Topic starter
03/12/2025 11:16 am
TL;DR: Unosecur says a survey of IT decision-makers found 52% of companies have moved most of their IT environments to the cloud, yet many still govern user and machine access with on-premises IAM patterns that create friction, risk, and cost. Cloud migration without identity modernization leaves real-time access control, visibility, and lifecycle governance behind.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Unosecur: “Cloud IAM ROI and Risk Management”.
By the numbers:
- 52% of companies have moved most of their IT environments to the cloud, covering infrastructure, applications, data analytics, and beyond.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when cloud IAM is still run like on-premises IAM?
A: Legacy IAM breaks when it is asked to govern cloud workloads at cloud speed.
Q: Why do non-human identities increase privileged access risk in cloud environments?
A: Non-human identities increase risk because they often outnumber humans, operate continuously, and depend on credentials that are easier to reuse than to govern.
Q: How do teams know cloud IAM maturity is actually improving?
A: Look for shorter access lifecycles, fewer standing privileges, better visibility across human and non-human identities, and faster onboarding and offboarding.
Practitioner guidance
- Audit cloud identities by control model Identify where cloud workloads, applications, and data still depend on on-premises IAM, then document the exact access paths that have not been reworked for cloud operations.
- Separate non-human identity governance Build a distinct inventory for service accounts, APIs, scripts, tokens, and AI tools so lifecycle ownership, privilege scope, and offboarding can be tracked independently from human users.
- Replace standing access with task-scoped access Use Just-in-Time access for administrators, contractors, and privileged machine identities so elevated permissions exist only for the duration of the task.
Bottom line: Cloud migration without identity modernization leaves access governance lagging behind the operating model, which creates avoidable risk and friction.
What's in the full article
Unosecur's full blog post covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Survey framing and environment mix behind the 52% cloud adoption figure
- Examples of cloud IAM patchwork patterns such as on-prem Active Directory with cloud federation
- Business-value discussion around onboarding speed, audit effort, and access visibility
- A practical modernization path that starts with old service accounts and over-permissioned roles
👉 Read Unosecur's analysis of cloud IAM maturity gaps and hidden access risk →
Explore further
View Full Forum → | NHI Foundation Course → | Our Services → | Read the full analysis →
This topic was modified 10 months ago by Abdelrahman
This topic was modified 5 days ago by NHI Mgmt Group
07/10/2026 6:20 pm
Cloud IAM maturity is now a governance problem, not an infrastructure problem. The article describes a common enterprise pattern: workloads move to the cloud faster than identity control models change. That gap matters because access management does not become cloud-ready simply by federating logins or shifting infrastructure. The programme has to be redesigned around cloud operating speed, not legacy directory assumptions. The practitioner conclusion is simple: cloud adoption without identity redesign leaves the hardest part unfinished.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 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: Should organisations prioritise JIT access or identity federation first?
A: Prioritise the control that reduces standing privilege first. Federation can simplify authentication, but it does not remove excess access or improve runtime governance. JIT access changes the risk posture more directly because it limits how long elevated permissions exist.
👉 Read our full editorial: Cloud IAM maturity lags cloud adoption, creating hidden access risk