What is identity security?

Identity security is the practice of protecting digital identities, whether human or machine, against unauthorized access or manipulation. It is a comprehensive cybersecurity approach that secures identities across the entire organization, including employees, third-party vendors, remote workers, service accounts, applications and devices.

A strong identity protection strategy is built on several key pillars:

• Authentication – Verifying that an identity is who or what it claims to be
• Authorization – Defining and enforcing what each identity can access
• Privilege management – Controlling elevated access and applying the principle of least privilege
• Monitoring and auditing – Tracking access activity to ensure accountability and detect threats

By treating every identity as a potential pathway to business-critical assets, this process helps prevent lateral movement and data breaches. It enables secure access from any device or location, without compromising user productivity.

The cyberthreat landscape is changing rapidly. Today, attackers go after the weakest link – identities. Identity-related incidents have skyrocketed, and compromised credentials account for 80% of breaches.

Identity protection is a cornerstone of effective cybersecurity strategies. It guards against data breaches and hostile attacks that can severely impact an organization’s financial and reputational standing.

Most common techniques to compromise identities Cybercriminals use a variety of tactics to exploit digital identities. These attacks are designed to bypass perimeter defenses and gain unauthorized access by targeting individual users and their credentials:

• Phishing – Malicious emails trick users into revealing login credentials
• Credential stuffing – Attackers use stolen username-password combos from past breaches to access accounts
• Social engineering – Deceptive interactions manipulate users into granting access or sharing sensitive information
• Privileged access abuse – Insider users or hackers exploit elevated permissions to bypass security controls
• Malware deployment – Infected software captures keystrokes or extracts authentication data from endpoints

Each of these exploits targets gaps in identity protection. Without a robust access framework, even the most advanced firewalls and cybersecurity tools can be bypassed.

Protection against credential compromise

With stolen credentials being a leading cause of breaches, organizations must adopt a multi-layered defense approach to reduce exposure and limit attacker movement.

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) – Adds additional layers of identity verification, such as a mobile device or physical token, making it much harder for attackers to gain access with just a password.
• Single sign-on (SSO) – Reduces password fatigue and risky user behaviors, like password reuse, by allowing access to multiple systems with one secure login.
• Passwordless authentication – Eliminates passwords entirely using biometric logins or security keys.
• Encryption – Protects credentials in both storage and transit.
• Context-aware access policies – Evaluate factors like device health, location and behavior to enforce dynamic risk evaluation. For example, access may be denied or stepped-up with MFA if login attempts come from a suspicious location or device.
• Lifecycle management – Ensures that accounts are updated or deactivated promptly as users change roles or leave the organization.
• Continuous monitoring and anomaly detection – Flags suspicious login patterns or excessive failed attempts and enables immediate response before damage occurs.

Together, these practices form a resilient defense against credential-based attacks and are essential components of any security program.

Identity security and Zero Trust are closely related but serve different purposes within a cybersecurity strategy.

Identity protection focuses on securing and managing digital identities and their access to resources.

Key elements include:

• Authentication – Verifying identity through passwords, biometrics or MFA
• Authorization – Determining what users are allowed to do
• Identity governance – Ensuring the right people have the right access
• Privileged access management (PAM) - Controlling and monitoring access to sensitive systems and accounts

Its goal is to ensure that only the right individuals can access the right resources, for the right reasons, at the right times.

Zero Trust is a broader security model that assumes no implicit trust — inside or outside the network.

Key elements include:

• Identity verification – Often powered by identity protection controls
• Device health checks – Validating endpoint integrity
• Least privilege access – Granting users only the minimum access necessary
• Micro-segmentation – Isolating systems and networks to limit lateral movement
• Continuous monitoring – Assessing behavior and context in real time

The goal of Zero Trust is to minimize risk by verifying every access request as though it originates from an open network.

Identity security is a foundational component of Zero Trust. It provides the mechanisms to verify “who” is requesting access, while Zero Trust evaluates "what" the user is accessing, "where" the request is coming from, "when" it’s happening and "how" the access is being attempted.

While identity and access management (IAM) and identity security share some overlap, they have different focuses.

IAM focuses on managing who has access to what resources. It involves provisioning, deprovisioning and role-based access. It answers the “who” and the “what.”

Identity strategies expand upon IAM by asking “how” and “why.” How is the identity being used? Why is access needed? Is the identity behaving in expected ways?

IAM includes systems like:

• Directory services (e.g. Active Directory)
• Authentication protocols (e.g. SAML, OAuth)
• Access management solutions

Identity protection includes:

• Identity threat detection and response (ITDR)
• Behavior analytics
• Privileged access management (PAM)
• Real-time anomaly detection
• Continuous monitoring

The relationship is hierarchical: Identity governance uses IAM as a keystone tool, building additional layers of protection to actively detect and respond to threats.

Adopting comprehensive identity protection measures offers several advantages.

1. Reduced risk of breaches
   
   By implementing continuous authentication, MFA and access control, organizations can drastically reduce security risks from compromised identities.
   
   
2. Protection for privileged accounts
   
   Privileged accounts are the crown jewels for attackers. Identity strategies enforce strict governance, real-time monitoring and access alerts to secure these high-risk identities.
   
   
3. Improved compliance
   
   With GDPR, HIPAA, SOX and other frameworks requiring strong identity controls, security solutions simplify compliance with centralized visibility and automated policy enforcement.
   
   
4. Streamlined identity lifecycle management
   
   Automated provisioning, deprovisioning and access reviews reduce human error and administrative overhead.
   
   
5. Enhanced user experience
   
   SSO and adaptive authentication strengthen security without frustrating users. Smart access control policies enable frictionless access while maintaining protection.
   

While the benefits are clear, implementing identity governance isn’t without its challenges.

Fragmented identity systems

Challenge: Many organizations still rely on a patchwork of identity solutions – on-premise directories, cloud-based apps, legacy systems – without centralized visibility. This creates blind spots and vulnerabilities.

Solution: Adopt cloud-based platforms that provide centralized policy enforcement, lifecycle management and cross-platform integration.

Evolving threats and sophisticated attackers

Challenge: Phishing kits, AI-generated spoofing and credential marketplaces make identity threats harder to detect and defend against.

Solution: Deploy AI-powered behavior analytics and real-time threat detection tools that monitor for anomalies in user behavior and trigger automated responses.

Insider threats and privileged access abuse

Challenge: Even trusted employees can become attackers or make critical mistakes. Privileged accounts often bypass standard security controls.

Solution: Implement PAM, limit the scope of privileges and enable just-in-time access provisioning. Monitor all privileged sessions and log activities for forensic audits.

Difficulty measuring identity protection effectiveness

Challenge: Without a framework to measure security posture, gaps go unnoticed until a breach occurs.

Solution: Identity security posture management (ISPM) is an emerging approach that provides continuous assessment of identity configurations, access controls and risks across environments. It identifies gaps, misconfigurations and overprovisioned access in real time.

With ISPM, security teams can:

• Visualize identity risks across hybrid environments
• Automate compliance checks
• Prioritize remediation efforts
• Track progress over time