Challenges in Identity Security Management

🗞️ Needed report By CyberArk on a burning issue : identity security. A decisive element that will determine our ability to restore digital trust. 🔹 « Identity is now the primary attack surface. » Defenders must secure every identity — human and machine 🔹 with dynamic privilege controls, automation, and AI-enhanced monitoring 🔹and prepare now for LLM abuse and quantum disruption. Machine identities are the fastest-growing attack surface 🔹Growth outpaces human identities 45:1. 🔹Nearly half of machine identities access sensitive data, yet 2/3of organizations don’t treat them as privileged. Quantum readiness is urgent 🔹Quantum computing will break today’s cryptography (RSA, TLS, identity tokens). 🔹Transition planning to quantum-safe algorithms must start now, even before standards are finalized. Large Language Models include prompt injection, data leakage, and misuse of AI agents. So organizations must treat them as a new class of machine identity requiring monitoring, access controls, and secrets management. 🧰 What can we do? ⚒️ 1/ Implement Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) • Remove always-on entitlements; grant access dynamically and just-in-time. • Minimize lateral movement by revoking privileges once tasks are complete 👥2/ Secure the full spectrum of identities • Differentiate controls for workforce, IT, developers, and machines. • Prioritize machine identities: vault credentials, rotate secrets, and eliminate hard-coded keys. 🛡️ 3/ Embed intelligent privilege controls • Apply session protection, isolation, and monitoring to high-risk access. • Enforce least privilege on endpoints; block or sandbox unknown apps. • Deploy Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) for continuous monitoring. ♻️ 4/ Automate identity lifecycle management • Use orchestration to onboard, provision, rotate, and deprovision identities at scale. • Relieve staff from manual tasks, counter skill shortages, and improve compliance readiness. 5/ Align security with business and regulatory drivers • Build an “identity fabric” across IAM, PAM, cloud, SaaS, and compliance. • Tie metrics (KPIs, ROI, cyber insurance conditions) to board-level priorities. 6/ Prepare for next-generation threats • Establish AI/LLM security policies: control access, monitor usage, audit logs. • Begin phased adoption of post-quantum cryptography to protect long-lived sensitive data. Enjoy the read

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗧 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘅: 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 One misconception I still see across industrial environments: 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗜𝗧 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗧 — 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲. Reality on the plant floor is very different. Most PLCs, HMIs, and legacy control systems were never designed for modern identity mechanisms like SAML, OIDC, or cloud-dependent MFA. And in OT… 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆. Authentication delay during abnormal operations can quickly become a process risk — not a security control. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗢𝗧 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 • Legacy assets depend on embedded or shared credentials • Industrial protocols prioritize availability over authentication • Network isolation is often mistaken for security • Cloud authentication may fail during islanded operations 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗢𝗧 • Apply MFA and identity controls on human access paths • Keep machine automation paths deterministic • Enable local or offline authentication capability • Secure vendor access and jump hosts first • Introduce controls gradually — monitor → validate → enforce 𝗔 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 MAP — Identify high-risk remote and vendor entry points PHASE — Baseline impact using monitoring mode LOCK — Enforce trust at gateways and controlled access zones Security success in OT is rarely visible. It is measured by stable operations, safe processes, and uninterrupted production. 𝗜𝗻 𝗢𝗧, 𝘄𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 — 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. Ref: https://lnkd.in/ghFdubPC #OTSecurity #ICS #IEC62443 #IndustrialCybersecurity #CriticalInfrastructure

After years in IAM, I've observed that one of our biggest security challenges isn't sophisticated cyber attacks - it's the gradual accumulation of access rights that outlive their purpose. What is privilege creep? It's the natural accumulation of access rights as employees change roles, join temporary projects, or take on new responsibilities - without proper cleanup of old permissions. Common scenarios I encounter: • Access rights remaining after role transitions • Project-based permissions outlasting the project • Emergency access becoming permanent • Inherited permissions from merged systems/teams Why this matters: 1.Security Impact - Each unnecessary privilege increases potential attack surfaces - Access sprawl makes governance more complex - Complicates incident response and forensics 2. Operational Challenges - Harder to maintain least-privilege principles - Complex access reviews and audits - Difficulty in tracking access justification 3. Compliance Considerations - Many frameworks require regular access reviews - Need for documented access justification - Clean audit trails become essential What's working in practice: •Regular access certification reviews • Clear documentation of temporary access • Role-based access control with time limits • Automated detection of unused privileges Privilege management isn't about perfection- it's about continuous improvement and awareness. Interested in discussing practical approaches to managing access sprawl? Share your experiences below.

Most IAM innovation today is built around assumptions that apply 0% of the time. They assume most enterprises have: 0 Legacy tax Clean & uniform identity data Predictable integrations Clear identity & app ownership Standardized interfaces Sure, you might find a few lucky SaaS-first enterprises who spared themselves from infrastructural limbo. I worked for one myself. But these are few and far between. In most cases we find: - Discombobulated enterprise IT & IAM environments - Legacy applications never set to be decommissioned - left ungoverned and unsupported by modern IAM solutions. - HRIS systems & Identity providers with fragmented & incomplete records - unworthy to automate upon.  - Non-human identities sprawling without clear ownership or a system of record, amplified even more with AI sprawl. You see, Identity doesn’t have an automation problem. It has an infrastructure problem. Expecting AI agents to just magically automate IAM without first addressing the underlying chaos is just delusional. And the evidence just keeps compounding. Before governance, enforcement, or automation, there are fundamental requirements one cannot ignore: 1. Infrastructural stability - is your IAM infrastructure a patchwork of complex ad-hoc point solutions or a repeatable, scalable, future-proof system? 2. Stack connectivity - let’s face it - IAM solutions that stay disconnected from the business applications they are set to govern & secure are just really expensive dust bins.    3. Data sanitization & standardization - How can you act on incomplete, contextless identity data? Identity data without explainability is the biggest execution bottleneck one can have. These are the gaps overlooked by most to this day. And as we all know - foundational gaps are the best catalysts for disruption… 🙂

Unfortunately, this situation has become way too common and challenging for security leaders. The question of who has access to what, how they got it, and what they are doing with it is increasingly difficult to answer. The root of this problem is a long-standing issue of over-provisioning that often leads to unintended access. Industry data shows that fifty-four percent of organizations are, at best, only somewhat confident in their ability to verify that users do not have excessive access privileges. In large enterprises, unintended access can be more prevalent due to current identity and access management approaches, which rely on a combination of legacy systems combined with static, rules-based approaches and significant manual effort. The impact of over-provisioned access is going to get significantly worse with the adoption of AI-powered enterprise search, which can easily expose sensitive data that the end user may not even know they have access to - let alone bad actors who gain access by compromising an over-provisioned account. Security teams need to adopt modern solutions that deliver comprehensive visibility into permissions and usage across all of their applications and infrastructure regardless of whether the access is provisioned centrally or decentrally, as well as more dynamic and intelligent systems to ensure users have the just right access to the right resources at the right time. 

Exactly what I’ve been warning about for months. An estimated 95% of enterprises experimenting with or deploying autonomous AI agents have not implemented identity protections for those agents. This is not a joke. To put all this in context: • These autonomous, “agentic” systems communicate and act without constant human oversight. Without strong identity and authentication controls, there’s no reliable way to distinguish a legitimate agent from a compromised one. Once an attacker controls an agent, they can chain malicious instructions through the entire ecosystem.  • Traditional IAM and machine identity practices weren’t designed for non-human autonomous agents that can act and escalate privileges on their own. When these deployments lack basic protections like PKI for agents, courting disaster. I am the first one to want to play with emerging tech but honestly, there is no need to blindly adopt agenticAI without addressing underlying identity and authentication issues. Without agentic-specific identity controls, we’re going to see more breaches, more lateral compromise, and new attack surfaces that legacy identity systems simply can’t handle. Enterprises need to stop treating AI as just another productivity buzzword and start treating AI identities with serious gravitas. That means a lot more than just basic KYA initiatives. It means • Enforcing binding trusted identities to every agent • Extending authorization controls to agent-to-agent and human-to-agent interactions • Incorporating machine to machine identity management • Modernizing IAM to manage dynamic, evolving AI identities — not just static human credentials • Creating audit trails for agents • Creating kill switches for agents that go rogue and being able to recognize when this happens And more. Don't say you were not warned. #Identity #Cybersecurity #AgenticAI #AIIdentity #MachineIdentity #ZeroTrust #EnterpriseSecurity #CISO https://lnkd.in/evK4kwVX

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤. Not malware. Not a firewall bypass. But a stolen identity. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧: 1. 80%+ of breaches in 2025 are tied to identity compromise 2. MFA isn’t foolproof—push fatigue is now a real exploit 3. Dormant admin accounts = silent open doors 4. SSO misconfigurations create ripple breaches across apps 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦? Most organizations still treat identity as IT’s responsibility. But identity is everyone’s attack surface now. If someone can become “you” inside the system, they don’t need to hack anything—they operate like you. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝? ✔ Context-aware access ✔ Just-in-time privilege elevation ✔ Real-time behavior-based authentication ✔ Revoking stale credentials system-wide ✔ Zero trust beyond the login page ✔ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧—𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐲𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 Because a well-meaning employee can click one wrong link—and unlock everything. And once identity is compromised, it’s not a breach. It’s a silent takeover. #IdentitySecurity #IAM #ZeroTrust #CyberRisk #AccessControl #SecurityLeadership #DigitalTrust #CISOInsights

Identity is the new perimeter. Treat it like security infrastructure, not a provisioning queue. Most breaches don’t start with a firewall failure. They start with access that shouldn’t have existed, lasted too long, or wasn’t monitored. That’s not a tooling problem. That’s identity design. What I keep seeing in the field: JML drift: joiner–mover–leaver processes built on tickets and spreadsheets. Stale accounts and orphaned access become permanent attack paths. Excess privilege by default: roles accrete entitlements over time; “temporary” access becomes standing access. Credential sprawl: service and admin accounts without owners, rotation, or session recording. Unmapped trust edges: third parties, bots, and workloads granted broad access with weak guardrails. Detection blind spots: SOC watches endpoints and networks while privileged sessions and identity changes happen “off to the side.” If identity is your control plane, design it like one: Authoritative source of truth for identities and their lifecycle. No ad-hoc identities, no unknown service accounts. Least privilege as the default state: role engineering, time-bounded elevation, and removal on move/exit. PAM over permanent admin: just-in-time elevation, approvals, session monitoring/recording, credential rotation. Strong auth everywhere it matters: phishing-resistant MFA and conditional access policies tied to risk, device, and location. Continuous access review that’s owner-driven and evidence-based, not annual checkbox campaigns. Identity signals into detection: feed login anomalies, privilege elevation, and policy exceptions to the SOC like any other high-value telemetry. Third-party and non-human identity controls: scoped tokens, short-lived credentials, and contract-bound offboarding. Zero Trust, EDR, and SIEM are necessary, but without disciplined IAM, they’re compensating controls around an undefined core. You can’t defend what you haven’t modeled. Model identity, constrain it, monitor it, and expire it on time. 📌 P.S. As a trusted cybersecurity specialist, I can help you assess your cybersecurity risks and recommend the right solutions for your business. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance. #cybersecurity

Dear Auditor, Identity and Access Management may be your “weakest link”. Nothing unusual showed up at first, access reviews had been completed, approvals were documented, user lists were signed off and the control was marked “effective.” Then the investigation went deeper which revealed that the same pattern continues to surface. Not a failure of technology, not a lack of policies, but a quiet breakdown in how Identity and Acess Management are actually governed. People had access they no longer needed, privileges accumulated over time and exceptions became permanent. No one felt comfortable challenging what had become “normal.” What makes IAM of “particular concern” is that most incidents do not begin with sophisticated external attacks. They often originate from legitimate access being misused, abused, or exploited long after its core business purpose has expired, because systems continue to function normally, warning signals are missed until the impact becomes unavoidable. #DearAuditor, IAM demands sharper focus and less routine testing and practical actions that matter: • Challenge role design, not just approvals, ask whether access still reflects actual job responsibilities • Test prompt access removals, not just additions as revocation and role-change access is where failures hide. • Identify standing privileges that have no expiry or justification • Trace access back to business ownership, not IT administration • Test operating effectiveness, not policy existence, but through real user scenarios. IAM does not fail loudly. It fails quietly, through familiarity and trust that go unchallenged. If you don’t know exactly who has access to what, and why, your organization is not being attacked from the outside. It is already exposed from within. #DearAuditor #IdentityManagement #AccessManagement #UserAcess #UserAcessReviews #InternalAudit

📞 A conversation with an Canadian friend inspired this post. He called me on Sunday to get advises. He's in the middle of a painful cloud IAM project because he couldn’t get the customer’s teams engaged. Same story I’ve seen too many times: everyone agrees #Identity is critical… until it’s time to put operational discipline behind it. 🛡️ 🇮🇩🇪🇳🇹🇮🇹🇾 🇮🇸 🇹🇭🇪 🇫🇮🇷🇸🇹 🇱🇮🇳🇪 🇴🇫 🇨🇾🇧🇪🇷 🇩🇪🇫🇪🇳🇸🇪, 🇧🇺🇹 🇴🇳🇱🇾 🇼🇭🇪🇳 🇾🇴🇺 🇨🇦🇳 🇲🇪🇦🇸🇺🇷🇪 🇮🇹 We all love to repeat the mantra: “Identity is the new perimeter.” In the cloud era, that’s not even a debate anymore. Identity controls access, frames trust, and decides who (or what) gets to touch your data. Obvious. But here’s the uncomfortable truth, an identity-driven security strategy is useless if it’s not tied to measurable risk and operational processes. You can deploy all the MFA, conditional access, and role hygiene policies you want — if you can’t prove they reduce risk, then you’re just decorating your room. 🚀 Identity becomes a real first-line cyber defense only when it is operationalized. That means metrics, accountability, and continuous monitoring. If you want to know whether your identity program is actually protecting you, start with a small set of non-negotiable KPIs: 1. MFA Coverage Rate (per user and per workload) Not “we have MFA.” But: who doesn’t, why, and what’s the impact? 2. Privileged Access Surface Evolution Number of privileged identities, how often they’re used, and whether they follow least privilege. The goal: fewer accounts, shorter lifetimes, tighter scopes. 3. Dormant & Orphan Accounts Exposure How many unused identities exist today? How long do they remain active before remediation? Every dormant account is a gift to attackers. 4. Conditional Access Effectiveness Percentage of authentications actively governed by risk-based policies. Not all Conditional Access rules are born equal — measure what they actually enforce. 5. Identity Drift & Misconfiguration Rate Measure how many identities fall out of compliance every month (permissions, groups, roles). Important: Identity hygiene is a moving target; drift is where breaches hide. 📊 When these KPIs move in the right direction, identity isn’t just a concept — it becomes a quantifiable, defensible, and operational security layer. Identity can be your strongest first-line defense. But only if you treat it like a security program, not a damned slogan. #IAM #Identity #Project #KPI -Derek Melber- 🛡️ Seyfallah Tagrerout☁ [MVP and RD] Christophe Parisel