In today’s interconnected digital landscape, enterprises are increasingly adopting systems and frameworks that allow seamless yet secure access to data and applications. One such critical framework is federated authorization, a concept that plays a pivotal role in enhancing cross-enterprise collaboration and data security. But what exactly is federated authorization, and why is it important?
Understanding Federated Authorization
Federated authorization refers to a system of granting access rights to users across multiple organizations or systems without requiring them to maintain separate credentials for each. It works by establishing trust relationships between organizations, typically through a federation—a group of entities that agree to shared standards and protocols for authentication and authorization.
In this framework, a user’s identity is authenticated by their home organization (identity provider or IdP). This is known as Federated Identity. Authorization policies are associated with an authorization authority (AA), so any authorization request can be directed to the appropriate AA for policy evaluation. Once authenticated, this identity and its associated authorizations can be trusted by other organizations within the federation. Federated authorization goes beyond authentication by determining what resources the authenticated user can access, what they are authorized to do with those resources, and under what conditions.
Federated Authorization can work in two ways:
- Each authorization request can be routed to the appropriate authorization authority with the relevant metadata necessary to determine which policies are applicable. The authorization authority determines which policies are applicable, and then evaluates the authorization request against those policies to make an authorization decision. This decision is then returned to where the authorization request was made where it is enforced.
- If the specific policy that an authorization request should be evaluated against is known, a policy identifier can be passed to the authorization authority along with the authorization request. The authorization authority can then evaluate the request against that specific policy and return the authorization decision.
Federated Authorization, Data-Centric Security, and PBAC
Enterprises today face a dual challenge: providing employees, partners, and customers with convenient access to resources while safeguarding sensitive data from unauthorized access. Federated authorization addresses this challenge in several keyways, especially when integrated with Data-Centric Security and Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC).
- Streamlined User Management: By enabling users to access multiple systems with a single set of credentials managed by a trusted identity provider, federated authorization reduces the complexity of managing separate accounts. This minimizes password fatigue, which often leads to weak or reused passwords—a common security vulnerability.
- Data-Centric Security Alignment: Federated authorization supports data-centric security by ensuring access controls are applied directly to the data, regardless of its location. This means that even as data moves across systems and organizations, security policies remain intact, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
- Enhanced Access Control with PBAC: Federated authorization integrates well with Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC), a more flexible approach to access management. PBAC allows dynamic enforcement of policies based on contextual factors such as user attributes, device security posture, and real-time risk assessments. This ensures that access decisions are highly granular and adaptive to changing conditions.
- Improved Security Standards: Federation frameworks often adopt robust security standards, such as SAML, OAuth 2.0, and OIDC, which provide mechanisms for secure token exchange and prevent common attacks like phishing and session hijacking.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Federated authorization supports seamless collaboration in multi-organization environments. For instance, a supplier’s employees can access specific enterprise resources without requiring direct account creation, enhancing operational efficiency while maintaining security.
- Centralized Monitoring and Compliance: Centralized identity management within federated systems simplifies auditing and compliance. When coupled with PBAC and data-centric policies, enterprises can more effectively track and control access, ensuring adherence to regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA.
Real-World Applications
A example of federated authorization is the following:
- Company A and Company B are competitors but are collaborating on a joint venture. As part of that joint venture, Company A holds some of Company B’s data.
- Company A Employees are allowed to view Company B’s data, but are not allowed to edit.
- Company B employees are allowed to edit that data, but only if they meet certain requirements
In this scenario, when Company B employees attempt to edit the data from Company B, Company A will send that authorization request to Company B’s authorization authority to be evaluated and will then enforce the authorization decision that is returned.
Similarly, some of Company B’s data, such as supplier information, may be filtered or masked for users from Company A when they are viewing Company B data. By having such authorization requests evaluated by Company B’s authorization authority they maintain control over who is authorized to view or edit the data, and are able to manage and change policies that will be dynamically evaluated at the time of the authorization request.
Challenges and Considerations
While federated authorization offers significant benefits, it is not without challenges. Trust establishment between organizations, interoperability of systems, and proper implementation of cross-enterprise policies are critical. Integrating data-centric security and PBAC adds complexity, requiring robust policy governance and careful attention to avoid over-permissioning or misconfigurations that could lead to data breaches.
Resources
For more information, read our article on Federated Identity.
