Critical IAM Priorities In The Age Of Machine Identities

InnovationCritical IAM Priorities In The Age Of Machine IdentitiesByExpert Panel®,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 08, 2026, 08:15am EDT gettyFor years, identity and access management strategies have largely centered on securing human users. But as organizations adopt more AI agents, APIs, bots, workloads and connected devices, machine identities are multiplying quickly, creating a growing security risk that many traditional IAM programs weren’t built to manage.These nonhuman identities often need access to systems, data and applications to perform automated tasks, which can introduce risks when permissions, credentials or ownership aren’t closely governed. Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share emerging IAM priorities companies should focus on as machine identities become a bigger part of the enterprise security landscape.Automated Lifecycle GovernanceLifecycle governance for service accounts and AI agents should be a priority. Most companies still treat machine identities like it’s 2018: Provision once, forget forever. With AI agents now spawning sub-agents, you need automatic expiration, scoped permissions and behavioral baselines per identity. Treat every machine identity like a contractor: time-boxed, scoped, monitored and revoked the moment the job is done. - Agung Dwi Sandi, Rankpillar GroupContinuous Behavioral ValidationIdentity is no longer static; it’s a dynamic signal of risk. What matters now is continuous behavioral validation of nonhuman identities. What is this identity supposed to do? What is it actually doing? Has its behavior changed? Machine identities are exploding without ownership, rotation policies or behavioral monitoring, which creates massive gaps. - Aviv Nahum, Above SecurityForbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and t...