Topic starter
25/06/2026 12:33 am
TL;DR: Cloud identity entitlement management tools are being evaluated for visibility, entitlement sprawl reduction, and compliance support across multi-cloud estates, according to Delinea’s 2026 shortlist. The governance issue is larger than tooling choice: CIEM now sits at the boundary between cloud IAM, PAM, and lifecycle control.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Delinea: “Top CIEM solutions to know in 2026”.
Key questions
Q: How should teams use CIEM to reduce cloud entitlement sprawl?
A: Start by grouping identities by type, then map effective permissions, not just assigned roles.
Q: Why do over-permissioned cloud identities create so much risk?
A: Over-permissioned identities create risk because an attacker only needs one useful permission to expand access, alter controls, or reach sensitive data.
Q: What do teams get wrong about entitlement reviews in the cloud?
A: Many teams review named accounts instead of effective privilege, so they miss access inherited from roles, groups, and automation paths.
Practitioner guidance
- Map effective cloud privilege, not just assigned roles Correlate active permissions, inherited access, and unused grants across AWS, Azure, and GCP so you can distinguish policy intent from effective access.
- Tie CIEM findings to access lifecycle review Use entitlement findings to trigger recertification, offboarding, and role cleanup for accounts and service identities that no longer match business need.
- Route high-risk cloud access into PAM workflows Require elevated cloud entitlements to follow privileged session controls, approval paths, and monitoring rather than remaining standing access.
Bottom line: Cloud entitlement management is shifting from a product category to a governance test of whether organisations can actually reduce excess privilege across cloud estates.
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25/06/2026 9:29 am
Cloud entitlement governance is becoming the real CIEM buying criterion: the category is no longer judged only on inventory depth, but on whether it can prove access reduction in a way auditors and platform owners both recognise. If a CIEM tool can surface privilege sprawl but not help the organisation act on it, it becomes a visibility layer rather than a control layer. Practitioners should treat entitlement reduction as the real test of maturity.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- 96% of security operations teams report critical blind spots, most commonly in cloud infrastructure (74%) and identity and access behaviour (67%).
A question worth separating out:
Q: What is the difference between PAM and CIEM in cloud access governance?
A: PAM focuses on controlling privileged access, rotating credentials, limiting administrative reach, and enforcing role based policy for high-risk accounts. CIEM focuses on cloud entitlements, helping teams see, govern, and continuously adjust permissions across cloud services and resources. In practice, PAM manages who gets elevated access, while CIEM helps ensure those permissions stay appropriate over time.
👉 Read our full editorial: Cloud identity entitlement management in 2026 needs tighter governance