2025-12-11 –, General Track
Access control is ultimately about relationships—between people, systems, and resources. In this talk, we’ll look at how modeling connected identities with a graph database unlocks a more efficient and transparent way to manage Identity and Access Management (IAM).
Using Neo4j and Python, we’ll walk through a practical approach to building an IAM system that prioritizes clarity, performance, and portability. You’ll learn how to model users, roles, and permissions as a connected graph, write access logic in Cypher, and deploy a lightweight system that scales without adding complexity.
In this fast-paced talk, you’ll learn how to :
Map users, roles, and permissions like a detective
Write smart queries to control access
Build a lightweight, graph-powered IAM engine
No graph skills? No problem. Just bring Python and curiosity.
Access control: it sounds boring—until it breaks. In this talk, we’ll look at how to build a smarter Identity and Access Management (IAM) system using Neo4j and Python, and why graphs are a game-changer for modeling who can do what.
You’ll get a crash course in graph-based thinking for IAM, see how to represent users, roles, and permissions as connected data, and learn how a few Cypher queries can uncover misconfigurations, rogue access, and hidden connections—all in real time.
As systems scale and architectures grow more distributed, Identity and Access Management (IAM) often becomes a heavy, costly layer—difficult to maintain, expensive to scale, and slow to adapt. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
This talk introduces an approach to IAM that is lightweight, portable, and cost-efficient, using Neo4j and Python. By leveraging the natural connectedness of identity data—users, roles, permissions, and resources—we can model access in a way that’s easy to manage, fast to query, and flexible to deploy.
Attendees will learn how to build a graph-based IAM system that avoids complex cloud dependencies, offers real-time access insights, and supports role- and attribute-based access control without requiring massive infrastructure. Whether you're managing internal tools, building developer platforms, or scaling services, this approach provides strong access control without unnecessary overhead.
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Irina Loghin is a Technical Curriculum Developer at Neo4j Identity and Access Management (IAM) expert. With a background in security architecture and developer education, she specializes in making complex IAM concepts accessible through graph-based thinking and practical solutions.
At Neo4j, Irina designs technical learning programs that help engineers and architects rethink identity through connected data models.
She is passionate about building clear mental models for modern IAM, and advocates for approaches that prioritize portability, visibility, and developer autonomy.