Topic starter
25/06/2026 12:41 am
TL;DR: Identity access management is increasingly serving as the enterprise control plane as organisations absorb cloud, remote work, AI agents, and machine credentials into one access model, according to SafePaaS. The governing challenge is no longer point authentication, but proving least privilege and continuous verification across the full identity lifecycle.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by SafePaaS: “Identity Access Management: How Identity and Access Management Platforms Strengthen Security and Compliance”.
By the numbers:
- Over 74% of breaches are connected to credential misuse or the human element.
- By 2025, over 80% of enterprises are expected to have adopted unified IAM platforms.
Key questions
Q: How should security teams separate identity management from access management?
A: Treat identity management as the system of record for who or what the identity is, and access management as the system of decision for what that identity may do.
Q: Why does remote work make traditional perimeter security less effective?
A: Remote work weakens perimeter-based security because users no longer sit inside a controlled corporate network and may connect from personal devices, home networks, or shared environments.
Q: What breaks when access reviews are not tied to a lifecycle process?
A: Access reviews lose value when they are detached from provisioning, change, and offboarding because the review confirms a state that may already be outdated.
Practitioner guidance
- Map the identity boundary explicitly Inventory where human users, devices, service accounts and AI agents receive access, then define which controls govern each path.
- Replace point-in-time trust with continuous checks Use adaptive policy, session monitoring and re-evaluation triggers so access can be stepped up or removed as context changes.
- Automate joiner-mover-leaver events Connect authoritative business systems to provisioning and deprovisioning so entitlement changes follow role, employment and vendor status changes.
Bottom line: Identity now functions as the enterprise security boundary because access is distributed across users, devices, workloads and agents.
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25/06/2026 9:39 am
Identity has become the control plane because the perimeter no longer describes the enterprise. When cloud adoption, remote work and machine credentials spread access across systems, network location stops being a meaningful security boundary. The boundary now exists in policy, entitlement scope and lifecycle enforcement. Practitioners should treat identity governance as the primary control surface, not a supporting capability.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Systems with least-privileged AI access had a 17% incident rate vs 76% for over-privileged systems. Organisations failing to scope AI access properly are 4.5x more likely to experience a security incident, according to the 2026 Infrastructure Identity Survey.
- 69% of security leaders agree identity management must fundamentally shift to address agentic AI systems, according to the 2026 Infrastructure Identity Survey.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What is the difference between IAM and PAM in identity governance?
A: IAM governs authentication and ordinary access across the estate, while PAM constrains elevated privileges and high-risk sessions. In practice, IAM answers who should get in, and PAM answers who can perform sensitive actions once inside. Strong programmes use both, with governance ensuring that access remains current and justified.
👉 Read our full editorial: Identity access management is now the enterprise security boundary