Symantec Identity Governance and Administration

Identity and Access Management (IAM) has become a foundational control for protecting corporate digital assets in an environment where a traditional network perimeter often no longer exists and where digital assets and intellectual property have become more valuable and business-critical. Digital transformation increases efficiency and enables new products and operating models, but it also raises business impact when systems, applications, and data are compromised—extending even into manufacturing through connected machinery and smart logistics. Rising connectivity for mobile work, partner integration, and customer-facing processes, combined with cloud adoption and hybrid IT delivery, increases both cyber risk and the governance burden required for compliance and consistent security posture.

When implemented well, IAM reduces attack surface by enforcing least privilege, automating user and entitlement management, and enabling auditing that identifies excessive risk. It also enables the business by streamlining onboarding, access changes, and timely deprovisioning so employees, contractors, partners, and customers get appropriate access when needed and lose it when no longer required. Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), often described as “core IAM,” centers on Identity Provisioning and Access Governance: provisioning automates account/entitlement lifecycle across diverse systems, while governance analyzes entitlements, runs access reviews and recertifications, and provides access request workflows. Effective governance depends on tight collaboration between business approvals and technical entitlement mapping, including controls like Segregation of Duties (SoD).

Symantec Identity Governance and Administration (Broadcom’s rebranded CA Identity Suite) is a mature, widely deployed IGA platform packaged as a virtual appliance. It combines self-service, access and risk analysis, governance automation, provisioning, and deployment/connector tooling. Strengths include broad on-premises connector coverage (including mainframe), robust APIs, modern UI, and strong support, while challenges include potential complexity and cost of customization, fewer specialized integration partners, and limited delivery options (no SaaS/container offering).

• Identity Governance and Administration includes two core elements: Identity Provisioning and Access Governance.
• Broadcom acquired CA Technologies in late 2018 and acquired Symantec in November 2019.
• Symantec Identity Governance and Administration is the latest version of the CA Identity Suite consisting of Identity Manager, Identity Governance, and the Identity Portal.
• CA’s eTrust Admin 2.0 was launched in 2002.
• Eurekify Enterprise Role Manager was acquired in 2008.
• Layer7 software was acquired by CA in 2013.
• Symantec IGA is packaged as a virtual appliance.
• SOAP and REST APIs are available for most administration and end-user functionality, with support for SCIM 2.0.
• SDK support is limited to Java and C/C++ and includes an AngularJS option.
• SaaS or container-based deployment options are not provided for Symantec IGA.

• “IAM (Identity and Access Management) is fundamental to protecting corporate digital assets.”
• “In most cases, a perimeter which secures the internal network from external threats no longer exists.”
• “These factors make good IAM a core element of digital security.”
• “Protecting against both internal and external cyber threats requires a well-thought-out understanding of risks and countermeasures.”
• “When IAM is done right it ensures that the identities, together with their user accounts, passwords, and access entitlements are well-managed.”
• “In this way IAM helps to reduce the attack surface through the principle of ‘least privilege’.”
• “The Access Governance element is essential to support cooperation between business and IT.”
• “This is a complex interface that also covers the ongoing management and reviews of entitlements.”
• “Having an infrastructure for Identity Provisioning and Access Governance in place is the cornerstone for successfully managing identities.”
• “Overall, Broadcom’s Symantec IGA solution is a mature and feature-rich product but may be more suitable for large complex IGA deployments.”