Multi-cloud identity fragmentation: what IAM teams are missing

TL;DR: As enterprises spread identities across AWS, Oracle Cloud, Entra ID and SaaS, fragmented administration makes toxic access combinations, orphaned permissions and weak de-provisioning far harder to detect, according to SafePaaS. Centralised policy-based access control and privileged identity management become the practical response, not optional tooling.

NHIMG editorial — based on content published by SafePaaS: multi-cloud identity management and privileged access governance

By the numbers:

• Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts.
• 97% of NHIs carry excessive privileges, increasing unauthorised access and broadening the attack surface.

Questions worth separating out

Q: How should security teams govern access across multi-cloud environments?

A: Security teams should govern multi-cloud access through a single entitlement model that spans cloud platforms, SaaS applications and identity providers.

Q: Why does identity fragmentation increase breach risk in cloud and SaaS estates?

A: Identity fragmentation increases breach risk because it hides where access actually accumulates.

Q: What breaks when de-provisioning is handled separately in each cloud?

A: When de-provisioning is handled separately in each cloud, organisations lose assurance that access is truly removed everywhere.

Practitioner guidance

• Build a unified entitlement inventory Create one authoritative view of user, privileged and service access across cloud, SaaS and ERP systems so cross-platform SoD checks can run against the full picture.
• Tie de-provisioning to every connected platform Require leaver and mover events to revoke access in all linked systems, not just the primary identity provider, and verify completion with audit evidence.
• Review toxic combinations across systems Run periodic analysis for combinations such as create-and-approve, provision-and-pay, or administer-and-consume access across separate platforms.

What's in the full article

SafePaaS's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:

• Specific examples of how Policy-Based Access Control is applied across ERP, cloud and identity stacks.
• The product's approach to automated segregation of duties monitoring across multiple systems.
• How the platform frames audit-ready evidence collection for SOX, GDPR and HIPAA reporting.
• The vendor's implementation context for privileged identity management in multi-cloud environments.

👉 Read SafePaaS's analysis of multi-cloud identity fragmentation and access governance →

Multi-cloud identity fragmentation: what IAM teams are missing?

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