Identity at the Center

Identity at the Center

Identity at the Center is a weekly podcast all about identity security in the context of identity and access management (IAM). With decades of real-world IAM experience, hosts Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman bring you conversations with news, topics, and guests from the identity management industry. Do you know who has access to what? Visit us on the web at idacpodcast.com

  1. 1d ago

    #460 - Sponsor Spotlight - Silverfort

    Jeff and Jim are joined by Rob Ainscough, Chief Identity Security Advisor at Silverfort and host of the Identity Decoded podcast, to look at what happens when an autonomous AI attacker goes after identity. Rob shares how a decade running a 400,000-person IAM program at a UK retailer, and one identity-driven incident, moved him from compliance-led to threat-led identity. He walks through the AI Attack Lab, where an AI red agent called Cypher went from a network foothold to domain dominance in under four minutes by chaining familiar identity weaknesses in parallel. The conversation covers why governance alone can't stop machine-speed attacks, identity as a drawbridge that rises with the threat level, why agents favor non-human identities, and giving every account a protection plan. Plus podcasting lessons, community building, and the return of the Identity Mullet. This episode is made possible with support from Silverfort. Learn more at silverfort.com/idac Connect with Rob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-ainscough/ Identity Decoded podcast: https://www.silverfort.com/identity-decoded-podcast/ Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at idacpodcast.com 00:00 Intro, and an apology to Mark 01:33 Meet Rob Ainscough 01:53 Falling into identity at a UK retailer 03:43 The incident that changed everything 05:48 Orphaned account war stories 07:59 Account correlation in the age of agents 09:23 The Identity Decoded podcast 11:11 What Silverfort has been focused on 13:21 Black October: hype vs. reality 15:51 Familiar techniques, new speed and scale 18:52 What is the AI Attack Lab? 23:23 Watching Cypher compromise a domain 27:58 What identity programs left behind 29:25 Building the attacker and keeping it contained 32:16 Controls that stay transparent to the model 34:08 What surprised Rob most 35:27 Goal-oriented to a fault 37:23 Was the lab environment rigged? 39:16 How security teams react 43:16 Why good governance isn't enough 47:19 Where to start: every account has a plan 49:31 Why AI attackers target NHIs 51:19 Lessons from a first season of podcasting 56:38 Nerves before hitting record 58:27 The Identity Mullet 01:02:38 Wrap-up IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Rob Ainscough, Silverfort, Sponsor Spotlight, Identity Decoded, AI Attack Lab, Cypher, AI agents, agentic AI, autonomous attacker, Black October, threat-led identity, identity threat detection and response, ITDR, Active Directory, Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, golden ticket, lateral movement, credential harvesting, domain compromise, non-human identities, NHI, service accounts, PAM, IGA, identity debt, runtime enforcement, identity security, CISO, red team, Mythos

  2. 3d ago

    #459 - The Three Lines Model for Identity Practitioners with Autumn Hurley

    Jim McDonald flies solo this week while Jeff Steadman is out on assignment, and he's joined by Autumn Hurley, Cyber Risk Consulting Principal at RSM US LLP, for a practitioner's crash course in risk management frameworks and the three lines model. Autumn shares her path from marketing and banking to running offensive security operations and now leading RSM's cyber financial services team. From there, she and Jim unpack the vocabulary identity teams hear constantly but rarely get explained: likelihood, impact, risk appetite, controls, and the difference between a policy, a standard, and a procedure. They cover what GRC tools do, how frameworks like NIST CSF, ISO 27001, COBIT, and COSO apply, and the warning signs that compliance has become a checkbox exercise. Autumn then walks joiner-mover-leaver through the first, second, and third lines, explains where external audit fits, and offers practical guidance on translating an identity project into the risk language executives, auditors, and boards respond to. The episode closes with home remodeling advice and a contractor story Jim would rather forget. Connect with Autumn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/autumnhurleyatrsm Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com 00:00 Welcome and upcoming events 02:20 Why this episode: risk and the three lines model 03:36 Autumn's non-traditional path into cybersecurity 05:12 From pen testing to risk and governance 07:18 How her perspective on risk has changed 08:18 What is risk management? 10:07 Risk concepts every identity practitioner should know 12:52 Business, technology, and identity risk as a pyramid 14:28 What is a control? 16:05 Policy vs. standard vs. procedure 17:56 Control design vs. operating effectiveness 20:05 What is a GRC tool? 21:36 Who creates risk and control frameworks 23:07 NIST, ISO 27001, COBIT, COSO: what you need to know 24:24 Keeping compliance from becoming a checkbox exercise 26:16 The three lines model explained 30:19 Where external audit fits 31:38 Joiner-mover-leaver through the three lines 34:04 Can auditors rely on IGA and SSO data? 36:09 Why the lines are blurring 37:50 The IT risk function as internal advisor 38:46 Preparing for risk conversations with senior leaders 40:40 Translating an identity project into risk language 42:36 Key terms for talking with risk, compliance, and audit 43:56 Autumn's key takeaway 45:38 Remodeling advice and a contractor horror story 49:37 Wrap-up IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Autumn Hurley, RSM, risk management, three lines model, three lines of defense, cyber risk, risk management framework, controls, control effectiveness, policy, standards, procedures, GRC, governance risk and compliance, NIST CSF, ISO 27001, COBIT, COSO, internal audit, external audit, risk appetite, risk tolerance, likelihood and impact, joiner mover leaver, JML, user access reviews, IGA, identity governance, privileged access, financial services, compliance, IAM, identity and access management

  3. Nov 2

    #458 - Gartner US IAM Summit 2026 Preview with Rebecca Archambault and Paul Rabinovich

    Jeff and Jim finally land a long-sought pair of guests: current Gartner analysts Rebecca Archambault and Paul Rabinovich, chair and co-chair of the Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit, December 7-9 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas. Rebecca and Paul share their paths into identity, from HSBC and Lotus Notes to a security PhD and aerospace and defense, then preview this year's theme of reshaping identity in the age of AI. The conversation covers the MCP interop session with the OpenID Foundation, why authorization remains so hard to standardize, runtime controls, human-in-the-loop, and intent-based access control for AI agents, IVIP and the end of "light IGA," and why the fundamentals still matter. They close with tips for first-time attendees, how analyst one-on-ones work, the new expo floor neighborhoods, and a few Las Vegas recommendations. Gartner US IAM Summit: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/identity-access-management-us Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-becky-archambault-4b4285111/ Connect with Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-rabinovich-20b79b8/ Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com 00:00 Jeff's broken finger update and the Gartner white whale 03:17 Welcome Rebecca Archambault and Paul Rabinovich 04:08 Rebecca's path from HSBC to identity 06:04 Lotus Notes war stories 07:23 Paul's path from a security PhD to identity 08:22 Paul's role in Gartner for Technical Professionals 09:27 Rebecca's coverage: IAM programs, IGA, IVIP, ISPM, ITDR, and CIAM 10:43 How their perspectives changed as analysts 12:50 What to expect at the Gartner IAM Summit 14:54 What's different this year 19:17 The MCP interop with the OpenID Foundation 23:32 Past interops: CAEP and AuthZEN 24:09 What didn't make the agenda 26:36 Decentralized identity and the London Summit 28:32 Rebecca's session: Renaissance in the Age of AI 31:58 Can authorization ever be standardized? 39:42 Standards and authorizing AI agents 42:12 Paul's session: AI agents on a solid access management foundation 46:50 Foundational IAM and the rise of IVIP 49:23 First-timer tips: Conference Navigator, recordings, one-on-ones 55:21 Las Vegas hidden gems 1:00:31 PSA: Caesars Forum is not Caesars Palace 1:04:46 New expo floor neighborhoods 1:05:56 Networking advice 1:07:15 Wrap up: Ask IDAC, IAM 101 series, and the donor page IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Rebecca Archambault, Paul Rabinovich, Gartner, Gartner IAM Summit, Identity and Access Management, IAM, AI Agents, Agentic AI, MCP, Model Context Protocol, OpenID Foundation, Interop, Authorization, AuthZEN, CAEP, Shared Signals Framework, OPA, Cedar, Intent-Based Access Control, Human in the Loop, IGA, IVIP, ISPM, ITDR, CIAM, PAM, Machine Identity, NHI, Zero Trust, Post-Quantum Cryptography, Decentralized Identity, Las Vegas

  4. Oct 28

    #457 - Sponsor Spotlight - Iden

    In this Sponsor Spotlight, Jim McDonald talks with Pranay Yadav, co-founder and CEO of Iden, about why identity governance still runs on tickets and spreadsheets at so many organizations. Pranay came to identity from venture capital at Accel, where he kept hearing the same story from IT teams. SSO arrives early, and everything after it gets tracked by hand. They dig into how deep governance has to go. Knowing someone has a GitHub account is one thing. Knowing they can approve their own pull requests is another. Pranay explains where SCIM stops short of fine-grained entitlements in SaaS, internal, and legacy apps, why a governance program is only as complete as the weakest app in the stack, how teams can sort apps into P0, P1, and P2 priorities, and when access requests should be automated versus kept in front of a human. The conversation closes on AI. That covers using it to help practitioners and end users, the harder problem of governing AI agents that share a person's identity, credentials, and long-lived tokens, and why nobody has patience for multi-year identity programs anymore. Pranay also shares the advice he'd give his firstborn: don't typecast yourself. Made possible with support from Iden. Learn more at idenhq.com/idac Connect with Pranay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ypranay/ Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at idacpodcast.com 00:10 Welcome and Sponsor Spotlight introduction 01:09 From venture capital to identity governance 02:41 Where the friction starts for small IT teams 04:37 Starting with the apps that lack built-in provisioning 05:21 The floor and the ceiling of who feels the pain 06:44 How deep governance has to go 11:35 When knowing "has access" is enough 13:37 Where SCIM fits and where it stops 15:18 Depth in practice: SaaS roles, GitHub, and internal apps 19:13 Breadth and the long tail of apps 21:30 Prioritizing apps into P0, P1, and P2 25:39 What governance means functionally 28:31 When to automate access requests and when to keep a human in the loop 32:18 The experience for the IGA administrator 36:25 AI for governance 43:06 Why governing AI agents is so hard 47:41 No appetite for multi-year identity projects 52:49 Lighter note: advice for a firstborn 56:05 Wrap-up IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Pranay Yadav, Iden, Sponsor Spotlight, identity governance, IGA, identity governance and administration, IAM, SCIM, fine-grained entitlements, RBAC, authorization, access reviews, joiner mover leaver, onboarding, offboarding, provisioning, deprovisioning, least privilege, segregation of duties, audit evidence, connectors, long tail of applications, SaaS governance, internal applications, legacy applications, automation, human in the loop, AI for governance, MCP, AI agents, agent governance, non-human identity, delegated identity, API tokens, Accel

  5. Oct 26

    #456 - AI vs Reality with Joseph Carson

    Recorded live from the expo hall at InfoSec World 2026, Jeff and Jim welcome back Joseph Carson, host of the Security by Default podcast, for his third appearance on the show. Joseph explains how his thinking has moved from "AI vs AI" to "AI vs reality" after talking with CISOs at roughly 40 events this year, including stories of agents breaking into systems they were never meant to touch and a CFO vibe coding a family scheduler on a corporate laptop. He walks through his three-tier framework for agent risk (task, operational, and legally binding agents), makes the case that agents need identifiers and audit trails rather than human-style treatment, and describes Identity Under Attack, a Dungeons and Dragons style tabletop exercise he ran at NATO CyCon with identity coins, chaos cards, and dice. The conversation also covers why identity resiliency keeps landing last on the shopping list, what Locked Shields teaches about communication and identity strategy, a sobering prediction for 2027, and what identity practitioners can do today with ephemeral, auditable access. The episode closes with a podcaster gear chat and the difference between AI slop and AI enabled work. Connect with Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephcarson/ Security by Default podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@SecuritybyDefaultPodcast Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com00:00 Intro from InfoSec World 2026 and Jeff's broken finger 02:33 Welcome back Joseph Carson 03:18 From AI vs AI to AI vs reality 05:02 CISO stories: rogue agents and the vibe-coding CFO 06:46 The rise of consumer agents 07:50 A three-tier framework for agent risk 10:52 Onboarding digital workers with a code of conduct 12:39 Identities or identifiers? Estonia's agent identity debate 15:34 Identity Under Attack: a Dungeons and Dragons style tabletop exercise 22:32 Bringing the exercise to conferences 24:49 What surprised Joseph: collaboration across roles 26:52 Common choices and why MFA comes first 28:16 Designing a budget that forces hard choices 29:29 Identity resiliency as an afterthought 31:24 AI as the Mario Kart mushroom 32:53 Lessons from NATO Locked Shields 35:49 Supply chain and third-party risk 37:18 Predictions for 2027 38:59 What identity practitioners can do now 40:23 Vibe coding and governance at AI speed 42:04 Podcast gear and AI-assisted production 48:02 AI slop vs AI enabled 52:17 About the Security by Default podcast 53:45 Wrap-up IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Joseph Carson, Security by Default, InfoSec World 2026, Cyber Risk Alliance, agentic AI, AI agents, non-human identity, agent identity, digital workers, AI governance, vibe coding, tabletop exercise, Identity Under Attack, gamification, NATO CyCon, Locked Shields, MITRE ATT&CK, incident response, identity resiliency, MFA, privileged access, just-in-time access, ephemeral access, least privilege, supply chain risk, third-party risk, AI slop, podcasting

  6. Oct 19

    #455 - CNAPP and the Cloud Identity Problem with Mike Small

    Most cloud security incidents trace back to the customer, and most of those trace back to identity. Jeff and Jim sit down with Mike Small, Senior Analyst at KuppingerCole, to unpack Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) and why identity practitioners should care. Mike explains how identity controls in the cloud have become data defined in code, why ephemeral workloads break traditional scan-then-deploy security, and how CNAPP evolved from static configuration analysis into runtime monitoring and SOC integration. The conversation covers the shared responsibility model, SOC 2 attestations and complementary user entity controls, multi-cloud complexity, and why standards matter for portability and sovereignty. Mike also looks at CNAPP as a security plane for AI, agents as another layer of non-human identity, recent market consolidation, and the cloud as national critical infrastructure. Plus, a detour into amateur radio, Morse code exams, and low-power QRP contacts across the Atlantic. Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesmall01/ AI Identity and Agentic Trust: https://www.kuppingercole.com/blog/small/ai-identity-and-agentic-trust Mike's other writing for KuppingerCole: https://www.kuppingercole.com/people/small Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com 00:00 Welcome and fall conference season 02:52 Introducing Mike Small 03:19 From engineer to identity software to analyst 05:07 What is CNAPP and why should IAM care? 07:21 Most cloud incidents are the customer's fault 11:00 Identity controls in the cloud are data 15:17 Static configuration analysis vs. runtime monitoring 19:34 Is CNAPP a product or a platform? 21:07 CSPM, CWPP, CIEM, KSPM and CNAPP capabilities 23:12 The shared responsibility model 27:46 Who defines secure? SOC 2 and complementary user entity controls 31:40 Multi-cloud and the case for standards 35:18 CNAPP as the security plane for AI 40:48 Where the CNAPP market heads next 44:34 Acquisitions and consolidation in cloud security 46:50 The cloud as national critical infrastructure 50:08 How sovereign is a sovereign cloud? 53:12 MCP and the speed of AI standards 53:39 Mike's passion for amateur radio 1:05:20 The CNAPP elevator pitch 1:06:14 Wrap up IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Mike Small, KuppingerCole, CNAPP, Cloud Native Application Protection Platform, cloud security, CIEM, cloud infrastructure entitlement management, CSPM, CWPP, KSPM, shared responsibility model, least privilege, misconfiguration, runtime monitoring, SOC 2, complementary user entity controls, multi-cloud, non-human identity, NHI, AI agents, agentic AI, MCP, sovereign cloud, critical infrastructure, identity standards, MFA, amateur radio, IAM, identity and access management

  7. Oct 14

    #454 - Sponsor Spotlight - HYPR

    Bojan Simic, co-founder and CEO of HYPR, returns to Identity at the Center for a Sponsor Spotlight conversation with Jim McDonald. Bojan traces HYPR's path from passwordless authentication to a broader set of identity assurance controls and explains how assurance differs from verification across the full employee lifecycle. He describes what organizations find when they look for worker impersonators, from remote employees outsourcing their jobs to North Korean operatives, and why verification has to continue past day one. The conversation then turns to AI agents: why IAM teams are becoming the HR of AI, how agent identity differs from human identity, why humans can't manually govern agents at scale, and why securing MCP alone misses the full context of an agent's session. Bojan also covers what is slowing passwordless adoption, adaptive risk, alert fatigue, and how identity teams and the SOC can work together. This episode was made possible with support from HYPR. Connect with Bojan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bojansimic Learn more about HYPR: https://www.hypr.com/idac Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at idacpodcast.com 00:10 Sponsor Spotlight intro and welcome back Bojan Simic 02:36 HYPR's evolution from passwordless to identity assurance 04:44 How the pace of identity projects has changed 06:01 Agentic AI moves from theory to reality 08:19 Identity assurance vs. identity verification 10:02 Why workforce identity verification is on the rise 13:01 AI-powered social engineering crosses language barriers 14:30 Continuous verification beyond onboarding 17:06 Balancing verification with user experience 18:36 The business problem behind AI agent governance 22:42 How agent identity differs from human identity 24:50 Who owns agent identity? IAM as the HR of AI 27:00 Governing agents at scale and keeping humans in the loop 29:23 Why endpoint control matters for AI agents 31:48 What securing MCP alone can miss 33:20 Deterministic and probabilistic controls 35:00 What is holding passwordless back 37:26 Pilots and letting perfect be the enemy of good 39:25 Advice for leaders on adaptive risk 42:02 Signals that matter and avoiding alert fatigue 43:36 Identity teams and the SOC 45:53 Lighter note: early mornings in New York, family, and the Yankees 50:36 Wrap-up IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Bojan Simic, HYPR, Sponsor Spotlight, identity assurance, identity verification, workforce identity verification, continuous verification, worker impersonation, North Korean IT workers, deepfakes, social engineering, help desk security, AI agents, agentic AI, agent identity, AI agent governance, non-human identity, NHI, MCP, Model Context Protocol, endpoint security, blast radius, least privilege, access reviews, passwordless, MFA, FIDO, adaptive risk, adaptive authentication, alert fatigue, SOC, identity threat detection, IAM

  8. Oct 12

    #453 - Treating Identity Like a Product with Eve Maler

    Eve Maler, founder of Venn Factory and author of Mastering Digital Identity, joins Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman for her tenth appearance on Identity at the Center. Eve shares what she has learned since the book came out, from writing for non-technical executives (and keeping AI out of the manuscript) to the strange places identity ends up on the org chart. The conversation covers treating identity as a product, why identity can be a business model in disguise, how CISOs can influence CIAM when they are not the boss of it, and the identity debt that AI is now calling due. Eve also explains why intent looks more like purpose of use than finer-grained authorization, how contract language can help frame agent mandates, what trust means to humans versus security teams, and the early work on UMA for Agents (U4A) to govern third-party agents through a resource-centric, protect surface mindset. The episode wraps with travel tips from all three frequent flyers. Connect with Eve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evemaler/ Eve's book "Mastering Digital Identity" - https://masteringdigitalidentity.com/ MyTerms: https://myterms.info/ UMA for Agents: https://u4a.ai/ Kwaai AI Lab - https://www.kwaai.ai/ Connect with us on LinkedIn: Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/ Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/ Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com 00:00 Introduction and Eve's tenth appearance 02:40 Life since publishing Mastering Digital Identity 04:49 Writing for non-technical executives 06:36 AI and the book writing process 09:00 Identity as a product: feedback from leaders 10:29 The strangest places identity lives on the org chart 11:46 Metrics that work across functions 13:40 Identity as a business model in disguise 15:14 Identity's unhoused problem 16:56 Who is accountable for identity? 18:33 Security versus usability 20:43 Is identity the product or part of the product? 24:04 Normalizing product replacement 25:53 CISOs, CIAM, and "You're Not the Boss of Them" 28:03 Defining identity debt 29:27 How AI exposes identity debt 31:38 The organizational roots of identity debt 32:52 What intent means for AI agents 34:23 Poisoned intent and contracts as a model 36:15 Laws of robotics and the policy stack 39:21 MyTerms and IEEE 7012 40:04 Trust as a human word 43:29 UMA for Agents and third-party agents 47:27 The protect surface and what practitioners should consider 51:10 U4A maturity and how to get involved 53:43 Travel tips from frequent flyers 1:02:10 Wrap up IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Eve Maler, Venn Factory, Mastering Digital Identity, identity as a product, identity product management, identity debt, technical debt, CIAM, customer identity, CISO, identity ownership, identity metrics, board-level identity, AI agents, agentic AI, non-human identity, NHI, intent, purpose of use, trust, zero trust, protect surface, UMA, User-Managed Access, UMA for Agents, U4A, third-party agents, MyTerms, IEEE 7012, Kwaai, consent phishing, phishing-resistant authentication, passkeys, NIST 800-63, IAM, identity and access management, travel tips

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About

Identity at the Center is a weekly podcast all about identity security in the context of identity and access management (IAM). With decades of real-world IAM experience, hosts Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman bring you conversations with news, topics, and guests from the identity management industry. Do you know who has access to what? Visit us on the web at idacpodcast.com

Information

  • Creator
    Identity at the Center
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    460
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 771327
  • Show Website
    Identity at the Center

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