The Identity Security Playbook
To summarize, the current approach to identity security is riddled with risks and vulnerabilities, leaving organizations with a highly exposed identity attack surface.
Here are some of the critical challenges teams struggle with:
Modern identity security challenges
1. Identity silos reduce visibility
The fragmented state of identity and security leads to gaps in visibility and context, making it impossible to enforce security across the entire infrastructure—from cloud to on-premises. Without a unified view of identities and their privileges, entitlements and access activity and pathways, organizations are unable to make risk-aware, context-driven security decisions, leaving identities vulnerable.
2. Non-human identities are especially vulnerable
While managing human access is well understood, non-human identities (NHIs) like API keys, service accounts, and OAuth tokens introduce new risks. These accounts often have elevated privileges and are stored insecurely, making them prime attack targets. Lack of visibility and fear of disruption create remediation paralysis, expanding risk.
3. Legacy and complex systems go unprotected.
Once attackers gain access, it’s too late. Lateral movement happens in seconds—real-time response is critical. Even worse, organizations have many complex mission-critical systems, like legacy apps, command tools, and IT/OT infrastructure, which they struggle to effectively protect. They need to proactively secure and remediate the entire identity attack surface before they’re exploited.
4. Attackers often outpace defenses
Visibility alone isn’t enough—security teams need integrated enforcement. A lack of cohesive security controls forces already overwhelmed teams to operate inefficiently. With AI-driven attacks and the increasing use of NHIs, attackers will only become faster. Organizations need a unified identity security platform that enables them to see and act from one place with great precision and speed.
5. Long lags between implementation and time to value
Security teams don’t have years—or an unlimited budget—to implement yet another identity solution. Organizations have already invested heavily in IAM, PAM, and IGA tools, yet they’re still vulnerable to attack with identity-based security gaps. A modern identity security platform must deploy quickly, work seamlessly with existing investments, and provide holistic visibility and immediate risk reduction without adding unnecessary complexity and costs.
1. Identity silos reduce visibility
The fragmented state of identity and security leads to gaps in visibility and context, making it impossible to enforce security across the entire infrastructure—from cloud to on-premises. Without a unified view of identities and their privileges, entitlements and access activity and pathways, organizations are unable to make risk-aware, context-driven security decisions, leaving identities vulnerable.
To summarize, the current approach to identity security is riddled with risks and vulnerabilities, leaving organizations with a highly exposed identity attack surface.
Here are some of the critical challenges teams struggle with:
Modern identity security challenges
The Identity Security Playbook
2. Non-human identities are especially vulnerable
While managing human access is well understood, non-human identities (NHIs) like API keys, service accounts, and OAuth tokens introduce new risks. These accounts often have elevated privileges and are stored insecurely, making them prime attack targets. Lack of visibility and fear of disruption create remediation paralysis, expanding risk.
4. Attackers often outpace defenses
Visibility alone isn’t enough—security teams need integrated enforcement. A lack of cohesive security controls forces already overwhelmed teams to operate inefficiently. With AI-driven attacks and the increasing use of NHIs, attackers will only become faster. Organizations need a unified identity security platform that enables them to see and act from one place with great precision and speed.
5. Long lags between implementation and time to value
Security teams don’t have years—or an unlimited budget—to implement yet another identity solution. Organizations have already invested heavily in IAM, PAM, and IGA tools, yet they’re still vulnerable to attack with identity-based security gaps. A modern identity security platform must deploy quickly, work seamlessly with existing investments, and provide holistic visibility and immediate risk reduction without adding unnecessary complexity and costs.
3. Legacy and complex systems go unprotected.
Once attackers gain access, it’s too late. Lateral movement happens in seconds—real-time response is critical. Even worse, organizations have many complex mission-critical systems, like legacy apps, command tools, and IT/OT infrastructure, which they struggle to effectively protect. They need to proactively secure and remediate the entire identity attack surface before they’re exploited.