Why CISOs and CIOs Must Embrace AI for Modern Identity and Access Management

Read full article from CyberArk here:  https://www.cyberark.com/resources/all-blog-posts/how-ai-is-reshaping-identity-governance-for-cisos-and-cios/?utm_source=nhimg

2025 has been a pivotal year for identity security. Organizations are now managing an unprecedented volume, variety, and velocity of identities — human, machine, and AI agents alike. Identity tools have evolved from simple single sign-on and compliance-driven governance to a cloud-first, AI-powered ecosystem that must enable employees and systems with rapid access while maintaining robust security. Yet, the complexity of balancing speed, access, and risk has reached a critical threshold.

Machine identities already outnumber humans by more than 80 to 1, and the rise of AI agents is accelerating this trend. Each identity represents a potential attack vector. AI agents, in particular, often access the most privileged and sensitive resources, making their governance a top priority.

Pull quote: “Machine identities create blind spots that no CISO or CIO can cover with a standard compliance audit or manual governance process.”

A recent engagement with a large bank revealed 30,000 service accounts, most without clear ownership or audit trails. This lack of accountability is widespread, leaving organizations exposed to both operational risk and security gaps. Traditional identity governance methods simply cannot keep up.

Why Traditional IGA is Failing in the AI Era

Legacy Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solutions emerged in the mid-2000s to meet compliance mandates like SOX, focusing on lifecycle management for human identities. These tools were built for static, on-premises systems and required custom integrations and professional services that were costly and inflexible.

Today, businesses face hundreds of SaaS applications, thousands of workloads, and millions of entitlements across disparate owners. Legacy IGA leaves organizations with:

• Excessive entitlements and orphaned accounts
• Long-forgotten service accounts with elevated privileges
• Employees unable to access the resources they need quickly
• Escalating governance costs that fail to improve security posture

What began as a compliance checkbox has now become a strategic opportunity for enterprise security teams.

Three Forces Reshaping Identity Governance

1. The Rise of Machine Identities

Service accounts, workloads, APIs, and AI agents are proliferating rapidly. These dynamic, short-lived identities are often overlooked, making them prime targets for attackers. Auditors increasingly demand visibility, yet most organizations lack the tools to review access effectively.

2. Convergence of IGA, PAM, and Identity Security

Silos no longer work. CISOs need a single control plane unifying Privileged Access Management (PAM), IGA, and machine identity governance. Consolidation provides continuous visibility and enables consistent, risk-based access decisions across the enterprise.

3. AI-Driven Automation

Currently, IGA is 84% manual and 16% automated. With the surge in machine identities, this ratio must invert. AI-driven systems can recommend entitlement changes, enforce policy, and automate access approvals within defined risk boundaries, keeping pace with business velocity while maintaining security.

Modern IGA: New Priorities for CISOs and CIOs

Security leaders must rethink governance in the age of AI. Key priorities include:

1. Identities Beyond Humans

AI and machine identities represent the fastest-growing risk vector. Organizations must link machine identities to human owners to ensure accountability and prevent uncontrolled access.

2. Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP)

Static entitlements are outdated. Just-in-time access and least-privilege principles should become default, particularly for machine and AI identities at scale.

3. Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)

Much like EDR transformed endpoint security, ITDR integrates identity intelligence into SOC workflows, bridging the traditional gap between security and identity teams.

4. Outcome-Driven Metrics

Focus on measurable results:

• Application onboarding speed
• Access request fulfillment time
• Reduction of provisioning tickets
  Without outcome metrics, IGA programs risk stalling and failing to deliver value.

The Future of Identity Governance in the AI Era

Over the next 3–5 years, machine identity governance will surpass human identity governance as the primary concern for CISOs. AI will not only increase identity volume but also automate entitlement management, enabling intelligent, risk-aware access decisions.

Organizations that converge identity and security controls, automate governance, and focus on measurable outcomes will be well-positioned to meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and maintain operational agility.

By contrast, organizations that delay this transformation may struggle with complexity, blind spots, and exploitation by attackers targeting neglected machine identities.

Identity is now the foundation of enterprise security. In 2025 and beyond, leaders who embrace AI-driven governance will define the future of digital resilience and secure enterprise operations.