Keeper Security Insight Report: Identity Security at Machine Speed

Topics: AI, Identity Access Management, Identity and Access Management, Privileged Access Management, Zero Trust, Non-Human Identity

Pages: 8

Company: Keeper Security

Identity now underpins how modern enterprises operate. It governs workforce access, machine interactions, service accounts, automation workflows and AI-driven processes across cloud and hybrid environments. What was once a directory-based function has evolved into operational infrastructure with a ballooning cyber attack surface.

As identity ecosystems expand to include both human and Non-Human Identities (NHIs), governance must extend across a broader and more dynamic landscape. Nearly 89% of senior IT leaders report that managing this growing identity footprint is challenging, reflecting the scale and complexity of modern environments. At the same time, identity authority is often distributed across systems with 96% citing disconnected or poorly integrated security tools as creating exploitable gaps, underscoring the oversight required to maintain consistent enforcement.

This expansion intersects directly with monitoring. In environments where automation executes continuously and identities operate at machine speed, real-time visibility becomes increasingly consequential. Yet 72% of organizations report that credential misuse is not detected in real time, with most identifying unauthorized privileged access within hours rather than minutes – if not days, weeks, months or even years.

Keeper Security’s research, conducted among 3,200 cybersecurity decision-makers and senior IT leaders across North America, Europe, AsiaPacific and the Middle East, examines how organizations are adapting to these infrastructure shifts. It analyzes identity growth, distributed authority, privilege maturity and detection tempo in environments where execution increasingly occurs at machine speed. Together, the findings provide a current-state view of identity governance at scale and the structural forces shaping enterprise security in 2026.