IAM Foundations

Every major breach in the past decade has an identity component. SolarWinds started with compromised credentials. Colonial Pipeline began with a legacy VPN account that had no MFA. Uber fell to a single push notification. Capital One traced back to an IAM role with permissions nobody had ever reviewed.

This book explains why those things happen and how to prevent them.

IAM Foundations covers all 20 core domains of Identity and Access Management in one structured guide. Authentication, authorisation, federation, single sign-on, privileged access management, identity governance, cloud IAM, Zero Trust, and compliance are all here, written for people who want to genuinely understand the discipline rather than memorise definitions.

Every module shows you how the concept works, how attackers exploit it, what good looks like in practice, and ends with a checklist and a quiz that tests real understanding, not recall.

No prior IAM experience required. By the end you will be able to design authentication flows, spot flaws in proposed architectures, and build a programme roadmap that fits your organisation's actual risk level.

This is the book for anyone entering the identity field, whether you are starting your first security role, moving from IT administration, or preparing for a security certification. The principles are transferable. The knowledge stays with you regardless of which tools your organisation uses.