After this lesson, you will be able to: Explain what IAM is, how authentication and authorization differ, and why controlling access is the foundation of security.
Identity and Access Management decides who can do what, where, and when. It's the quiet plumbing behind every secure system: if access control fails, every other control collapses. This lesson defines the field and frames the rest of the sub-track.
Authentication answers "who are you?" (a password, a fingerprint, a security key). Authorization answers "what are you allowed to do?" (read this file, delete this user, withdraw cash). Many security incidents come from confusing the two, proving identity is not the same as having permission.
Every user, every service, every API key should have the minimum permissions needed to do its job, and nothing more. If a marketing intern doesn't need access to payroll, they shouldn't have it. If your weather app shouldn't read contacts, deny it. Least privilege limits the blast radius of every compromise.
Logging into Google with your password (authentication), being able to edit your own Drive folder but only view shared ones (authorization), getting an SMS code on a new device (multi-factor), single-sign-on across Gmail/YouTube/Drive (SSO). All of these are IAM in action, you've been using it your whole digital life.
An attacker stole an admin's password. Which IAM concept would have prevented full compromise?
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