Access Management

  • 4 min read

Extend the Value of Okta by integrating with Zluri

Minu Joseph

9th November, 2023

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Managing access to apps and resources in an enterprise landscape can indeed be complex, especially when relying solely on Okta. Okta's group-based access control system sometimes falls short of providing the fine-grained control that enterprises require. 

Let's deep-dive into this issue with an example:

An enterprise relies on Okta for user access management, but its group-based access control poses limitations. You can often find HR interns having access to sensitive employee data, from payroll information to confidential performance reviews, which only the HR manager should have access to. This happens due to a lack of unmanaged access levels and permissions.

However, the integration of Zluri with Okta offers a compelling solution. It enhances Okta's group-based access with resource-level access control, allowing IT teams and app owners to precisely specify the resources and permissions a user should have within applications. 

Let's take a closer look at how Zluri + Okta collaboration works.

With Zluri and Okta integration, IT admins can ensure:

•  Complete resource visibility, 

• Right-sized permissions for every employee and 

• Automated group-based access.

Zluri + Okta’s powerful 3 methods are:

1. Augmented Resource Level Control

2. Managing Access Provisioning for Non-Federated apps

3. Discover, manage & restrict ‘Shadow apps’

Resource-Level Control for Federated Apps

Challenge: 

Several Employees in an organization have unwanted access to projects and resources.

Okta relies on group-based access control, which limits what access profiles you can define for each user in terms of specific resources & permissions. A single application can have different definitions of roles and access standards, which makes it difficult to grant access beyond high-level roles and basic account creation and disabling.

Solution: 

Zluri can augment Okta’s group-based access with deeper resource-level access by provisioning an advanced layer of control beyond group-based access. IT teams & app owners can define the specific resources and permissions a user should have within applications, such as a GitHub repository or a Salesforce account. 

With the Zluri + Okta integration, enterprises can enable resource-level access control and automate Okta group management. 

For Example, Employees from the product group in Okta can directly connect the users to the resources they need access. For instance, John needs access to Project 3 in Jira; he will be provided with access to only Project 3 and nothing else. This granularity ensures that users only access the necessary resources, enhancing security and productivity.

Zluri provides curated playbooks and automation triggers through which we can automate Okta group management by adding and removing users from groups.

Zluri + Okta’s collaboration will give 

• Complete  visibility into resources users can access, 

• Right-size permissions for every employee in your organization and 

• Automate group-based access on Okta

Managing Access to Non-Federated Apps

Challenge: 

In enterprise organizations, IT teams and app admins struggle with provisioning access manually for applications with no SCIM connectors, 

Here is a scenario where provisioning is performed with SCIM connectors or without.

Applications with SCIM connectors:

Let's assume users from the Software Development team need to be provisioned access to Atlassian and Zoom, which have SCIM connectors. As soon as the users are added to the Software Development Okta group, they will automatically get added to Atlassian and Zoom, making the process more streamlined.

Applications without SCIM connectors

Similarly, for applications like ZOHO desk that do not provide  SCIM connectors, the respective app admins must manually add users to these applications, which can cause a struggle in access provisioning, hinder organizations' scalability, and is a tedious, time-consuming process.

Solution:

Zluri provides access to over 150+ OOTB direct integrations and SCIM connectors, which can perform 2000+ workflow actions and effectively bring non-federated apps within the scope of managed access.

Zluri's integration with Okta can automate and centralize your user's access for every non-federated application. With or without SCIM, with Zluri, you can manage access or monitor applications that either have APIs or can connect with Zluri’s APIs

Example: 

How Zluri manages access with Non-SCIM apps:

If a  User wants access to Zoho invoice(Non-SCIM supported app), with Zluri, users can specify which projects, tickets, departments, and permissions they can access. This simplifies the process of managing permissions in various apps and eliminates the need for manual adjustments. 

You can also create workflows that notify access changes to respective ‘owners’ or ‘users’ for apps not part of our 150+ OOTB integrations to really consolidate all access management and control in one place

Discover, Manage & Restrict ‘Shadow apps’

Challenge: 

‘According to research by Netspoke, 97% of cloud apps used in the enterprise are shadow IT, unmanaged, and often freely adopted.’

Upto 50-70% of the SaaS stack is not visible to organizations; one of the key reasons many applications aren't visible is they don’t have SSO tags, which causes a roadblock for identity providers like Okta to detect the usage of these apps.

Having shadow applications in your organization can pose security risks since you are unsure how your employees use them and what contractors or non-employees might have access to, leaving your company and customer data prone to data breaches.

For example, Freemium business models have made the sign-up process effortless. All you need to provide is your business email address and credit card details; & you can sign up for apps within a minute without having the IT team's approval, which can pose security risks, data loss, and Compliance issues for the organization. 

How can you view or manage something you don't know exists? 

Solution: 

Zluri's integration with Okta can go beyond SSO access and give 360-degree visibility into your SaaS stack. Zluri enables this through 5 powerful discovery methods:

1. SSO & IDP

2. 800+ direct integrations, 

3. Finance systems, 

4. Browser agents 

5. Desktop agents

With these methods, you can 

• Discover the shadow apps in your organization, 

• Visibility into who has access to these applications and 

• Help you Manage and Restrict usage of shadow apps. 

By detecting these unauthorized applications and taking action, such as setting up security alerts, organizations can mitigate the risks associated with uncontrolled app usage, enhancing overall security.

Conclusion:

To wrap it up, enterprises can manage access to certain apps and resources with some amount of manual effort using Okta's group-based access control. But by Integrating with Zluri, IT teams can enable user resource-level access control and automate Okta group management in one dashboard. 

About the author

Minu Joseph

Minu is a product marketer with dynamic digital marketing support and a background in journalism. She has a comprehensive understanding of B2B marketing strategy and content writing.