Trusted Access is the granting of users access to applications and other resources by adding additional information past what is needed for authenticating the user. Often, the information is derived from the user’s device and speaks to its freedom from unauthorized parties or activity.
Trusted access usually combines authentication with information from the user’s device. Here, a user’s assertion that they are who they say they are is combined with device health or device attributes obtained from other means. Insight into a device’s freedom from malware or rooting are one way that device health is incorporated into the decision of whether the session is secure, and access is indeed trusted.
Gathering information on a device is challenging, as it requires visibility into technical, device-level information. The information must be in real-time, as well, since the decision to grant, deny, or discontinue access must be accurate for the session. To achieve this, administrators utilize mobile device management (MDM) technologies, technical partnerships from the device’s original equipment manufacturers (OEM), and software downloads that monitor the device for abnormalities.
Example:
"Our True Passwordless Security provider has a technical partnership with Samsung that they carry over to customer deployments like ours. Working with our vendor means we get visibility into Samsung devices that we deploy to users. The additional real-time devices gives our users trusted access since all of the device information is shown in our dashboard. If something looks off such as suspicions that a device is rooted, we can disconnect it from out network immediately."
