What is a subject (Subjekt) in IAM?

A subject is an actor that wants to access a resource in a digital process; it can have several digital identities in a domain and can delegate its rights to another subject.

A natural person acting as a subject is usually called a user; in the SSI context the subject is called the holder. Other synonyms are subscriber (Abonnent) and bearer (Überbringer). The subject is the acting side of the four IAM questions: who are you, how are you recognised, what may you do, how is that enforced.

Go deeper:

• Subject (NIST glossary) — the access-control definition: an active entity that causes information to flow.