Identity Types

The practice of regulating access to resources or systems based on permissions and authorization policies. Secrets managers implement access control mechanisms to restrict who can view, modify, or retrieve stored secrets, ensuring that only authorized users or applications have access.

Categories:

SSH Key

Identity Types

Secure Shell (SSH) keys are cryptographic keys used for secure remote access to machines or systems, providing authentication and encryption for communication.

Service Account Token

Identity Types

A service account token is a credential used by service accounts (non-human identities) to authenticate with systems and services. These tokens are often used by applications or services running in environments like Kubernetes to access resources without human interaction.

TLS/SSL Certificate

Identity Types

Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates provide secure communication over a network by encrypting data transmitted between machines, often used in web servers, APIs, and other network services.

Token

Identity Types

A piece of data used for authentication or authorization, typically issued by an identity provider or authentication service. Tokens may include access tokens, refresh tokens, session tokens, or JWTs, depending on the authentication mechanism and protocol used.

Universal Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Identity Types

Universal IAM refers to a unified approach to identity and access management that spans multiple environments, platforms, and services. This can also unify user and non-human identities. It enables organizations to manage identities and access controls consistently across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments, providing seamless identity lifecycle management and access governance.

Vault

Identity Types

A secure repository or container used to store and manage sensitive information, such as passwords, cryptographic keys, certificates, and API tokens. Vaults employ encryption and access control mechanisms to safeguard stored data from unauthorized access or disclosure.

Workload

Identity Types

A specific task, application, or process running on a machine or within a computing environment, often associated with cloud-based or distributed systems.

Workload Identity Federation (WIF)

Identity Types

Workload Identity Federation allows workloads running in one environment (e.g., on-premises or a third-party cloud) to authenticate and access resources in another environment (e.g., public cloud) without managing long-term credentials. It typically leverages federated trust models like OIDC (OpenID Connect) for secure authentication.

X.509

Identity Types

X.509 is a standard defining the format of public key certificates. These certificates are used in cryptographic systems (like SSL/TLS) to securely verify identities through a trusted certificate authority (CA), commonly used in IAM for machine and workload identity verification.

X.509 Certificate

Identity Types

An X.509 certificate is a digital certificate that uses the X.509 standard to authenticate the identity of machines, applications, or users. It contains a public key, identity information, and is signed by a trusted certificate authority (CA), making it critical for secure communication in networks.