Serverless as a Game Changer: How to Get the Most Out of the Cloud

Appendix B

Directory: Identity and Access Management

Most commercial applications have significant human identity and access management (IAM) requirements. There are security requirements (such as multifactor authentication, the need to conceal which email addresses correspond to accounts, and the need to force lockouts after a certain number of failures), usability requirements (such as password resets, social login, and login by phone), and enterprise integration requirements (such as single sign-on or use of a corporate identity provider). Thus, it rarely makes sense to build that system from scratch or even to use a library—using a managed service is usually much better.

What Does an IAM Managed Service Do?

IAM services handle verifying ...