Identity lifecycle management (ILM) is the automated, policy-driven process of managing digital identities and their access rights, from onboarding to deprovisioning. The main goal of ILM is to ensure that human and machine identities have just the privileges they need at each stage of their lifecycle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ILM defines how you create, modify, monitor, and deprovision accounts so that no access remains active when it is no longer needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Identity lifecycle management process reduces the gap between what an identity currently needs and what it can actually access. When managing identities manually, you are more likely to overlook abandoned accounts and lose track of who can access sensitive systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Common risks include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effective ILM supports least privilege<\/a> by continuously aligning permissions with current responsibilities. It also connects identity creation, entitlement decisions, monitoring, access reviews, and deprovisioning into a traceable process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ILM can support compliance efforts related to HIPAA<\/a>, GDPR<\/a>, SOC 2<\/a>, ISO 27001<\/a>, NIS2<\/a>, and DORA<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Effective cybersecurity programs include the following identity lifecycle management phases that keep access aligned with an identity’s current role.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKey stages of the identity lifecycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n