Identity at the Center #319 - Identity Security & Cyber Resilience with David Mahdi of Transmit Security
Nov 25, 2024
David Mahdi, CIO at Transmit Security and former Gartner analyst, brings deep experience in identity security and machine identities. He discusses why IAM must evolve into identity security, the rise and governance challenges of non-human identities, convergence of identity and cybersecurity, and the importance of cyber resilience and behavior-based monitoring.
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Identity Security Is IAM's Next Evolution
- Identity security is an evolution beyond IAM focused on threat awareness, behavior, and risk, not just joiner/mover/leaver productivity functions.
- David Mahdi maps his career from endpoint security to Gartner to argue IAM must add behavior and threat context to be effective.
Add Behavior Detection And ML To Identity Controls
- Do instrument identity usage and apply ML to spot normal versus abnormal behavior so you can act when identities behave oddly.
- Jim McDonald and David Mahdi recommend layering behavioral detection (not just UEBA nostalgia) with automation to respond to anomalies.
Productivity-First IAM Left A Security Gap
- IAM vendors were built for productivity and thus left a security 'steel' gap in identity foundations that attackers exploit.
- Mahdi points to high-profile breaches and MFA fatigue as proof that productivity-first designs are insufficient.