{"id":586,"date":"2023-08-31T09:28:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T13:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jumpcloud.com\/engineering-blog\/?p=586"},"modified":"2024-11-14T17:30:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T22:30:50","slug":"welcome-to-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/welcome-to-groups","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Groups!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The most important thing to know about dynamic groups in JumpCloud is that it scales how admins manage users and devices via rules-based automation. Dynamic groups can improve security while optimizing IT management. Admins spend less time worrying about which users or devices are entitled to access resources and can achieve more mature lifecycle management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groups are a time-tested approach to access control, policy management, and authorization to resources from directories. Active Directory (AD) popularized groups in the early 2000s and simplified permission inheritance for trusted users and devices connected to a wire, behind a firewall, but not the open web. Requirements have changed dramatically with the establishment of Zero Trust<\/a> architecture, distributed teams, and the accelerating pace of IT automation. Assigning memberships has become time-consuming and inadequate for today\u2019s security needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at JumpCloud\u2019s groups and the use cases that they enable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), without charging a premium price for it. The platform\u2019s integration of identity and access management (IAM) and unified endpoint management (UEM) enables scenarios where simple automations can deliver device compliance with less effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How JumpCloud Groups Are Different<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JumpCloud\u2019s approach to group management<\/a> provides access control without the need for domain controllers or expensive hardware to bridge your offices. Its architecture is built on commonly leveraged user and device attributes and operators that add context and automations to IAM in a way that\u2019s still accessible to SMEs. Dynamic groups create insights that translate into actions, such as proactively changing group memberships and enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA)<\/a> for users, or executing commands<\/a> and installing apps for devices. Dynamic groups work alongside the option for making manual assignments as needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Policies that govern the user lifecycle and device compliance serve to continuously reinforce Zero Trust principles.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The capabilities sound very different from what\u2019s possible with AD\u2019s groups. That\u2019s because JumpCloud\u2019s attribute-based access control<\/a> (ABAC) works differently<\/em>. Attributes flow from directories or human resource systems, making it possible for instant cross-checks of users within a group to manage access to resources, as opposed to inheriting permissions from a hierarchy. The next section explores some of those scenarios and their practical benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Import<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dynamic groups advance your maturity model for entitlements management. Continuously validating and identifying entitlement issues delivers an \u201cintermediate\u201d level of controls and measures for this aspect of access control. Full automation will make it \u201cadvanced.\u201d AD cannot deliver beyond \u201cbasic\u201d maturity without add-ons and customizations, because user management is a manual process that adds to administrative overhead. Complexity is the enemy of security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Controls
image credit: TAG Cyber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s Possible with Groups?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JumpCloud\u2019s groups are collections of objects such as users, policies, and devices. These logical groupings make it possible to use a single platform for user and device lifecycle management. New organizations receive default dynamic groups to help categorize their users and devices from the onset; existing tenants adhere to those rules. Here\u2019s what\u2019s possible with groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n