Keycloak is growing – check out why

$25.6 billion – that’s how much the global identity and access management (IAM) market will be worth in 2027, according to research firm MarketsAndMarkets. Among the commercial market leaders, Gartner lists Okta, Ping Identity, Microsoft Azure Active Directory, CyberArk, OneLogin, and ForgeRock. In recent years, open source solutions – Keycloak, OpenIAM, Gluu, WSO2 or Authelia – have also been developing rapidly. Companies around the world are using them more and more.

With care for IAM

IAM-identity
KPMG points to identity fraud as an example of how the cloud has made it easier to commit cybercrime.

Identity and access management (IAM) in companies today is of particular concern. The market is growing due to increasing demand for controlled user access to their companies’ critical resources. They change as new threats emerge: security breaches, fraud, and identity theft. But not only that. There is a growing demand for modern technologies to support IAM – cloud solutions, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, for the fast-growing area of IoT. 

Keycloak is coming out of the shadows

According to research firm MarketsAndMarkets, the value of the global identity and access management (IAM) market will grow. From $13.4 billion in 2021, to $25.6 billion in 2027.

In the latest report, analysts predict that the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.7 percent. With as much as 33 percent of that growth coming from Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries, mainly China and Japan.  

The commercial market leaders remain Microsoft with Azure Active Directory, Okta, Oracle, Amazon Cognito, IBM, ForgeRock, CyberArk, and AWS. In recent years, open source solutions – Keycloak, OpenIAM, Gluu, WSO2 or Authelia – have also been developing rapidly. Companies around the world are using them more and more.

devopsi-email
[sc name=”mid-article-form” ][/sc]

The cloud has facilitated cyber attacks

The rapid growth of cloud services influenced the approach to Identity and Access Management (IAM).

Particularly in the context of the growing challenges associated with remote work, as seen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The risk of attacks is growing. Employees are becoming targets of cybercriminals. 

KPMG points to identity fraud as an example of how the cloud has made it easier to commit cybercrime. Mitigating its effects, requires a strong focus on managing user identities. According to the specialists, user access to cloud applications, requires well-defined roles. All this to correctly define the scope of their authority.

And action is needed. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, in 2021 identity fraud losses, in which fraudsters at various levels used stolen personal information, cost the US economy $24 billion and directly affected 15 million people.

IAM – role-based access

IAM-access
Controlling user access reduces the risk of internal and external data breaches.

Identity and access management IAM enables active control of user access to critical resources in their organizations. With IAM, administrators define ranges of access to systems or networks that take into account the roles given to individual users. User login credentials are recorded, but access privileges are also assigned and removed. 

Controlling user access reduces the risk of internal and external data breaches. In turn, automation of IAM systems allows companies to operate more efficiently. 

KeycloakX „undercuts” competitors

IAM solutions are closely related to the Single-Sign-On (SSO) single-sign-on format. It allows fast, secure, and seamless access to online services with a single login of the user’s choice. Single sign-on eliminates the need to manage multiple credentials. One of the most popular solutions in use today is the open source Keycloak. It is a universal solution – it is both a tool for SSO and a tool for identity and access management, with modern applications and services in mind. 

Keycloak provides integration with LDAP and Active Directory. Thanks to the user interface, you can easily manage roles, permissions, and sessions in this environment. Let’s emphasize it – Keycloak is a free solution. It provides client libraries for many languages, such as Java, JavaScript, and C#. It is also written mainly in Java (with input from other languages such as JavaScript and HTML). Its source code is available on GitHub.