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25/08/2026 6:10 pm
TL;DR: Least privilege only becomes operational when enterprises can see every system, every identity, and the true permissions linking them across SaaS, cloud, on-prem, and custom apps, according to Veza. That framing matters because blast radius is determined by effective rights, not policy intent, and the model demands continuous governance rather than periodic cleanup.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Veza: A practical framework to make least privilege operational across every system and identity
By the numbers:
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts.
- 92% of organisations expose NHIs to third parties, raising concerns about supply chain security.
- Organisations that describe themselves as confident in their AI deployment actually experience a 72% security incident rate, compared to 33% for those who remain cautious.
Questions worth separating out
A: Start by creating one access model that covers all systems and all identities, then resolve assigned roles into effective permissions.
Q: What problem does ownership attribution solve for service accounts and API keys?
A: It closes the gap between exposure detection and accountable remediation.
Q: What breaks when access reviews are based only on granted permissions?
A: Reviews based only on granted permissions miss whether access was actually used, whether it was excessive, and whether it still matches the job or workload.
Practitioner guidance
- Map true permissions across the full estate Build a single access picture that spans SaaS, multi-cloud, on-prem, and custom applications.
- Normalize entitlements into plain-language actions Translate vendor-specific permissions into standard CRUD and admin-like categories before access review.
- Include non-human identities in the same governance model Review service accounts, API keys, tokens, and other machine identities alongside human users so no doorway is left outside lifecycle, review, and remediation processes.
What's in the full article
Veza's full guide covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Step-by-step guidance for building a complete access picture across SaaS, cloud, on-prem, and custom applications.
- Practical examples of translating vendor-specific entitlements into plain-language review decisions.
- Implementation detail for the monitor-decide-act-verify loop used to keep least privilege current.
- Checklists and field-tested steps for turning the five pillars into a repeatable programme.
👉 Read Veza's guide to operationalizing least privilege across every identity →
Least privilege across all identities: what changes for IAM teams?
Explore further
25/08/2026 6:11 pm
Least privilege fails first at visibility, not at policy. Enterprises rarely lose control because they lack a least-privilege policy statement. They lose it because they cannot see all systems, all identities, and the true permissions connecting them in one governed model. That is why identity governance must treat visibility as a control plane, not a reporting function. Practitioners should measure whether they can actually prove the effective access state before they try to reduce it.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, according to Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- 96% of organisations store secrets outside of secrets managers in vulnerable locations including code, config files, and CI/CD tools.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Who is accountable when automated access workflows remove or downgrade access incorrectly?
A: Accountability stays with the organisation, not the workflow engine. IT, IAM, and application owners should define the triggering signals, approval logic, exception paths, and rollback steps before automation goes live. If a workflow can change access without a clear owner, it has moved governance risk from humans into the process.
👉 Read our full editorial: Least privilege becomes operational when every identity and system is visible
