- [Instructor] One of the fundamental security capabilities
for an IT system is identity.
This is used to establish ownership, access,
and privileges for a user
to a system, application, or data.
With a unique identity,
we can then attribute activity on a system
and access to a resource, to a specific individual.
We'll usually see the identity expressed as a user id.
Of course, our systems also have identities,
which are usually expressed as a host name or an IP address.
Individual systems contain their own identity stores
with Linux holding its users in the et cetera password file
and Windows in the SAM.
However, enterprises generally set up a separate identity
store and externalize identity services
on their workstations and servers.
The external identity store is known as a directory,
and the standard protocol for interacting with directories
is the lightweight directory application protocol or LDAP.
The most prevalent identity system in enterprise
is Microsoft's Active Direectory.
This manages both user and computer identities,
and users groups to establish sets of privileges
that a user can hold by being a member of the group.
Active Directory can be accessed using LDAP,
but it also has its own set of protocols,
which we don't need to go into right now.
External identity systems may also be referred to
as Identity and Access Management, or IAM Systems.
Identity systems will often contain
or be associated with an authentication system
so that the user claiming an identity
can prove that they're the real owner of that identity.
Given the many failures of traditional password solutions,
it's common nowadays to require two forms
of authentication to be provided.
This is often called two factor-authentication or 2FA.
Active Directory provides authentication
and can integrate with a 2FA solution.
While Active Directory dominates the identity scene,
there are a number of Linux focused
identity solutions available.
Open LDAP is a very basic LDAP server.
Apache has released a product called Syncope,
a Java based identity solution.
There's a solution called 389 Directory Server
from FreeIPA, which is used in Red Hat Linux,
and a solution called Glue from the Glue Federation.
There are many other local and cloud options,
and they all have their own pros and cons.
For the purpose of checking out one,
we'll take a look at one called Zitadel,
which we can run locally on our Kali Purple server.