Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Passwords are no longer the only weakness in digital identity. Passkeys and FIDO2 reduce reliance on reusable credentials, but attackers can still target account recovery, steal active sessions, or exploit permissions granted to automated systems. Therefore, the next phase of passwordless authentication must address these gaps without making everyday access unnecessarily complicated.

OAuth (Open Authorization) is an open-standard authorization framework that allows applications to access an end user's protected resources without requiring the user to share their password. Instead, users grant applications limited access to specific resources through authorization, while their credentials remain private. OAuth uses access tokens to control what an application can access on a user's behalf.

TOTP (Time-Based One-Time Password) is an authentication algorithm that generates a unique, temporary numeric code using the current time as a moving factor. Typically, these codes are six digits long and automatically change every 30 seconds, providing a one-time verification code for authentication. TOTP uses a shared secret between the authentication service and the user's authenticator device, combining that secret with the current time to generate each code.

Passkeys and security keys both support phishing-resistant authentication, but they differ in how credentials are stored, managed, and used. A passkey is a digital authentication credential, while a security key is a physical authenticator that can store credentials and prove a user's identity. For enterprises replacing passwords, the distinction affects credential portability, recovery, hardware requirements, and control over authentication.

Imagine asking an AI assistant to find a product, put together a shopping cart, or help you update your Shopify store. For the assistant to complete these tasks, it needs a way to interact with Shopify. Shopify MCP provides that connection.

A machine identity is the set of credentials a non-human entity, such as an application, device, workload, or service, uses to authenticate itself and communicate securely with other systems. Just as an employee proves who they are with a username and password, a machine proves who it is with cryptographic credentials like a digital certificate, an API key, or a service account token.

A field employee's laptop crashes, or a server in another office needs a patch, or a remote worker gets locked out of their workstation. For all these situations, the IT team needs to get in, fix it, and move on, without being there. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is Microsoft's answer to that problem. It's a network protocol that lets you connect to another computer over a network and control it as if you were sitting right in front of it.

Higher education institutions manage identity information across systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, Student Information Systems (SIS), and HR systems. These records determine whether someone is a student, employee, faculty member, researcher, alumnus, or another type of campus user. Integrating these systems with Identity and Access Management (IAM) lets institutions use those records to manage digital identities and access throughout the user lifecycle.

Adaptive security is a cybersecurity approach that continuously monitors users, devices, networks, and security events to identify risks and adjust defenses in real time. Unlike static security models that rely on fixed rules and periodic updates, adaptive security responds to changes in behavior, context, and threat levels as they occur. It continuously evaluates security risks, detects unusual or suspicious activity, and adapts security controls based on the situation.

Access certification can take more time than the actual review. A manager may need to review access for 50 employees. Before that happens, someone has to gather the access data, identify the right reviewer, send the requests, and track the responses. If the reviewer revokes access, someone may also need to remove it from the application. Now repeat that across hundreds of users and several applications. The workload adds up quickly.