Enabling business success with identity security and AI

Business success is often judged based on how quickly an organisation achieves or responds to an event. Being first to the table for a potential M&A deal. Launching an innovative product onto the market before any of its competitors. Incorporating cutting-edge technology to augment an existing offering.

 

The drive to reach each new milestone before anyone else does means getting work done quickly, which relies on accessing the information and applications to complete that work at a moment’s notice. And while the workforce was once constrained by physical locations, users must be able to be productive, no matter what device they use or their location.

 

The challenge many organisations face is multifaceted. It starts with providing identities with the right access to important information, including sensitive data such as financial reports or patient records. But access must not be provided haphazardly. Organisations must ensure only the right identities access this data for the right reasons and for the right amount of time. Organisations often deploy identity and access lifecycle management processes to help, but the complexity of enterprises today – including the sheer number of identities and apps needing to be governed – makes many of their existing approaches insufficient.

 

AI empowers, but requires careful considerations

 

Traditional applications aren’t the only resources to which users need access, either. As much as AI has facilitated growth and continues to enable the business to achieve more, faster, it’s also exacerbated the security issues many organisations face. While chat engines such as ChatGPT and Claude may have started the trend in 2021, they’re certainly not the only AI models being used by organisations today.

 

“AI agents are extremely prevalent in organisations, but what many aren’t aware of is just how much access to information – including sensitive data – they have,” says Vibhuti Sinha, Chief Product Officer at Saviynt. “It’s a risk that many enterprises have and quickly need to solve. Without a robust identity security strategy to secure and govern AI agents, organisations risk data leaks, decision manipulation, misinformation, lack of transparency and social engineering threats.”  

 

 

 

Vibhuti Sinha, Chief Product Officer - Workforce Identity & Intelligence, Saviynt

 

AI agents from countless software vendors are available for and used in nearly every enterprise department, including those that handle sensitive information such as HR, finance, and R&D. And the number of AI agents deployed in organisations will only continue to grow. Research and Markets recently forecasted the AI agent market will grow at a CAGR of a staggering 44.8 per cent by 2030 to an expected value of $47.1 billion.

 

On top of this, information requests via AI agents are not the only way AI is being used in business. Advanced applications of the tech, such as AI-powered security event detection, data encryption and research and development, are all quickly becoming commonplace. AI use today far exceeds what many expected, and its uninhibited growth has raised concerns among many security professionals.

 

For example, a recent study by Immuta revealed that 80 per cent of data experts agree that AI increases data security challenges, with over half citing inadvertent exposure of sensitive information as their greatest concern.

 

With great power comes great responsibility

 

It’s undeniable that AI has great potential. It has the power to help both individuals and businesses do more than they previously thought possible, streamlining the path to innovation while making processes more efficient and decisions more informed. But it needs to be implemented securely and responsibly.

 

If organisations continue to let users and AI run rampant, the risk posed to the business will only continue to grow. Modern identity security platforms that are built for the AI age, such as The Identity Cloud from Saviynt, help enterprises regain control in several ways.

 

First, they ensure organisations can govern access for human and non-human identities – such as cloud accounts and keys as well as AI agents, LLM Models and agentic workflows – alike. By securing access to sensitive resources for all enterprise identities, the business can ensure information isn’t inadvertently exposed while letting users work unimpeded.

 

In addition, access must be provided no matter what device identities use or their physical (or digital) location. Work happens everywhere, and enterprise tech stacks have never been more complex, leading to unique environments on multiple clouds and infrastructures to which all access must be governed, including the data consumed by AI models.

 

Identity security programs can only be effective if they are properly managed and ensure users – including AI – have access to what they need to be productive. But identity security’s responsibility doesn’t end there. Once users have access, enterprises also must ensure they are using that access (and using it appropriately) by continually reviewing it. At that point, organisations can find and revoke access when it is not being used (including using AI to help eliminate rubber-stamping and more easily review sensitive items), thereby lowering overall risk.

 

Enterprises must centralise their efforts and choose to implement a converged identity security platform. Saviynt was designed to keep pace with evolving business needs and empowers organisations to grow in the way that suits them best on the systems that help them scale.

 

“Now is the time for organisations to put controls in place to ensure their use of AI doesn’t pose considerable risks and instead acts as an accelerator to the business,” says Sinha. “Identity security will be crucial for secure, effective and responsible AI implementation, especially as the technology and the businesses using it continue to evolve.”

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Learn more or get a demo at saviynt.com