The Zero Trust Lab: Enforcing Identity at the Molecular Level with CloudGate PIAM
- Soloinsight Inc.
- May 30, 2022
- 4 min read

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 just as precise.
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.
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.
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So CloudGate replaced outdated entry points with TRA Face ID, Soloinsight’s biometric verification technology.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.
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.
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.
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 exposing clarity.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.