The identity and access management industry is always changing, and we see no pause to that for 2026. Security teams are already weighed down by manual, ticket-heavy identity governance processes that drain resources and create unnecessary risk. As we move into a new year, the demand for speed, intelligence, and simplicity in identity governance has never been higher.
Our team has put together a list of the top trends in the IAM industry, how they impact security teams, and what you should do about it.
1: Non-Human Identity Explosion
Trend: Non-human identities (NHIs), including service accounts, bots, and AI agents, are growing exponentially. We have already seen these identities increase to an astounding 144:1 ratio, marking a 44% increase from 2024 to 2025. This trajectory will only steepen as organizations rapidly adopt new technologies and deploy AI agents across departments.
Impact: This explosion puts a heavy burden on security teams that other departments likely don’t even realize. Without a unified way to govern every identity—human or machine—teams risk unseen identity sprawl. This creates an ever-expanding attack surface where "ghost" accounts and unmanaged bots retain high-risk access long after they are needed.
What to do now: You must ensure you have full visibility into all applications and agents being used in your environment.
- Unified Governance: Manage human and non-human identities across cloud, hybrid, and on-premise environments in one platform to eliminate blind spots.
- Deep Reviews: Complete nested entitlement reviews to identify hidden access points often attached to NHIs.
- Continuous Monitoring: Set up alerts to detect new identities and access drift in real-time.
- Standardization: Create standards for new app adoption to reduce the risk of shadow IT and ensure every identity is accounted for.
2: AI-Driven Cyber Attacks Increase in Speed & Scale
Trend: We are already seeing an increase in AI-driven cyber attacks and expect this to only increase in speed and scale. Throughout 2025, AI-powered cyber attacks increased 47% globally with 78% of CISOs reporting AI threats are having a significant impact on their businesses. Attackers are using AI to exploit vulnerabilities faster than human teams can manually respond, increasing the pressure on security teams to adopt new technologies to fight back.
Impact: Security teams are already tasked with the prevention, identification, and remediation of attacks. With the scale of attacks only expected to increase, this increases the necessity for teams to have systems and processes in place to handle attacks with speed and efficiency.
What to do now: NHIs, especially unmanaged AI bots, and third-parties are common vectors for attacks.
- Enforce Least Privilege: Ensure every identity has access to exactly what is needed and nothing more. Service accounts and other NHIs often get broad access privileges to get an app up and running, only to maintain this high-risk access forever.
- Automate Remediation: Move away from manual intervention. Implement automated workflow orchestration to instantly remove or adjust permissions when high-risk access points are detected.
- Drift Detection: Implement tools that can detect access drift in real-time and remediate automatically, keeping your environment secure 24/7.
3: Traditional Authentication Methods Have Holes
Trend: AI has not only increased the velocity of attacks, but the precision and complexity as well. We are moving past the era of obvious phishing emails. Deepfakes and voice cloning technology can now convincingly replicate employees, especially executives with an expansive online presence in podcasts, webinars, and other speaking engagements.
Impact: This shift renders many traditional verification methods obsolete. Security teams must adjust authentication protocols and rapidly educate the organization on these sophisticated AI attack methods.
Imagine this scenario: Instead of receiving an obviously fake phishing email from an "executive" asking to click a link, an employee receives a phone call. The voice on the other end sounds exactly like their SVP of HR. This AI-driven clone convinces the employee to share sensitive data or authorize a transfer. The human element, usually a strong line of defense, becomes a vulnerability when their senses are deceived by high-fidelity AI.
What to do now: Educate, educate, educate. Employees must be aware of these types of attacks and know how to identify them. Create clear policies within the business on how sensitive data is shared and what executives (or anyone on the team) will and won’t ask of you.
- Establish Verification Protocols: Create clear policies within the business on how sensitive data is shared. Explicitly define what executives (or anyone on the team) will never ask you for over the phone, and how to authenticate someone’s identity.
- Zero Trust Architecture: Assume authentication will fail. Implement policy and context-based access controls (powered by ABAC) to restrict access to sensitive systems and limit the damage attackers can do.
4: Identity-First Security Strategies Win
Trend: Identity has been established as the new security perimeter. In 2026, security strategies that start with an identity-first mindset will prevail over those relying on traditional network boundaries.
Impact: Security teams with a legacy approach will need to modernize or face increasing friction and risk. Teams already in the identity-first mindset must refine their strategies as AI contributes to the growth of identities and shadow IT. The goal is to ensure that identity management is not a static gatekeeper, but an intelligent, adaptive control plane.
What to do now: If your security strategy isn’t identity-centric, it’s time for an update.
- Modernize Your Stack: Refine your strategy to secure all identities, both human and machine, with equal rigor.
- Centralize Control: Invest in tools that give you full visibility and control across your entire environment from a single pane of glass.
- Context-Aware Access: Shift to Attribute-Based Access Control to grant access based on real-time context (like role, location, or device) rather than static assignments.
5: Identity as a Strategic Business Enabler
Trend: With the prior trends accelerating, identity teams will be expected to provide strategic insights to the broader business, not just the IT team. Identity teams and tools will no longer be seen as risk reducers, but instead a powerful hub of business intelligence.
Impact: Organizations will look to identity data to drive efficiency and operational intelligence across departments.
What to do now: Think of ways your identity data can benefit the entire organization. From predictive analytics to basic trend reporting on app usage, find ways to save the business money, increase productivity, and help make more informed decisions.
- Workforce Planning: Identity tools can be used to analyze historical data on onboarding and offboarding velocity. For example: “Based on last year’s holiday season efficiency and current sales goals, aim to onboard seasonal workers two weeks earlier to maximize productivity.”
- Onboarding Efficiency: Monitor how quickly new hires become productive. Identity tools are designed to provide birthright access on day one, but that doesn’t mean employees are productive on day one. Track the time between access provisioning and active tool usage by evaluating new hires against the average for veteran employees in the same or similar roles. Providing this data to managers can help them discover hiccups in the onboarding process and shrink the timeline between “hired” and “productive.”
The Path Forward
If the past has taught us anything, it is that adaptability is no longer enough; you need autonomy. The manual, ticket-heavy approaches of the past cannot keep pace with the velocity of AI-driven attacks or the exponential growth of non-human identities.
This shift is about opportunity as much it is about risk mitigation. By modernizing your identity strategy, you transform security from a cost center into a business enabler. Don’t just survive the changes of 2026; build the infrastructure that allows your organization to move faster, safer, and with greater clarity.
