The Zero Trust Lab: Enforcing Identity at the Molecular Level with CloudGate PIAM

In the Lab of the Future, Trust Is Not a Given. It’s Engineered.

Scientific innovation moves fast. But the environments that protect it? Not always.

Inside pharmaceutical labs, where molecular compounds are stabilized and proprietary formulations are born, physical security is often governed by systems built decades ago—static badges, handwritten visitor logs, over-permissioned access templates.

And yet, a single breach—a contractor entering the wrong suite, a researcher accessing a restricted experiment, a badge not revoked after offboarding—can jeopardize patents, trial data, and lives.

A Fortune 500 pharmaceutical innovator saw the writing on the wall.

They realized: The threat wasn’t just external. It was systemic.

So they made a bold move. They deployed Soloinsight’s CloudGate PIAM platform to bring a Zero Trust security model to their labs—not just for data, but for doors.

Because when you’re working at the molecular level, identity must be as precise and verifiable as the science itself.

Trust Is the Enemy of R&D Integrity

The old model of lab access was built on assumptions:

• Trust that a badge equals clearance.

• Trust that people are where they say they’ll be.

• Trust that once approved, always approved.

But assumptions are vulnerabilities.

• What if a researcher’s GMP training lapsed yesterday?

• What if a vendor overstayed their permitted timeline?

• What if a badge is active, but the project ended last week?

Zero Trust flips the equation.

Don’t trust. Always verify.

CloudGate applied that principle to every person, every room, every second. By removing implicit trust, CloudGate establishes a verifiable access model that continuously authenticates identity at every interaction.

Live Identity for Live Science

CloudGate turned the pharmaceutical company’s static access structure into a living identity framework.

Every employee, visitor, or vendor became a real-time access profile:

• Bound by role, training, facility rules, and time of day

• Cross-validated with HR, security, and compliance systems

• Revocable, adjustable, and auditable instantly

Example: A formulation chemist was reassigned mid-shift to another project. Their access to the previous lab was automatically revoked. No calls. No emails. Just logic.

That’s not just automation. That’s real-time trust enforcement. This live identity ecosystem ensures lab access remains dynamically aligned with changing roles, compliance requirements, and operational integrity.

TRA Face ID: The Door That Knows Who You Are

In a Zero Trust environment, badges aren’t enough. Plastic doesn’t think. And PIN codes can be shared.

So CloudGate replaced outdated entry points with TRA Face ID, Soloinsight’s biometric verification technology.

• Cameras with advanced facial recognition

• Liveness detection to prevent spoofing

• Hands-free entry that works even in sterile environments

Access wasn’t based on possession—it was based on presence and verification.

In a high-containment biologics lab:

• Shared badge usage was eliminated

• Unauthorized entry attempts were reduced by 96%

• Entry times were cut by 45%, increasing productivity

And because the system tied every access event to a verified face, audit trails became irrefutable. Biometric precision eliminates credential misuse while reinforcing identity certainty in high-stakes research environments.

Wallet-Based Credentials: Smart, Mobile, and Always Current

Researchers don’t sit still. They move across buildings, projects, timelines. So should their identity.

CloudGate issued dynamic credentials via mobile wallet:

• Auto-updated based on lab assignments and shift schedules

• Time-boxed and zone-restricted

• Instantly revocable if risk conditions changed

Whether an intern accessing a shared microscopy suite or a project lead reviewing formulations in a containment zone, access was intelligent, contextual, and just-in-time.

And with no plastic cards to lose, clone, or forget—security became seamless. This mobile-first identity structure ensures security moves with personnel, maintaining agility without compromising compliance.

Contractor Access that Complies Automatically

The modern lab is a collaborative ecosystem. Contractors and specialists—instrument repair techs, biosafety inspectors, calibration vendors—come and go daily.

Traditionally, onboarding them was painful:

• Paperwork delays

• Unverified certifications

• Badges issued “just in case” and never revoked

CloudGate changed everything:

• Contractors self-enrolled through a secure portal

• Certifications were validated in real time

• Access was only granted if all compliance rules were met

• Credentials expired automatically when their work ended

In one facility, this reduced unauthorized contractor presence to zero—within 60 days.

Compliance was no longer enforced by people. It was embedded in the process. Automated compliance workflows ensure external identities meet the same security and regulatory rigor as internal personnel.

Every Room, Every Rule, One Unified Platform

CloudGate unified access across:

• R&D buildings

• Clinical trial vaults

• Formulation suites

• Data analysis zones

• Containment labs

And it did it with:

• A single dashboard

• Centralized identity intelligence

• Role-based approval workflows

• Automated exception management

Now, if a lab manager wants to review who entered a room between 3–5 p.m. on Tuesday—they can. If a compliance officer wants to see if any entries were made by non-GxP-trained individuals in the last 90 days—they can. The power of Zero Trust isn’t just blocking risk. It’s creating total visibility and verifiable accountability across every controlled space.

When AI Meets Access

Zero Trust thrives on patterns. So does AI.

CloudGate infused its platform with analytics that surface:

• Unusual access attempts

• Credential fatigue (e.g., repeated failed entries)

• Sudden changes in entry frequency

This intelligence allows:

• Proactive risk mitigation

• Preemptive alerts to security teams

• Deeper understanding of space utilization and personnel flow

Security didn’t just get smarter. It started teaching itself. AI-driven access analytics empower predictive defense, turning security from reactive response into continuous learning.

Audit-Ready, Always

In a GxP-regulated environment, audits are a fact of life.

CloudGate transformed the audit experience:

• Instant log exports formatted for FDA, EMA, and internal policy teams

• Immutable access trails linked to biometric verification

• Proof of denied entries, access changes, and training enforcement

And when the auditors asked, “Who was in this lab during that deviation?”

The answer came in seconds. Automated audit trails ensure constant readiness, eliminating human error and strengthening regulatory assurance.

Tangible Results from Day One

After CloudGate was deployed across five global labs:

• Access violations dropped by 94%

• Unauthorized contractor entries fell to zero

• Badge-related incidents were eliminated entirely

• Audit readiness scores improved by 38%

But more than the numbers—it changed culture.

Researchers stopped seeing access as friction. They started seeing it as precision.

Security wasn’t a gate. It became a guarantee. These measurable outcomes reflect a shift from procedural control to intelligent security—enabling speed, trust, and scientific excellence.

The Next Generation of Lab Security

CloudGate is already preparing for:

• Digital twin environments that model lab access risk in 3D simulations

• AI-driven dynamic credentialing based on real-time risk posture

• Post-quantum biometric encryption for long-term credential safety

• Inter-lab federated identity, so global researchers can move between facilities without reauthorization

This isn’t just Zero Trust. It’s Zero Compromise. CloudGate’s forward-compatible architecture ensures that tomorrow’s labs remain secure, scalable, and innovation-ready.

Conclusion: The Lab Is a Temple. Treat It That Way.

Zero Trust Lab

Steve Jobs once said, “We’re here to put a dent in the universe.”

In pharmaceutical R&D, every discovery has that potential.

But before you change the world, you have to protect the place where that change begins.

CloudGate PIAM didn’t just modernize lab access. It redefined what identity means in a space where certainty matters most.

In a Zero Trust lab, access isn’t granted. It’s earned—again and again—with every verified moment. True innovation thrives in secure environments—and CloudGate ensures that identity integrity becomes the cornerstone of scientific discovery.

Contact Soloinsight for a Personalized Demo

Are your labs ready for access control that protects every molecule, every mission, every mind? Contact Soloinsight today to schedule a personalized demo of the CloudGate PIAM platform. Let us help you build identity systems that secure the science—without slowing it down.

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