Resources  /  Glossary

Access recertification

Periodically confirming that the people who have access still need it — and keeping proof that you checked.

Identity governance (IGA)

The discipline of deciding who should have access, granting it, reviewing it and proving all three.

Privileged access (PAM)

Controlling the accounts that can change things: administrators, service accounts, anything holding the keys.

Just-in-time access

Granting elevated access for a specific task, which then expires on its own rather than sitting there forever.

Standing privilege

Administrative access that is always on, whether or not anyone is using it. The thing attackers hope to find.

Joiner-mover-leaver

Access following employment: granted on the first day, changed on a move, removed on exit.

Separation of duties

Making sure one person cannot hold a combination of access that lets them do something harmful unchecked.

Single sign-on (SSO)

One sign-in that opens the applications you are entitled to, instead of a password for each.

Multi-factor / passkeys

Proving identity with more than a password. Passkeys resist phishing rather than merely recording it.

Non-human identity

Anything that holds access but is not a person: service accounts, scripts and now AI agents.

Sovereign deployment

Running the system where the data is legally required to stay, under your control rather than a vendor’s.

Orphaned account

An account nobody owns, usually left behind by someone who moved on. Working access, no accountable human.