IAM Foundation

Entry level No IAM experience needed Pathway 1 of 5 Self-paced, start any time English

Someone left the bank in June. Their login still worked in July.

Catching gaps like this is everyday work in IAM. Learn how to do it, starting from zero.

Start module 1 free Enrol now

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INR 5,999 + GST~~INR 9,999~~ Launch price, until 15 December

A real case from the course dinesh.branchActive15 days after he left

6courses30 short modules

36.5hoursAbout 3 hours a week

18labsIncluding 6 break-fix

3monthsFull access

Home > IAM Pathways > IAM Foundations

Description

IAM Foundations is built for people starting an identity and access management career from the ground up. Rather than front-loading theory, every course teaches through guided labs on a live Okta tenant you launch yourself, then asks you to solve a problem solo, and to repair something that’s broken. By the end you won’t just know what the identity lifecycle is; you’ll have mapped one, configured single sign-on, integrated a directory, and run an access-review campaign with your own hands.

You finish with a keepable “IAM Foundations” design dossier: a lifecycle map, an SSO configuration, and an access-review justification, which you can show an employer as proof you can do the work.

What You’ll Be Able to Do

Map an organisation’s joiner/mover/leaver identity lifecycle and spot where it breaks
Configure modern authentication, from MFA through to phishing-resistant passwordless (FIDO2 / passkeys)
Design role-based and attribute-based access with least privilege and separation of duties
Integrate a directory, map attributes, and provision users with SCIM
Trace and configure SSO end-to-end across SAML 2.0, OIDC, and OAuth 2.1
Run an access-certification campaign and write an audit-ready access-review justification
Work alongside AI-assisted identity tooling, and know when to trust, override, or escalate it

Who This Pathway Is For

University students and graduates entering cybersecurity or IT
Help-desk, IT support, and sysadmin professionals moving into identity
Career switchers who want a structured, hands-on route into IAM
Anyone who needs the foundational base before specialising as an Analyst, Developer, Administrator, or Architect

Requirements

Basic computer literacy and comfort navigating web applications
No prior identity, security, or coding experience required
A free Okta trial / developer account (you’ll launch and provision this yourself, and we show you how)

6 courses (IAM-101 to 106) · ~33 hours · Hands-On Throughout

Each course is its own SCORM package: a 5-question scenario pre-assessment, guided labs, an independent practice lab, a break-fix scenario, and a 5-question scenario post-assessment. From the second course on, pre-assessments are cumulative.

What you’ll learn

Identity, authentication, authorization and accounting, the core vocabulary

The joiner/mover/leaver (JML) identity lifecycle

The CIA triad applied to identity

Where AI/ML fits across the identity lifecycle

Hands-on

Guided: Tour an identity console and tag JML events

Independent: Map a fictional org’s identity lifecycle solo

Break-fix: Find a leaver account that was never de-provisioned

What you’ll learn

Passwords, MFA, and passwordless; phishing-resistant auth (FIDO2 / passkeys)

Tokens and sessions

Interpreting AI-driven, risk-based authentication signals

Hands-on

Guided: Configure MFA in a sandbox IdP

Independent: Respond to a credential-phishing scenario solo

Break-fix: Diagnose why MFA enrolment is failing for a user group

What you’ll learn

RBAC, ABAC, and PBAC; least privilege; separation of duties; entitlements

Reviewing AI-recommended access changes with human judgement

Hands-on

Guided: Build RBAC roles

Independent: Remediate AI-flagged over-privileged access solo

Break-fix: Untangle a role-explosion scenario causing access creep

What you’ll learn

LDAP / Active Directory concepts; user stores and attributes

Directory integration; SCIM provisioning; sync and sourcing

AI-assisted directory hygiene (stale / duplicate / orphaned identities)

Hands-on

Guided: Integrate a directory and map attributes

Independent: Connect a directory and organise users/groups solo

Break-fix: Resolve a broken attribute-mapping that blocks provisioning

What you’ll learn

SAML 2.0, OIDC, and OAuth 2.1, deep but beginner-paced

Tokens, assertions, claims, and SSO handshakes end-to-end

Using GenAI to trace federation flows, and verifying it against the specs

Hands-on

Guided: Trace an SSO handshake step-by-step on a simulator

Independent: Configure SSO between an IdP and an app solo

Break-fix: Diagnose a broken SAML/OIDC handshake (clock skew, audience mismatch, bad redirect URI)

What you’ll learn

Access reviews and certification; audit; GDPR / SOX drivers; a Zero Trust introduction

Professional practice: access-review justifications, change/ticketing, talking to auditors

Validating AI-suggested certification decisions before sign-off

Hands-on

Guided: Walk an access-certification campaign and draft a justification

Independent: Run a campaign and clear SoD violations solo

Break-fix: Investigate why a certification campaign is auto-revoking valid access

Portfolio output: a documented IAM Foundations design dossier (lifecycle map + SSO config + access-review justification) you keep and show employers.

Integration: you record a short reflection (one key decision, one thing that broke and how you fixed it, and how you’d apply it in a real role) and share the artifact for feedback.

That public demonstration is what moves a skill from “completed” to “owned.”

On completion: SCORM progress plus scenario assessments issue your IAM Foundations badge.

Lab environment
Labs run on the Okta Workforce Identity free trial plus free Okta and Auth0 developer editions, which you launch yourself. No open-source tooling, no complex setup. You self-provision your tenant and submit lab evidence (screenshots / exports / recordings) into the course.

Who is this pathway designed for?

Complete beginners. The first course assumes zero IAM background. Ideal for students, IT-support professionals, and career switchers who want a hands-on route into identity and access management.

Do I need any prior experience to enrol?

No prior identity, security, or coding experience is required; basic computer literacy is enough. The pathway builds from first principles up to configuring SSO and running governance campaigns.

Are the labs really hands-on?

Yes. Every course has guided labs, an independent practice lab you solve solo, and a break-fix scenario where you repair a broken setup, all on a live Okta tenant you launch yourself, not click-through simulations.

What do I get to show employers?

A keepable IAM Foundations design dossier (a lifecycle map, an SSO configuration, and an access-review justification) plus a verified IAM Foundations badge you can share on LinkedIn or in your portfolio.

How long will I have access?

Full lifetime access to all pathway content, including labs and future updates that reflect new identity standards and platform changes.

Is this exam prep for a certification?

No. We teach skills for the job. The skills overlap broadly with entry-level identity certifications, but that’s an incidental advantage; the goal is to make you employable, not to coach a test.

What can I do after this pathway?

Foundation is the base for every specialisation. From here you can move into IAM Analyst (Okta), IAM Developer (Auth0), IAM Administrator (Entra), or, with experience, IAM Architect.