Enterprise Identity Management (EIM) is a critical component of modern cybersecurity, moving beyond simple authentication to centrally automate access control across thousands of applications and resources. As enterprise users typically access at least 9 apps simultaneously every day, manual provisioning of complex access levels is no longer feasible. Centralized EIM solutions ensure security and efficiency, but the best approach must always be customized based on an organization's industry, workforce structure, and existing systems.
What is Driving the Ever-Changing EIM Landscape?
The landscape is rapidly changing from human-centric, static authentication (MFA/SSO) to an AI-driven, Zero Trust security model that continuously verifies all access requests, including those from the exploding number of non-human identities (APIs and bots). This evolution is driven by the shift to Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC) and the adoption of phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication to counter sophisticated threats.
How Has Remote Work and AI Increased the Need for Adaptive Access?
The shift to remote, decentralized work and the rise of AI-powered threats have exponentially increased the need for centralized EIM, dramatically changing the face of data security because remote work vastly expands the attack surface by forcing employees onto insecure personal devices and unmonitored home networks, while AI-powered threats utilize sophisticated deepfakes and automated phishing to target and exploit these new vulnerabilities.
The Solution: Phishing-Resistant & Adaptive Authentication
Basic Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and Single sign-on (SSO) are now the security baseline. The current trend is the adoption of phishing-resistant passwordless authentication (like Passkeys) and Adaptive Authentication, which leverages AI and Machine Learning (ML) to continuously verify access based on risk.
Case Study: The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
View the full NRC case study. The NRC manages a scattered global workforce of 17,000 employees and humanitarian workers, who often face censored internet access or VPN bans in conflict zones. To overcome these complex obstacles, the NRC deployed:
Single sign-on (SSO): This allowed field workers to securely and easily access all core applications with one password.
MFA Adoption: This eliminated the need for a VPN in many locations, saving the IT team 2,000 hours in maintenance.
Modern, AI-driven solutions are essential for maintaining security and providing standard access experiences in a globally scattered workforce, ensuring the security posture adapts to the user's current context.
Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC) for Scale
PBAC is helpful for scaling because it centralizes authorization logic and decouples access rules from the application code. PBAC is the foundation for a robust Zero Trust architecture, ensuring every access request is continuously verified regardless of user location or device.
Modern identity access control is moving past traditional Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) toward a more granular and dynamic model: Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC).
System Type | Goal | How It Works | Scaling |
Role-Based (RBAC) | Access based on job title (e.g., "Manager"). | Requires manual role definition for every new user type. | Limited: Difficult to manage for large, complex organizations with hundreds of roles. |
Attribute-Based (ABAC) | Access based on user/resource traits (e.g., "US-based Sales Team"). | Access is dynamic, governed by various attributes. | Good Scale: Natively handles user growth, but policies can become complex to govern. |
Policy-Based (PBAC) [Current Trend] | Access based on real-time risk and context. | Continuously Verified: Enforces policies based on context (location, device health, time of day) and combines RBAC/ABAC logic. | Optimal Scale: Ensures least-privilege access and automatically adapts to continuous changes in user status and threat environment. |
How to Modernize Identity Management to Secure Non-Human Identities
Non-human identities are secured through a modern identity management solution by adopting a Zero Trust architecture, which uses a hybrid cloud model for unified policy enforcement across the entire enterprise. This allows for centralized Identity Governance and Lifecycle Management, ensuring that non-human identities like APIs and bots are subject to continuous verification and the principle of least privilege.
Legacy infrastructure and identity practices were designed exclusively for human users. Today, non-human identities—including APIs, bots, AI agents and service accounts—often outnumber human users 3:1 in an enterprise. These machine identities are frequently the target of supply chain attacks.
The Challenge of Non-Human Identities
They typically lack MFA.
Their credentials (keys, tokens) are often stored unsafely.
They often have over-permissioned access (privilege creep).
The Solution: Identity Governance & Lifecycle Management
The key solution for modern enterprises, exemplified by organizations like Hitachi, is adopting a Zero Trust architecture that uses a hybrid cloud model for unified policy enforcement.
For example, global technology firm Hitachi successfully modernized its access while retaining its century-old legacy systems. By implementing a hybrid cloud model with single sign-on (SSO), Hitachi created a single, secure integration point that protects logins and provides seamless access to legacy infrastructure downstream of the main dashboard, ensuring that both human and non-human identities are governed by a centralized policy.
Conclusion: The Pillars of Enterprise Identity Security
Modernizing identity processes is an essential adaptation for the current enterprise landscape, delivering three primary, measurable benefits by leveraging AI, Passwordless, and Zero Trust:
Simplifies User Experience (UX): Achieves frictionless access through passwordless SSO and adaptive authentication, while still maximizing security.
Increases IT & Security Efficiency: Automates manual tasks like provisioning and utilizes AI for real-time anomaly detection and autonomous remediation.
Lowers Security Risk: Enforces Policy-Based Access Control and the principle of least privilege across all human and machine identities, making the security posture resilient against modern threats like deepfakes and AI-powered phishing.
