Navigating the risks of identity governance and artificial intelligence

Identity governance and artificial intelligence can be a beautiful technological marriage that enhances security and optimizes the benefits of technology. Learn how to navigate the risks of this pairing to get the most out of your investment. 

In today's interconnected digital landscape, the fusion of identity governance and artificial intelligence (AI) holds immense potential for streamlining processes, enhancing security, and optimizing user experiences. However, as with any powerful technology, there are risks that accompany this merger. In this article, we'll delve into the potential pitfalls, then offer insights into how organizations can navigate the complexities of implementing identity governance alongside AI.

The promise of identity governance and AI

The integration of identity governance and AI has the potential to revolutionize how organizations manage identities, access, and security. An identity governance solution itself can detect unusual behavior, identify potential threats, and even automate access decisions based on predefined policies. But when paired with AI-driven algorithms, it can further enhance these features by analyzing vast amounts of data. This promises heightened security, increased efficiency, and reduced manual effort in identity management.

But there is a price to pay if you don’t take the appropriate safety measures. Below we examine the risks of identity governance and AI, and then how to navigate them to enjoy the benefits without sacrificing security.

Understanding the risks

With any type of technology, no matter how valuable to an organization, you must consider the potential risks. With identity governance and AI, you need to examine:

• Data privacy concerns | The use of AI in identity governance requires access to substantial amounts of user data. This data could include personal information, access patterns, and behavioral analytics. The risk of data breaches or unauthorized access to this sensitive information poses a significant challenge, especially given the increasing stringency of data protection regulations like GDPR.
• Over-reliance on automation | While AI can automate many processes, an over-reliance on automation might lead to issues if the AI incorrectly denies access or fails to identify potential threats. Human oversight and intervention are crucial to ensure that critical decisions aren't solely left to the algorithms.
• Regulatory compliance | As AI-driven identity governance evolves, ensuring compliance with ever-changing regulations becomes more complex and involved. Organizations must continuously monitor and adapt their processes to meet legal requirements.

Navigating the risks

You can mitigate the above risks by utilizing identity governance and administration solutions with robust capabilities, such as:

• Role discovery/mining | Role discovery and role mining help organizations analyze and understand the actual access permissions users have across systems and applications. This insight enables better management of access rights and helps identify discrepancies, inappropriate access, over-privileged users, and potential security risks.
• Efficient access management | By identifying common access patterns and creating roles based on user behavior, role mining streamlines access provisioning and de-provisioning processes. This improves efficiency, reduces administrative overhead, and ensures that users have the right level of access.
• Detailed Event Logging, Analysis, and Reporting - With Imprivata Identity Governance, organizations will gain a holistic view of access risk vulnerabilities, including orphaned or inactive accounts, and unusual access rights to ensure a high standard of security through efficient, effective automation of identity creation and termination including self-service account management. The solution provides detailed logging and analytics on all identity events to ensure compliance, detect potential over-privileges, and troubleshoot access issues. These data capabilities plus reporting help organizations to prove compliance and make critical decisions.
• Robust Integrations – The integration of Imprivata Identity Governance and Imprivata OneSign SSO simplifies the user journey and creates a cohesive security framework. Administrators can enforce consistent access policies, ensuring that users only access what they're authorized to. Revoking access is equally efficient, minimizing the risk of unauthorized entry. The unified approach of Identity Governance and Imprivata OneSign aids in maintaining compliance with industry regulations. Auditors can easily verify that access controls are consistent, reducing the likelihood of compliance violations. In addition, you can generate audit reports with accurate data, facilitating compliance assessments.

Making the most out of identity governance and AI

AI can help with automation but must be trained on good-quality information and should not replace human oversight. The fusion of identity governance and artificial intelligence presents a double-edged sword, offering significant advantages while posing inherent risks. Organizations must approach the integration with a comprehensive understanding of potential pitfalls and a commitment to robust safeguards. By navigating these risks strategically and ethically, businesses can harness the full potential of identity governance and AI while ensuring the security and privacy of user identities.

We know seeing is believing, and it’s worth seeing what identity governance can do for you. Schedule time with us to see how it can help your organization.