Enforcing zero trust user access is becoming a security essential. Yet in complex hybrid and multicloud environments, it’s not always easy to manage user identities. 

However, access management vendors like ForgeRock, which today announced the release of ForgeRock Identity Governance, are trying to address this challenge by providing a cloud-native approach to managing user identities. 

The tool is built on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to determine whether employees should or shouldn’t have access to applications and data. 

In practice, it provides security teams with AI-suggested recommendations on user access requests and deploys segregation of duties policy checks, while providing employees with a 24/7 self-service portal so they can log in to resources quickly and securely. 

Cloud security as an identity management challenge 

The announcement comes as security leaders become more preoccupied with the challenges of securing cloud environments, with 80% of decision-makers in a survey noting that an increase in cloud migration is requiring new security solutions. In addition, 74% believe there is a requirement for a new identity access management (IAM) solution. 

Part of the reason for this trend is that organizations need to be prepared to secure user access to a much wider range of online apps and services than they would in a simple on-premise network. 

“Enterprises face tougher governance challenges and need better ways to manage identities, especially as digital transformation drives new digital processes. Layer on the aggressive adoption of cloud-based applications and services, and the sheer volume of user access and access permissions data is exploding,” said Peter Barker, chief product officer of ForgeRock. “Overwhelmed security and IT teams can’t keep up with the demand and are rubber-stamping and over-provisioning user access, meaning increased security risks, access blind spots, and potential data breaches.”

ForgeRock’s answer to these challenges is to use automation, so that security teams can manage user access efficiently with AI, without tying users up with time-consuming manual login processes. 

Looking at the identity governance market 

ForgeRock is one of many providers in the identity governance and administration market, which researchers anticipate will grow from a valuation of $3.8 billion in 2018 to $7.7 billion by 2023. 

One of its main competitors in the space is Okta with Okta Identity Governance, which offers automated approval workflows and self-service access for users with out-of-the-box reporting to help achieve compliance requirements. Okta recently raised $1.30 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2022 revenue. 

Another is Sailpoint, which recently announced raising annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $429.5 million and offers enterprises an identity platform with AI-driven automated real-time access risk analysis to assess the risk of user connections and provides cloud access management capabilities. 

However, Barker argues that ForgeRock differentiates itself from other providers by providing a more unified access management solution. 

“While competing solutions have some components of IGA in place, ForgeRock has the most comprehensive unified platform that does everything, soup-to-nuts: AI-infused access, extreme scalability, and one unified, simple-to-use platform,” Barker said.