Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Updated in May 2025. This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. In this detailed course on Identity and Access Management (IAM), you will explore the full spectrum of identity controls and management practices essential for today’s IT environments. Beginning with an overview of physical and logical access control methods, you’ll learn how to secure key organizational assets. The course progresses into the types of access controls, focusing on role-based and rule-based models, as well as advanced access control mechanisms like Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) and Risk-Based Access Control. Key IAM concepts like authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) are thoroughly discussed, emphasizing their importance in modern security architectures. You'll also learn how to manage sessions, perform identity registration, and implement Federated Identity Management (FIM) for cross-domain environments. The course also covers credential management techniques like password vaults, Single Sign-On (SSO), and Just-in-Time access, ensuring you can manage identities securely and efficiently. By the end of the course, you will be equipped to handle identity lifecycle processes such as provisioning, deprovisioning, account access reviews, and role definitions. Additionally, protocols like OAuth, OpenID, SAML, Kerberos, RADIUS, and TACACS+ are explained in depth, giving you a strong understanding of authentication systems. This course prepares you not only for the CISSP exam but also for the real-world challenges of managing identity and access in complex IT environments. This course is ideal for IT professionals, security managers, and network administrators preparing for CISSP certification or seeking to strengthen their expertise in Identity and Access Management (IAM). A basic understanding of information security and networking is recommended.