data. If hacked, hackers can sell these data and earn money. An identity access management (IAM) solution ensures security via various modes. They can leverage data regulations, compliance, and authentication measures to cut off the routes for hackers.

How does IAM Helps Education Sector In Resolving Data Security Risk?

There has been a magnified need for identity and access management in the education industry. Sennovate has partnered with industries leading IAM Solutions like Gluu, ForgeRock, etc. that are a scalable, highly integrative set of tools to meet the growing requirement of the modern higher education sector.

What are the advantages of using IAM in the educational sector?

New-age onboarding

The identity access management platform enables institutes to create a central identity across all channels for students and faculty using single sign-on. Modern and robust authentication methods such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) are also offered by the IAM with one-time passwords or security questions and more.

Sennovate’s IAM partners enable smooth and seamless integration into systems through industry-approved standards like OpenID Connect, OAuth2, and SAML 2.0.

Clear control of permissions

With Sennovate’s IAM solution, you can even define the roles and permissions regarding who can access what content and when. Colleges and universities can assign admins to teachers, lecturers, and staff and give them their respective roles.

Additionally, by adding users to their group they can work with other faculties. Also, professors can divide their students into groups as well as assign permissions on the basis of their projects.

Robust API security

With IAM’s security interface (APIs), you can strengthen your security and protect resources. It detects fraudulent behavior within the system and raises demands for authentication as and when needed.

Apart from this, it provides a seamless user experience, as well as it allows users to have one strong password for their multiple accounts with the feature of SSO. Stay always updated with the latest security mechanisms with the help of Sennovate’s IAM Solutions.

Data compliance management

All the major international data regulation policies including the EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA are compliant with the identity access management platform. It even provides more transparency about accepted consents, secured access, as well a seamless user experience to meet the high identity management of education requirements.

Single Sign-On

If students have to enter a username and password repeatedly to access the various applications, it consumes lots of their time and reduces their learning time. Most of the teachers are aware of this problem, as it directly interrupts class if a student is struggling to access their applications. Fortunately, Sennovate’s IAM solution module can simplify your students’ login processes with Single Sign-On (SSO). With SSO, your students can receive access to all their applications and data via a personal dashboard by only logging in once.

Advantages Of Choosing Sennovate+ IAM?

With Sennovate Plus (Beta) one can set up and use an IAM solution in just minutes at a fraction of the cost without any huge licensing cost involved. Users can set up Gluu or ForgeRock – our IAM solution of choice in minutes and use it to manage all their identities online.

Gluu and ForgeRock are open-source IAM solutions that can deliver and provide solutions for all your identity needs. Sennovate is a proud partner of Gluu and ForgeRock and helps enable a seamless IAM setup for organizations of any size.

Summing Up

Given this rapid upgrade in the classroom environment, experts are curious whether acceptance of online learning would continue to exist in the post-pandemic world, and whether such a move will affect the pressure of identity management on educational institutions. If it does (which is sure, will), Sennovate will certainly complement the complex, and unique IAM needs of schools, colleges, and universities across the globe.

Having any doubts or want to have a call with us to know more about IAM in the Education sector?

Contact us right now by clicking here, Sennovate’s Experts will explain everything on call in detail.

You can also write a mail to us at [email protected] or call us on +1 (925) 918-6618.

About Sennovate

Sennovate delivers custom identity and access management (IAM) and managed security operations center (SOC) solutions to businesses around the world. With global partners and a library of 2000+ integrations, 10M+ identities managed, we implement world-class cybersecurity solutions that save your company time and money. We offer a seamless experience with integration across all cloud applications, and a single price for product, implementation, and support. Have questions? The consultation is always free. Email [email protected] or call us at: +1 (925) 918-6618.