Identity Management’s Role in Cybersecurity in 2025

In honor of Identity Management Day, I wanted to spend some time looking at identity management, its importance in cybersecurity and where it’s heading. Identity management plays an important role in cybersecurity because at its core, identity management answers three simple questions:  

• Who are you and how do I know you are who you say you are?
• What information do you need to access?
• What are you doing with that information?

Identity management and why it matters

When you look at identity management in the context of those three questions, its foundational nature makes sense. Our identity controls access to data. That’s why we don’t even think twice about logging into apps or social media sites, or why authenticating through apps like Okta has become part of morning routines for millions of us each work day. 

Identity management serves as the first line of defense against unauthorized access, potential data breaches and protecting personal information. Addtionally, any gaps in identity management could result in noncompliance with regulatory standards, exposing organizations to potentially hefty fines. Because of both of these things, as cyber threats continue to increase, ensuring only verified, authenticated users have appropriate levels of access to sensitive information is key.  

Data access governance and identity management

Data Access Governance (DAG) and Identity Management are closely connected as well, since both aim to secure sensitive organizational data by controlling access based on user identity. Here’s how they relate:

1- Identity-Centric Access Control: DAG relies on Identity Management systems to enforce access policies that define who can access specific data, under what conditions, and what actions they can perform. This ensures that access is granted only to authorized users based on their roles and responsibilities, aligning with the principle of least privilege.

2- Oversight and Compliance: Identity Management provides the foundation for tracking and auditing user activities, which is essential for DAG. By integrating identity governance tools, organizations can monitor access permissions, detect policy violations, and maintain compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.

3- Unstructured Data Protection: DAG extends Identity Management principles to unstructured data (e.g., files, folders, SharePoint), empowering business owners to manage access through self-service portals. This reduces IT burdens while ensuring sensitive data remains secure and accessible only to approved users.

Together, these systems create a robust framework for securing data while maintaining operational efficiency and regulatory compliance. But beyond data access governance, what does the future of image management look like?

The state of identity management in 2025 and beyond

AI agents or agentic AI promises to have a profound impact on identity management. Experts like Bill Gates expect that all of us will use a combination of AI agents to get work done and to help us complete other tasks outside of work. Compared to a single user, AI agents will potentially need access to a much larger number of networks or fileshare locations. While traditional authentication methods like OAuth may work with AI agents in limited cases, it’s likely they won’t provide the flexibility required. Maybe a variation of verifiable credentials will be a better fit.

Or maybe providing identity management in the age of agentic AI will require a behavioral security element as well. That’s where risk- adaptive protection comes in. 

Risk-Adaptive Protection augments traditional identity management

Forcepoint’s Risk-Adaptive Protection (RAP) is a cloud-based solution for Forcepoint DLP provides meaningful visibility into risky user behaviors to automate the enforcement of data security policies at the user level. Through continuous monitoring and risk calculations, RAP empowers your organization by providing a continuous understanding of how each user is interacting with data, proactively surfacing your risk level.

RAP enables organizations to uncover data risk while it happens by allowing you to: 

• Gain meaningful visibility into user interactions with critical data
• Enforce data policies to stop risky user behavior as it happens
• Maximize security analyst efficiency while reducing alert fatigue

To learn more about how Forcepoint can help your organization stop risky behavior before it turns into a bigger problem, talk to an expert today.