Introduction

Access to certain systems, network resources and data cannot be confirmed if the user request for access is not validated/certified. The process is mainly implemented in corporate firms to safeguard and comply with security risk management policies against fraud or alienated employees who may cause a major data breach. The access certification process is not very straightforward and needs specific software tools and a setup of a centralized identity directory. This process comes under identity access management.

Who ensures Access validation and Certification?

Identity access management, also known as IAM, is an umbrella term for several sets of policies and software which ensure that the right user gets access to the right data and information needed to complete their given tasks. Access certification validates the user’s request to access.

Why is Access validation & Certification Implemented?

Access validation plays a core role in access management and maintaining efficient security of private and third party confidential data. It can be set up to:

• To have clarity upon who or which group of individuals have access to which data as time allocation of data could be done incorrectly, increasing the chances of a data breach.
• To ensure there are no loopholes to access data. This happens when the firm holds and maintains dormant accounts which are not in use anymore that have been validated to access data held by the enterprise. Such accounts could be loopholes that a cyber attacker can easily exploit with ill intentions.
• To recheck if the given access to employees or enterprise acquaintances is legitimate and not leak any information they are not aware of.
• To account for all the access given to the data from the enterprise database. It is an important process to audit every movement of data. It is required to ensure compliance with the IT rules of the country of operation where the company is based.

Advantages

One of the main advantages of employing access validation and certification in a company is that it accurately maintains access management and data flow, which improves compliance. Security is a big concern. When there are third party stakeholders involved, the firm must deploy every power to install strong data security. In such a case, validation and certification act as a firewall that filters unauthorised data access.