Reimagine identity security with AI: Intelligent access. Resilient security.

In today’s complex enterprises, identity security has become the cornerstone of a sound cybersecurity strategy. As organizations scale across cloud platforms and hybrid work models, managing who has access to what—and ensuring that access is appropriate—has never been more critical. Our latest insights reveal how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are revolutionizing identity security through smarter, adaptive access and proactive risk detection.

Why identity security needs a makeover

Modern enterprises are juggling tens of thousands, if not millions, of digital identities—employees, contractors, partners, machine identities, AI agents, and more. Granting access while preventing unauthorized intrusion is a balancing act, especially when relying on manual processes and spreadsheets. These outdated methods leave gaps ripe for exploitation, from insider threats to external breaches.

SailPoint has employed AI and ML technologies in our solutions since 2017 to help inform, scale, and automate human decision-making, a natural fit for challenges in the identity security space. By automating identity tasks and providing insights into access behaviors, AI helps organizations stay secure, compliant, and efficient—without the human bottlenecks.

Access Modeling: Essential to efficient distribution of access

One of the key building blocks of a strong identity program is a well-structured access model. Traditionally, building and maintaining roles has been a painstaking process prone to role sprawl—the proliferation of unnecessary or overlapping roles that dilute security. SailPoint Access Modeling automates this through machine learning insights, grouping users by access patterns and generating dynamic role recommendations.

The platform’s Role Discovery capability can analyze access behaviors across departments to suggest accurate, ready-to-use roles. This not only speeds up onboarding but ensures that users get the access they need—no more, no less.

At SailPoint’s Navigate conference last year, we introduced a next-gen concept: Dynamic Access Roles. Unlike static roles that assign identical access to every member, dynamic roles adjust based on contextual attributes like job title or geographic location. For instance, if you have 500 store managers across 3 levels of seniority, you no longer need 1,500 roles to account for them. One dynamic access role can do it all.

This shift drastically reduces administrative and maintenance overhead, eliminates over-provisioning, and keeps your access model lean and responsive to change.

Smarter decisions with AI-powered recommendations

Even with a streamlined role model, the day-to-day operations of access governance can overwhelm security teams. That’s where SailPoint’s access recommendations step in:

• Access request recommendations: Using peer group analysis and collaborative filtering, the system recommends whether access should be approved or denied. Low-risk access can even be auto-approved, freeing up time for high-priority reviews.
• Access certification recommendations: During access reviews, SailPoint Identity Security Cloud suggests which access rights to certify or revoke. The system compares users with their peers and highlights deviations, reducing the risk of rubber-stamping, improving certification quality, and improving audit accuracy.

These features not only improve decision-making but also reduce fatigue and improve operational efficiency.

Spot the outliers before they become threats

One of the standout capabilities is SailPoint Identity Outliers. Identity outliers are identities that don’t conform to typical access patterns—either because of unusual entitlements or anomalous access. ML algorithms flag these outliers for review, allowing identity teams to swiftly investigate and remediate risks before they escalate.

Outliers can be an indicator of risky access or in some cases an indication of a set of unique roles or job function within the enterprise. Either way, early detection is critical, and AI makes it possible at scale.

Building a resilient, AI-first identity program

What ties all these capabilities together is the clear need for a cohesive, automated identity program. SailPoint’s AI and ML solutions help enterprises move from reactive identity management to proactive identity security. From modeling roles to recommending access decisions to spotting access anomalies, AI enables faster, more confident decisions with fewer resources.

With continually evolving security pressures and an expanding digital footprint, organizations can no longer afford to secure and govern access manually. AI is not just a nice-to-have; it's a critical element of a robust identity security program.

Take the next step

Ready to evolve your identity security strategy? Download our latest whitepaper for a more in-depth look at how AI and ML identity security capabilities can help you build a successful identity security program.

In an era where identity is the new perimeter, leveraging AI is no longer optional—it’s the key to smarter, safer, and more agile security.