Delinea details identity security challenges linked to AI adoption

Delinea released a report examining the challenges organizations face in managing identity security as Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption increases. The study highlights gaps in controlling AI-driven identities and the pressures placed on security teams to adjust identity controls in support of AI initiatives.

The report identifies operational and governance consequences stemming from rapid expansion of AI agents, which has increased the number of managed identities in enterprise environments. Organizations report difficulties maintaining visibility and oversight, particularly related to non-human identities (NHIs) such as AI agent accounts, which show nearly twice the discovery gaps compared to legacy systems.

Research based on a global survey of over 2,000 IT decision-makers and analysis of cyber incidents details specific challenges including limited traceability of privileged AI activities, widespread use of standing privileged access for NHIs, and a paradox wherein organizations express confidence in AI readiness despite admitting deficiencies in their identity governance capabilities.

To address these issues, Delinea outlined a strategy combining cryptographic identity management, contextual access controls, Just-In-Time (JIT) authorization, and comprehensive session monitoring. This approach aims to provide uniform access control and auditing across human, machine, and AI identities to manage privileges and audit activity rigorously.

Adversarial Robustness Test (ART) Gilliland, Delinea's CEO, said, “The pressure to move fast on AI is real, but identity governance has not kept pace, which exposes enterprises to significant risk. As AI agents multiply across enterprise environments, these identities often have the least oversight. The organizations that will succeed in the AI era will be the ones that enforce real-time, contextual access across every human, machine, and agentic AI identity.”

The report further details that 42% of organizations attribute increased non-human identity risk to AI expansion and that 80% cannot always determine reasons behind privileged actions by NHIs. Additionally, while 87% believe their security posture supports AI-driven automation, 46% acknowledge deficiencies in AI identity governance. Organizations plan to continue developing identity discovery and governance capabilities to address these challenges.