Topic starter
19/12/2025 11:34 am
TL;DR: Credential compromise remains a leading breach path and only one in five organisations fully achieves IAM goals, according to Gartner research cited by CyberArk. That makes identity security a strategic control plane for zero trust, not an operational afterthought, because human, AI, and machine identities now define the enterprise perimeter.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by CyberArk: “Identity security: The essential foundation for every CISO’s 2026 cybersecurity strategy”.
Key questions
Q: When should zero trust be applied in an IAM programme?
A: Zero trust should be applied at sensitive access boundaries, not only at the network edge.
Q: Why do compromised credentials remain so effective in modern environments?
A: Compromised credentials remain effective because they produce legitimate-looking access.
Q: What are the signs that an IAM programme is not working as a control plane?
A: Long deprovisioning delays, weak MFA coverage, poor privileged access measurement, and fragmented identity ownership are strong signals.
Practitioner guidance
- Align IAM to cybersecurity strategy Tie IAM priorities to enterprise risk, resilience, and digital transformation objectives rather than treating access administration as a standalone service.
- Benchmark IAM maturity and gaps Assess where deprovisioning, privileged access, MFA coverage, and identity governance are lagging so planning is based on measurable control gaps.
- Instrument ITDR for identity abuse Correlate authentication events, privilege transactions, and entitlement changes so suspicious identity behaviour can be investigated quickly.
Bottom line: Identity security is being positioned as the control plane for zero trust because trust decisions now live in the identity layer.
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This topic was modified 10 months ago by Abdelrahman
This topic was modified 4 days ago by NHI Mgmt Group
08/10/2026 5:31 pm
Identity security is now the control plane, not a supporting control. Once enterprises span users, workloads, bots, and AI agents, identity becomes the layer that decides trust before access is granted. That is not a tooling preference, it is a governance reality. CISOs who still position IAM as an administrative function are managing yesterday's control model, not today's access risk.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How should security teams implement AI in identity-heavy environments?
A: Start with a narrow use case tied to a measurable security outcome, such as faster alert triage or fewer false positives. Keep the workflow bounded by policy, require human approval for identity changes, and review whether the AI improves the control it was meant to support. If the result cannot be measured, it should not be scaled.
👉 Read our full editorial: Identity security as the control plane for 2026 CISO strategy