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Keycloak, an open source solution for IAM Management
Keycloak is an open source software platform for unified identity and access management. It enables companies and organizations to centrally and securely manage the authentication and authorization of their users.
Keycloak is designed to work with modern applications and services. It provides a variety of authentication mechanisms by supporting several protocols, including social login, OAuth 2.0, SAML, and OpenID Connect.
A modern interface and high level of scalability make it the ideal product for those who want to opt for a secure yet highly customizable solution. Now let’s look at its features in more detail.
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Single Sign On (SSO) & Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Keycloak supports Single Sign-On (SSO) allowing users to log in to multiple applications and services using a single set of credentials. This greatly simplifies the login process for users and results in increased security from reducing the number of passwords that must be remembered and managed.
The platform also supports multi-factor authentication (MFA) thus providing an additional layer of security by asking users to provide additional authentication information, (e.g. code sent to their phone) before accessing resources.
Function and installation
It functions as a central authentication server that delegates authentication to external sources and provides access tokens for requesting applications. Regarding the users, the platform provides a division into 3 macro categories that can be managed through a customizable admin dashboard:
- Users: those who can access resources.
- Roles: used to define the access levels of individual users.
- Groups: allow for quick management of the different roles present, creating aggregations between roles and users.
Keycloak supports multiple user stores including LDAP and Active Directory. In this way existing directories can be used for user authentication. Deployment can be on-premise, in the cloud or as a hybrid solution and it provides a flexible architecture with a high degree of scalability.
Features and Benefits
- Single Sign-On (SSO): allows users to access multiple applications and services using a single set of credentials.
- Identity brokering: identity validation using OpenID Connect or SAML 2.0 IdPs.
- Centralized management: customizable interface for managing users, roles and permissions.
- Multi-factor authentication: requires users to provide additional authentication information before accessing resources.
- Directory integration: Integration with LDAP and Active directory for authentication through existing directories.
- Scalability: Easily extendable according to different needs.
Keycloak: integrations
Keycloak has a number of APIs that allow the platform to be integrated with third-party services and systems thus making it an extremely versatile solution created to be integrated into the IT infrastructure of companies of any size.
