How do you ensure the integrity of your identity data in a way that enables only authorized identities (people, machines and AI agents) to get access to appropriate data via authorized devices at agreed times in a fast, secure manner, so that the job can be done efficiently while the data remains secure?

Health and financial services sectors share the unenviable experience of their data being under attack like never before, risking critical life or death situations in healthcare and financial loss for the finance sector. They both have the dual mandate of safeguarding information while enabling timely access, and both have to do so within stringent compliance requirements from multiple regulatory bodies. Revenue producers need to be able to quickly access the applications required to perform their job, and in healthcare, not only does the hospital lose revenue if fewer patients are seen, but delayed access can also impact patient care and cause suffering.

One of the factors mitigating against running an efficient, secure and compliant operation: Identity sprawl, which is the uncontrolled growth of identities across your legacy systems, home built platforms/systems, SaaS applications, cloud services and shadow IT. What often begins as a workaround or isolated solution to solve a business problem, ends up with individual users holding multiple accounts across disconnected silos, non-human identities spreading without oversight, and orphaned, stale or duplicate accounts left unmanaged. The result is a tangle of inconsistent identity records, outdated entitlements, and blind spots in governance that directly weaken security, expand the threat surface and jeopardize regulatory compliance. Yet, many security leaders believe their current ecosystem/IAM system is able to address identity sprawl, not recognizing the gaps created by a one-size fits all solutions, or the need for a common threat to form a base to which dedicated tools can be added.

Among the discussion points:

• What is identity sprawl, and what conditions feed the problem – especially in healthcare and financial services?
• Why is identity sprawl such a daunting challenge to face?
• Beyond human identities, what’s your plan to address the new sprawl created by non-human identities – including AI agents?