Identity and Access Management That Works

Breaches involving identity misuse such as token theft, session hijacking, and fatigue-based multifactor authentication attacks highlight the critical need for strong access control foundations. These incidents often result from excessive permissions, outdated authentication methods, and the absence of real time monitoring for suspicious identity behavior.To reduce the risk of compromise, organisations should establish access models based on defined roles and responsibilities. Access should follow the principle of least privilege, where users are granted only the permissions required for their function. Conditional access policies must be applied consistently across systems and environments, and all authentication processes should support risk-based decision making and modern secure protocols. 

Legacy methods should be retired in favour of systems that can enforce real time validation and session controls.Privileged accounts must be strictly controlled. This includes reducing the overall number of elevated accounts, enforcing time limited access when needed, and ensuring that all activity is logged and reviewed. Automated processes should revoke unused or temporary access to prevent unnecessary exposure.When supported by behavior analytics and monitoring, identity controls can serve as an early warning system. Anomalous access attempts and unusual privilege escalations can trigger immediate responses that contain threats before they escalate.Security assessments and testing exercises frequently expose excessive internal access as a key enabler of attacker movement. To prevent this, identity must be treated as a critical security boundary. With the right controls in place, identity becomes a point of defense rather than a pathway to compromise.