SSO vs. Federated Identity Management: A Guide
Security Boulevard, Wednesday, January 28th, 2026
Managing digital identities for both human and non-human users is a central challenge for modern organizations.
As companies adopt more SaaS platforms, microservices, and multi-cloud environments, they face two major identity challenges:
- People, such as employees, contractors, and partners, juggle multiple logins across systems.
- Workloads, such as scripts, microservices, and automation tools, require constant authentication behind the scenes.
Each login represents a potential vulnerability and productivity loss. According to 1Password, one in three employees (34%) reuse passwords at work, even when aware of the risks. Static credentials and long-lived secrets used by services increase the risk of breaches and lateral movement.