August 2023 Summaries

User Identity and Access Management (UIAM) solutions are essential for modern businesses to ensure robust security, compliance, and customer experience, as 81% of cyberattacks originate from compromised credentials. Developing an in-house UIAM solution can be costly and challenging, requiring continuous updates with the latest security measures, such as multi-factor authentication and adaptive MFA, and adherence to complex and evolving compliance regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Custom code often introduces vulnerabilities, further complicating development and maintenance. Consequently, companies might benefit from focusing on their core business and utilizing specialized solutions like Ory Network, a global, high-availability user identity and access management network that offers end-to-end services for securing user authentication, authorization, and API protection. Ory Network employs state-of-the-art security measures, zero-trust security models, and advanced AI analytics, while being supported by a vast open-source community, making it a comprehensive choice for managing identity and access across various platforms.

Cal.com, a scheduling and appointment management platform, strategically implemented Ory's open-source enterprise single sign-on (SSO) solution to meet the increasing demand for secure and streamlined user authentication from enterprise and government clients. This decision was driven by Cal.com's commitment to open-source principles and their goal of connecting one billion people by 2031. The integration of Ory's SSO solution allowed Cal.com to efficiently enhance their infrastructure, offering a robust authentication process with minimal maintenance, which significantly saved time and resources that would have been spent developing an in-house solution. This seamless integration not only facilitated enterprise client acquisition by affirmatively answering security needs but also improved user satisfaction and retention, contributing to Cal.com's mission of democratizing scheduling. The collaboration with Ory underscored the value of open-source solutions in fostering innovation and supporting business growth.

Cal.com, a platform designed to enhance scheduling and time management for individuals and enterprises, has integrated Ory's Single Sign-On (SSO) solution to meet growing demands for streamlined authentication from enterprise clients and government organizations. Co-Founder and Co-CEO Bailey explains that the choice of Ory was influenced by its open-source nature, aligning with Cal.com's commitment to an open ecosystem. The integration has delivered significant direct benefits, such as improved reliability and user experience, while also providing soft benefits like increased team morale and freeing up developer resources. The adoption of Ory’s SSO has not only saved substantial development time but also played a crucial role in acquiring enterprise clients, as robust SSO capabilities have become a pivotal factor in negotiations. Ory's excellence in support and the strengthened credibility it provides Cal.com in the enterprise market have led to enthusiastic recommendations of Ory to other companies.

Spike, an incident management platform with a global customer base, implemented enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) to simplify secure access for teams of all sizes. The adoption of Ory's SSO solution, particularly SAML Jackson (now Ory Polis), enabled Spike to quickly and efficiently integrate SSO features, transforming their operations by streamlining access and enhancing security. This implementation not only saved significant time and effort, allowing Spike to focus on its core mission of supporting engineering teams, but also facilitated the onboarding of new enterprise customers with large engineering teams. The partnership with Ory was marked by flexibility, open-source commitment, and exceptional support, which helped Spike navigate the complexities of SSO integration and strengthen their customer relationships. This collaboration highlights how advanced technology solutions can revolutionize business processes and foster value-based partnerships.

Spike, an incident management platform catering to customers in over 40 countries, embarked on integrating enterprise single sign-on (SSO) capabilities to meet the growing demand for secure and streamlined authentication processes. Recognizing the necessity of this feature for enterprise environments, they partnered with Ory, whose SSO solution offered the flexibility, user-friendliness, and robust API ecosystem required to align with Spike's operational needs. The implementation of Ory's SSO solution significantly reduced entry barriers, expedited the onboarding of large enterprise customers, and allowed Spike to concentrate on its core mission of supporting engineering teams in incident management. This collaboration not only enhanced Spike's operational efficiency and customer acquisition capabilities but also underscored the importance of innovative technology in transforming business processes and building enduring partnerships grounded in trust and shared values.

Ory has developed a globally distributed identity and access management (IAM) platform, Ory Network, to address the challenges businesses face as they expand into a global marketplace. This platform, distinguished as the only multi-region IAM solution available, ensures fast, reliable service compliant with local laws by operating in over 11,000 production environments worldwide, handling approximately 3 billion API requests daily. A multi-region architecture is crucial for modern businesses to achieve high availability, reduced latency, and compliance with data regulations, despite the complexities of building such systems. Ory Network's multi-region approach enhances data redundancy, security, and user experience by hosting resources closer to users, ensuring regulatory compliance, and maintaining a unified user identity across regions. The platform also addresses challenges related to data homing and encryption, essential for managing personal data across borders amid evolving legal frameworks. As Ory Network continues to evolve, it remains committed to providing a resilient and high-performance platform while embracing technological advancements and best practices.

Ory has updated its support policy to better serve its open-source community and commercial users of its identity management solutions, such as Ory Hydra, Ory Kratos, and Ory Keto. As the community has grown, Ory has formalized its approach to support, especially on platforms like the Ory Community Slack. While non-profit and personal users will continue to receive free community support, for-profit businesses operating Ory products in production will need to engage in paid support services to access features like private channels, SLAs, and custom implementations. This change is intended to ensure the long-term sustainability and success of Ory Open Source Software, encouraging organizations to either subscribe to a paid plan on the Ory Network or establish a Hybrid Network support agreement for self-hosted installations. The support restructuring includes new Slack channel prefixes to distinguish between support and community discussions, with the changes taking effect immediately and the Slack restructuring scheduled for August.

The tutorial provides a detailed guide on setting up an OAuth2/OIDC server using Ory Network to enable Single Sign-On (SSO) login with your own service, akin to popular options like "Login with Google," but centralized for your organization. It outlines steps to create a central OAuth2 server as well as configuring a domain-specific project to handle authentication flows, using Ory Identities as the identity provider. The guide explains how to establish a new OAuth2 client and integrate it into a domain, enabling seamless SSO login across multiple domains and third-party applications. By leveraging Ory's open-source software, the setup aims to provide a secure, scalable, and user-friendly authentication experience, with features like custom user interfaces, permission modeling, and complex authentication flows, while maintaining high standards of security and privacy.