Information Security Synthesis in Online Universities

Information assurance is at the core of every initiative that an organization executes. For online universities, a common and complex initiative is maintaining user lifecycle and providing seamless access using one identity in a large virtual infrastructure. To achieve information assurance the management of user privileges affected by events in the user’s identity lifecycle needs to be the determining factor for access control. While the implementation of identity and access management systems makes this initiative feasible, it is the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure that makes it complex and challenging. The objective of this paper is to describe the complexities, propose a practical approach to building a foundation for consistent user experience and realizing security synthesis in online universities.