✓ IGA Certifications

Compliance and Security Certification Standards

Access Reviews Attestation Regulatory Compliance Audit Trails

Overview

Certifications in IGA refer to both the periodic access review and attestation processes (access certifications) and the adherence to regulatory and security framework standards (compliance certifications). Together, they form the governance and assurance foundation that ensures access rights remain appropriate, compliant, and auditable throughout their lifecycle.

IGA certifications serve dual purposes: Operational governance through periodic validation that users have appropriate access, and Compliance assurance demonstrating adherence to regulatory and security standards.

Two Dimensions of IGA Certifications

Access attestation processes and compliance framework adherence

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Part 1: Access Certifications

Periodic review and attestation processes where authorized individuals verify that user access rights, role assignments, and entitlements remain appropriate, necessary, and compliant.

  • • Certification campaigns
  • • Reviewer roles and responsibilities
  • • Certification outcomes
  • • Continuous governance activity
⚖️

Part 2: Compliance Standards

Regulatory frameworks, industry standards, and security guidelines that drive IGA implementations and define certification requirements across organizations.

  • • Regulatory compliance (SOX, GDPR, HIPAA)
  • • Security frameworks (NIST, ISO 27001)
  • • Industry-specific standards
  • • Audit and reporting requirements

Part 1: Access Certifications

Attestation and review processes for ongoing access governance

Certification Campaigns

Certification campaigns are scheduled, systematic reviews of user access across the organization.

User Access Reviews

Review all access for specific users across all systems and applications.

Role Membership Reviews

Certify users assigned to specific roles and validate role appropriateness.

Entitlement Reviews

Validate specific permissions within applications and systems.

Application Access Reviews

Review all users with access to specific critical applications.

Privileged Access Reviews

Enhanced reviews for administrative and privileged accounts.

Orphaned Account Reviews

Identify and remove accounts without proper owners or justification.

Certification Frequency by Risk Level

Access Type Frequency Regulatory Driver
Standard Access Annually General governance
Privileged Access Quarterly SOX, HIPAA, PCI-DSS
Break-Glass Accounts Monthly High-risk governance
Financial Systems Quarterly SOX Section 404
PHI/PII Access Quarterly HIPAA, GDPR
Service Accounts Quarterly Security best practice
Contractor Access Before renewal Vendor management
SoD Conflicts Immediate + Quarterly SOX, operational risk

Certification Participants (Reviewers)

Role Owners

  • Certify role definitions remain appropriate
  • Confirm role memberships are justified
  • Review permissions within roles
  • Identify role bloat

Application Owners

  • Verify application access appropriateness
  • Confirm users need access
  • Review permission levels
  • Validate business justifications

Data Owners

  • Confirm access to sensitive data
  • Verify data classification compliance
  • Review regulatory requirements
  • Approve continued restricted access

Managers

  • Attest to direct reports' needs
  • Confirm access aligns with jobs
  • Review temporary/exception access
  • Approve continued access

Compliance Officers

  • Review for policy adherence
  • Validate regulatory compliance
  • Check SoD violations
  • Generate audit evidence

Security Team

  • Review privileged access
  • Validate high-risk access
  • Monitor for anomalies
  • Investigate flagged accounts

Certification Campaign Lifecycle

Phase 1: Campaign Planning
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• Define scope (users, roles, applications)
• Select reviewers (managers, app owners, role owners)
• Set completion deadline (e.g., 30 days)
• Configure reminder schedules
• Define escalation procedures
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Phase 2: Data Collection & Preparation
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• Extract current access data from IGA system
• Enrich with usage data (last login, activity patterns)
• Flag dormant accounts (no activity 90+ days)
• Identify SoD violations
• Add business justifications from previous reviews
• Calculate risk scores
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Phase 3: Reviewer Notification
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• Email notifications to all reviewers
• Provide dashboard access for certification
• Show access summary with supporting data
• Enable filtering and search capabilities
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Phase 4: Review & Decision Making
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• Reviewers make decisions for each access item
• Options: Approve, Revoke, Modify, Escalate, Request Info
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Phase 5: Remediation
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• Auto-provision approved decisions
• Execute revocations automatically
• Create tickets for manual remediation
• Notify users of access changes
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Phase 6: Reporting & Compliance
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• Generate completion reports
• Document all decisions with timestamps
• Create audit trail for compliance
• Report SoD violations and exceptions
• Archive campaign results

Certification Outcomes

✓ Approve (Certify)

Access is appropriate and should continue. Business justification confirmed. Approval recorded with timestamp.

✗ Revoke (Remove)

Access no longer appropriate. User doesn't need access. Immediate removal via automated provisioning.

⚙ Modify (Adjust)

Reduce access level, change permissions within role, adjust scope or duration. Downgrade privileged to standard.

⬆ Escalate

Decision requires higher authority. Business justification unclear. Forward to manager's manager or compliance.

? Request Info

Need clarification from access owner. Require business justification. Need to understand usage patterns.

➤ Delegate

Forward to different reviewer. Reassign to proper business owner. Transfer to subject matter expert.

Part 2: Compliance & Security Standards

Regulatory frameworks and industry standards driving IGA certification requirements

SOX

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

U.S. federal law protecting investors from fraudulent financial reporting. Applies to all publicly traded companies and their subsidiaries.

Section 302: Corporate Responsibility

  • Executive certification of internal controls
  • Management accountability for access controls
  • Quarterly access reviews for financial systems

Section 404: Internal Controls

  • Segregation of Duties (SoD) controls
  • Financial system access reviews
  • Automated provisioning and deprovisioning
  • Comprehensive audit trails
  • Prevention of conflicting access combinations
Key IGA Requirements: Quarterly financial system certifications, SoD policy enforcement, complete audit logs, role-based access control, exception management with documented approval.
GDPR

General Data Protection Regulation

European Union regulation governing data protection and privacy. Applies to any organization processing personal data of EU residents.

Article 5: Data Protection Principles

  • Data minimization (minimal access necessary)
  • Purpose limitation (access for legitimate purpose)
  • Accuracy (access data must be up-to-date)
  • Storage limitation (remove access when not needed)

Article 32: Security of Processing

  • Pseudonymization and encryption
  • Ensure confidentiality of systems
  • Regular testing of security measures
  • Process for access authorization
Key IGA Requirements: Data access governance, purpose-based access, right to erasure automation, privacy by design, consent management, comprehensive access logging.
HIPAA

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

U.S. federal law protecting sensitive patient health information. Applies to healthcare providers, health plans, clearinghouses, and business associates.

Security Rule §164.308: Admin Safeguards

  • Access authorization (unique user IDs)
  • Access establishment and modification
  • Termination procedures
  • Workforce security procedures

Privacy Rule: Minimum Necessary

  • Access limited to minimum necessary
  • Role-based access aligned with jobs
  • Regular review of access appropriateness
  • Emergency access procedures (break-glass)
Key IGA Requirements: PHI access controls, minimum necessary principle, quarterly certification of PHI access, break-glass accounts with full audit, immediate termination procedures.
PCI-DSS

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

Security standard for organizations handling credit card information. Required by card brands (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover).

Requirement 7: Restrict Access

  • Access limited to business need-to-know
  • Access control system for cardholder data
  • Default "deny-all" setting

Requirement 8: Identify & Authenticate

  • Unique ID for each person
  • Multi-factor authentication for remote access
  • Invalid authentication attempts logged
Key IGA Requirements: Quarterly cardholder data access reviews (mandatory), cardholder data access restrictions, privilege management, audit logging, vendor access management.
NIST

National Institute of Standards and Technology

U.S. government framework for information security and privacy controls.

NIST 800-53: Security Controls

  • AC-2: Account Management
  • AC-3: Access Enforcement
  • AC-5: Separation of Duties
  • AC-6: Least Privilege
  • IA-2: Identification and Authentication

NIST Cybersecurity Framework

  • Identify: Asset and identity inventory
  • Protect: Access control and identity management
  • Detect: Continuous monitoring and certification
  • Respond: Incident response with access revocation
  • Recover: Access restoration procedures
ISO 27001

Information Security Management System

International standard for information security management systems (ISMS).

Annex A.9: Access Control

  • A.9.2.1: User registration/de-registration
  • A.9.2.2: User access provisioning
  • A.9.2.3: Management of privileged access
  • A.9.2.5: Review of user access rights
  • A.9.2.6: Access removal procedures

Certification Requirements

  • Annual user access rights review (minimum)
  • Semi-annual privileged access review
  • Quarterly high-risk access review
  • Annual role definition review

How Identity Co-Analyst (ICA) Supports Certification Requirements

Identity Co-Analyst helps organizations define comprehensive certification and compliance requirements through conversational AI.

ICA: "Let's discuss access certification requirements. Does your organization currently conduct periodic access reviews?"
Stakeholder: "Yes, we do annual reviews, but our auditors want more frequent reviews for privileged access."
ICA: "I understand you have annual reviews but need enhanced frequency for privileged access. Let me gather specific requirements:
For standard employee access:
• Annual certification frequency - is this acceptable going forward?
• Who should review standard access - direct managers?
• What deadline should reviewers have to complete certification?
For privileged access:
• Your auditors want more frequent reviews - is quarterly appropriate?
• Should privileged access have multiple reviewers (manager + security)?
• Do you need enhanced data like session logs or usage statistics?
For financial system access:
• Are you subject to SOX compliance?
• If so, SOX typically requires quarterly reviews of financial system access.
• Should the CFO or Finance Director be involved in these certifications?

ICA-Generated Certification Documentation (Sample):

ACCESS CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

1. CERTIFICATION CAMPAIGN SCHEDULE

Standard Employee Access:
- Frequency: Annual
- Reviewer: Direct Manager
- Completion Deadline: 30 days
- Escalation: Manager's manager after 7 days overdue

Privileged Access:
- Frequency: Quarterly
- Reviewers: Manager + Security Team (both required)
- Completion Deadline: 14 days
- Enhanced Data: Include PAM session logs, last access date

Financial System Access (SOX Scope):
- Frequency: Quarterly (SOX requirement)
- Reviewers: Manager + CFO + Internal Audit
- Completion Deadline: 7 days
- Regulatory Driver: SOX Section 404

2. COMPLIANCE FRAMEWORK APPLICABILITY

SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley):
- Scope: All financial systems
- Key Controls: SoD enforcement, quarterly reviews, audit trails

HIPAA (if applicable):
- Scope: All systems containing PHI
- Key Controls: Minimum necessary access, quarterly reviews

3. AUDIT TRAIL AND REPORTING

Retention: 7 years (SOX requirement)
Reports: Certification completion rates, revoked access summary
Compliance Reports: Quarterly SOX, annual summary

Benefits of Comprehensive Certification & Compliance Programs

🔒 Security Benefits

  • Continuous validation of access
  • Early detection of anomalies
  • Reduction in excessive privileges
  • Improved privileged access governance
  • Prevention of unauthorized accumulation

✅ Compliance Benefits

  • Demonstrable regulatory adherence
  • Reduced audit findings
  • Audit-ready evidence and documentation
  • Lower compliance risk
  • Faster audit preparation (weeks to days)

⚙️ Operational Benefits

  • Optimized role definitions
  • License cost savings (remove unused)
  • Improved access request accuracy
  • Better understanding of patterns
  • Streamlined access governance

💰 Financial Benefits

  • Reduced audit preparation costs
  • Lower regulatory penalties and fines
  • Fewer security incidents
  • Optimized software licensing
  • Improved operational efficiency

Best Practices for Certification and Compliance

1️⃣ Risk-Based Frequency

High-risk and privileged access: quarterly. Standard access: annually. Low-risk access: as needed. Adjust based on regulatory requirements.

2️⃣ Rich Data for Reviewers

Provide usage statistics, risk scores, anomaly indicators, business justifications, SoD flags, and regulatory scope markers to enable informed decisions.

3️⃣ Automate Where Possible

Automated campaign scheduling, reviewer notifications, remediation of revocations, escalation for overdue reviews, and reporting generation.

4️⃣ Make Certification Easy

User-friendly portals, mobile-responsive interfaces, bulk approval capabilities, filtering and search functions, and clear decision options.

5️⃣ Continuous Monitoring

Real-time SoD violation detection, continuous access risk scoring, automated compliance reporting, dashboard visibility, and proactive alerts.

6️⃣ Document Everything

Complete audit trails, certification decisions with timestamps, reviewer identities, business justifications, exception approvals, and remediation actions.

7️⃣ Regular Framework Updates

Monitor regulatory changes, update policies based on new requirements, conduct gap analyses, adjust frequencies as needed, and engage legal teams.