In our recent Financial Services webinar, we discussed how the explosion of non-human identities (NHIs), the rise of AI agents, and increasingly sophisticated threat actors are pushing us to rethink how we approach identity security for Financial Services organisations, and indeed how they ought to be reviewing whether the current posture can be maintained in the fast-moving threat landscape.
Below is a summary of the key insights from our session and why now is the time to act.
Author:
Paul Dawson
Chief Services Officer at CyberIAM
A Look Back and Why It Matters Today
Did you know?
Financial services were among the earliest adopters of identity and access management (IAM)!
This was driven by regulatory pressure (think SOX in particular, GDPR, and more recently DORA) and the sheer scale of operations. Many Financial Services firms built robust IAM programs to satisfy auditors and secure their environments.
My opinion though is that traditional systems and static controls are no longer enough. The threat landscape has evolved and so must our strategies and approach.
A New Identity Challenge
If it was ever just about people, it certainly is not today. In modern environments there is a need to manage a vast array of identity types.
For example:
- API keys, service accounts, RPA bots
- Third-party users from vendors, partners, and suppliers
- Going forward, AI agents that make decisions, trigger workflows, and access sensitive data
These identities may never log off and often lack clear ownership. Without visibility and governance, they become blind spots and prime targets.
Modern Identity Governance : Visibility, Ownership, Intelligence
In the webinar I mentioned earlier, we highlighted four major threats facing financial services IAM programs:
- Multi-year application onboarding: Slow, manual, and expensive
- Access certifications: Often rubber-stamped, lacking context and not providing real risk reduction
- Identity explosion: As above, non-human identities are everywhere and mostly unmanaged
- Third-party access: Fragmented processes, unclear ownership, and poor visibility
We made the case that addressing these threats necessitates modern IGA approaches. These leverage/enable:
- AI-assisted discovery and anomaly detection
- Risk-based, continuous access reviews
- Broad visibility and unified lifecycle management for all identity types
Our partners Saviynt, SailPoint (with Savvy), Veza, CyberArk Zilla, and Orchid all offer features to provide greater visibility, accelerate onboarding and provide modern capabilities towards governance.
Privileged Access Management : From Vaulting to Just-in-Time
Put simply, we must move beyond traditional vaulting. Static credentials and manual onboarding can’t keep up with today’s dynamic access needs, especially for AI agents and cloud-native environments.
For both traditional and newer identity types, there is an increasing desire to approach access in more modern ways.
- Just-in-time access: Temporary, task-specific credentials that expire automatically
- Context-aware decisions: Access granted based on behaviour, risk, and real-time needs
- Implementation of the above can bring us towards true zero standing privilege: No one keeps elevated access by default
As regulations begin to demand faster response and continuous monitoring, these modern PAM principles become essential.
The Biggest Threat? AI and the Access it Requires
It almost goes without saying, but if I had to pick one modern threat with the most potential impact, it’s AI. By its very nature, AI needs access and lots of it to deliver value. And that access must be governed, monitored, and auditable.
AI agents are already in use across financial services. The challenge is securing them without slowing down innovation. That means building visibility, ownership, and control into your IAM strategy.
Final Thoughts: The Inflection Point
We’re at a turning point in identity security. Financial services organisations have done well to meet compliance requirements, but as is always the case in IT, the landscape has changed. Visibility across your entire access estate and dynamic, risk-aware controls are no longer optional, they need to be considered foundational.
At CyberIAM, we’re developing frameworks to help organisations assess their AI identity maturity.
If that’s something you’re exploring, we’d love to talk. Use this quick form below to contact us and our team will get back to you ASAP.
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