Web Access Management (WAM)

Definition - What does Web Access Management (WAM) mean?

Web access management (WAM) is a process for identity authentication for Web access. It is a form of access and identity management which controls access to Web resources like Web servers and secure servers by providing authentication management through policy-based authorizations as well as audit and report services. It is often used in Web-based applications to regulate external user access through the use of username and password key pairs.

Techopedia explains Web Access Management (WAM)

Web access management normally determines a user’s identity by asking for a username and a password, a combination unique to each user. Other access methods may utilize access tokens as a one-time password generation facility or digital certificates.

A user or a process may request access to a Web resource, and once identity has been confirmed, policy-based authorization is applied to the identified user. The system looks up the user authorization level and compares it to the policy of the requested resource and then grants or denies access depending on the authorization of the user and the policy of the resource. Policies are simply rules on who is able to access a certain resource; for example, only administrators, certain users, or the general user base.