Oct 17, 2025The Hacker NewsArtificial Intelligence / Identification Safety
The hazard is not that AI brokers have unhealthy days — it is that they by no means do. They execute faithfully, even when what they’re executing is a mistake. A single misstep in logic or entry can flip flawless automation right into a flawless disaster.
This is not some dystopian fantasy—it is Tuesday on the workplace now. We have entered a brand new section the place autonomous AI brokers act with severe system privileges. They execute code, deal with advanced duties, and entry delicate knowledge with unprecedented autonomy. They do not sleep, do not ask questions, and do not all the time look forward to permission.
That is highly effective. That is additionally dangerous. As a result of immediately’s enterprise threats go method past your garden-variety phishing scams and malware. The fashionable safety perimeter? It is all about identification administration. This is the million-dollar query each CISO ought to be asking: Who or what has entry to your important programs, are you able to safe and govern that entry, and may you really show it?
How identification turned the brand new safety perimeter
Keep in mind these old-school safety fashions constructed round firewalls and endpoint safety? They served their objective as soon as — however they weren’t designed for the distributed, identity-driven threats we face immediately. Identification has grow to be the central management level, weaving advanced connections between customers, programs, and knowledge repositories. The 2025-2026 SailPoint Horizons of Identification Safety report exhibits that identification administration has advanced from a back-office management to mission-critical for the fashionable enterprise.
The explosion of AI brokers, automated programs, and non-human identities has dramatically expanded our assault surfaces. These entities at the moment are prime assault vectors. This is a sobering actuality test: Fewer than 4 in 10 AI brokers are ruled by identification safety insurance policies, leaving a major hole in enterprise safety frameworks. Organizations with out complete identification visibility? They don’t seem to be simply weak—they’re sitting geese.
The strategic goldmine of mature identification safety
However here is the place it will get attention-grabbing. Regardless of these mounting challenges, there is a huge alternative for organizations that get identification safety proper. The Horizons of Identification Safety report reveals one thing fascinating: Organizations constantly obtain their highest ROI from identification safety packages in comparison with each different safety area. They rank Identification and Entry Administration as their top-ROI safety funding at twice the speed of different safety classes.
Why? As a result of mature identification safety pulls double obligation—it prevents breaches whereas driving operational effectivity and enabling new enterprise capabilities. Organizations with mature identification packages, particularly these utilizing AI-driven capabilities and real-time identification knowledge sync, present dramatically higher value financial savings and threat discount. Mature organizations are 4 occasions extra more likely to have AI-enabled capabilities like Identification Risk Detection and Response.
The good identification divide
This is the place issues get regarding: There is a rising chasm between organizations with mature identification packages and people nonetheless enjoying catch-up. The Horizons of Identification Safety report exhibits that 63% of organizations are caught in early-stage identification safety maturity (Horizons 1 or 2). These organizations aren’t simply lacking out—they’re dealing with extra threat in opposition to fashionable threats.
This hole retains widening as a result of the bar retains rising. The 2025 framework added seven new functionality necessities to deal with rising menace vectors. Organizations that are not advancing their identification capabilities aren’t simply standing nonetheless—they’re successfully transferring backward. Organizations experiencing functionality regression present considerably decrease adoption charges for AI agent identification administration.
This problem goes past simply expertise. Solely 25% of organizations place IAM as a strategic enterprise enabler—the remaining see it as simply one other safety checkbox or compliance requirement. This slender view severely limits transformative potential and retains organizations weak to classy assaults.
Time for a actuality test
The menace panorama is evolving at breakneck velocity, with unprecedented threat ranges throughout all sectors. Identification safety has advanced from simply one other safety part into the core of enterprise safety. Organizations must truthfully assess their readiness for managing in depth AI agent deployments and automatic system entry.
A proactive evaluation of your present identification safety posture supplies important perception into organizational readiness and aggressive positioning.
Able to dive deeper? Get the total evaluation and strategic suggestions within the 2025-2026 SailPoint Horizons of Identification Safety report.
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