- What can you tell us about yourself? …
- What kind of users have you worked with before? …
- What are the IAM solutions and tools you prefer working with the most? …
- What is the biggest mistake you have committed or the biggest challenge you faced?
IAM Interview Tips | Identity and Access Management | Cyber Security
General questions
Interviewers often ask you general questions to learn about your skills, qualities and basic knowledge of IAM. Here are some you might experience:
IAM interview questions with sample answers
Here are some interview questions and sample answers that can help you prepare:
Can you describe a unique IAM project that required your involvement?
Hiring managers might want to know about the unique projects youve worked on in prior roles. To showcase your skills, you can briefly describe the project, what your role was and how you contributed to its success.
Example: “I managed a project where we redesigned all the user roles and access requirements for our global organization of over 5,000 employees. I worked with leadership teams to define what categories we could create, designing a hierarchy of access levels for senior management, management and employees. We completed the project within a year, and I negotiated stricter access for most employees to ensure higher levels of security.”
This question gives interviewees a chance to discuss projects that used skills useful to the position for which they are applying. Interviewees might discuss what made the project interesting to them, how they worked with others, and what they learned. More experienced candidates might talk about the projects management and technical complexities. New graduates can discuss key elements of projects they worked on at universities, training programs and internships.
In the IAM field, as with other security disciplines, filling jobs with professionals with the right mix of skills isnt easy, explained Lance Peterman, president of IDPro, a professional development organization. So, organizations looking to fill IAM positions “have to get creative with respect to hiring,” he said. For a new graduate or someone switching fields, “we often look at job candidates willingness and ability to quickly pick up concepts, particularly technical concepts.”
Interviewees at a higher technical experience level might be asked for details about specific cloud platform. For example, interviewees familiar with Amazon Web Service (AWS) IAM might be asked about its key features, how it works, its key benefits, its permissions and its policies. Be familiar with Amazons best practices such as AWS Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), which is designed to provide an additional layer of protection on top of the username and password.
Depending on the company and the position, some IAM jobs are more customer-facing than others. Some may focus more on soft skills, such as collaboration and communication, while other positions are more engineering-oriented and focus more on hard skills.
WellCare posed these two questions to IAM interviewees, according to Glassdoor. To grant a user access, browse the server in Active Directory and find out associated Access groups in the Server properties. Then add the user to the desired group, which grants access to that server, according to Microsoft’s documentation website. To disable a user in Active Directory, find the user in the correct organizational unit (OU) and then right click and select “Disable Account”; the user account will now be disabled and you will see a down pointing arrow next to the account name, according to Netwrix Blog.
Example: “I would start by adding multifactor authentication for all users. This feature adds another layer of security to ensure only authorized employees have access to sensitive information. Another feature I would implement is self-service password reset. This allows users to reset their own passwords if they forget them, which reduces help desk calls and improves customer satisfaction.”
In this guide, we’ll share some of the most common IAM interview questions and provide sample answers to help you prepare for your next job interview.
RADIUS is a protocol that allows users to authenticate themselves when they connect to the network. The interviewer may ask this question to see if you have experience using RADIUS and how it can be used in IAM. In your answer, try to explain what RADIUS is and why it’s important for IAM professionals to understand it.
If you’re looking for an IAM job, you can expect to face a range of interview questions that test your knowledge of IAM concepts, technologies, and best practices. The answers you give will show the interviewer whether you’re a good fit for the job and the company.
Example: “The most important factor in designing an IAM system is understanding the organization’s goals for implementing it. For example, if the goal is to reduce costs by eliminating redundant access controls, then I would recommend using single sign-on technology that allows users to log into multiple applications with one set of credentials. Another important factor is choosing the right identity provider based on the company’s needs. If the company has many locations or employees who work remotely, then I may recommend a cloud-based provider like Okta.”
IAM solutions are responsible for managing digital identities. With an IAM platform in place, access to information can be restricted within an organisation to the appropriate users. These platforms identify, authenticate, and authorise not just individuals using IT resources, but also the hardware and applications that employees need to access. Having an IAM platform in place boosts security and ensures compliance.
IAM solutions will often have complex pricing structures with different benefits. This is because some solutions will offer basic packages, whilst others venture into more sophisticated territory. Alongside this, there are different pricing models to take into account, with some solutions charging a per-user licence fee, whilst others include line items into various options. It’s key to create a like-for-like comparison to work out what you’re getting and for how much.
Choosing an IAM platform can be a daunting task. As a result, we’ve put together 12 questions to ask when evaluating identity & access management solutions. These questions cover everything from authentication processes and deployment complexity to single sign-on and mobile operating systems.
Choosing an IAM solution which includes web-based Single Sign-On (SSO) will come as a huge relief to admins and users alike. Benefits include reduced password fatigue, improved employee productivity, and reduced costs for IT. Using an IAM solution to enable SSO will help deliver a seamless user experience. Combine this with MFA and adaptive authentication, and admins can expect fewer authentication disruptions coupled with a highly secure access environment.
A sophisticated IAM solution can analyse multiple factors of an authentication request, including device, location, IP address, and behaviour. Through this, it can determine the legitimacy of every login attempt, meaning any request it doesn’t have total confidence in can be elevated to a higher risk level – meaning further authentication checks, or the attempt can be blocked entirely.
FAQ
How do you explain identity and access management?
What are the roles and responsibilities of identity and access management?
What is the purpose of IAM?
What are the parts of IAM?
