What is an employee digital identity
An employee’s digital identity is the collection of all accounts, access rights, and identifiers the company provides so the employee can work securely and prove they are part of the organization. In practice, the company creates it after in-person identity verification during onboarding (government ID check, signing the employment agreement) and manages it throughout the employee lifecycle (onboarding, role changes, offboarding).
Key components of an employee digital identity
1. User accounts
- Accounts for business systems (e.g., email, accounting, CRM, HR, cloud storage).
- Include a unique ID, role, and permissions (what the user is allowed to do).
- Governed by the principle of least privilege and regular access reviews/audits.
2. Company email
- The most common “face” of the employee’s identity—often used as the username for other apps.
- Serves as a verification channel (password reset, alerts, approvals).
- If compromised, an attacker can impersonate the employee (business email compromise, invoice fraud, resetting other passwords).
3. Access card / badge (employee ID badge)
- The physical form of identity on-site—opens doors and turnstiles; often shows name/photo.
- Linked to the digital identity—the system logs who entered where and when.
- Advantage over keys: a lost card can be deactivated immediately.
How to protect employee digital identity in a small or mid-sized business
- Maintain visibility and a clear inventory of who has access to what
- Onboarding: Create and assign accounts using a checklist and the employee’s job role
- Offboarding: Deprovision and disable accounts at departure using a checklist. Leaving access to company accounts, SaaS apps, Wi‑Fi, or email is a security risk
- Enforce a password policy: Employees should use strong, unique passwords and a password manager; do not share passwords; follow basic cyber hygiene
- Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)—grant access based on job role and responsibilities, and perform regular access reviews.