Keeper Security has released its latest global insight report, ‘Identity Security at Machine Speed’. The study examines the challenges of expanding identity ecosystems which include a growing number of non-human identities (NHIs) and finds that legacy tools and unchecked artificial intelligence (AI) adoption are widening security gaps that attackers exploit.
Conducted with 3,200 cyber security decision-makers and senior IT leaders across Europe, the United States, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East, the research explores how the rapidly expanding identity ecosystem, spanning employees, contractors, third parties, and machine accounts, is reshaping enterprise security strategy.
Key findings include:
Identity sprawl is a near-universal challenge
Nearly nine out of ten (89%) senior IT leaders report that managing the growing identity footprint is challenging, reflecting the scale and complexity of modern security environments.
Control is fragmented, not consolidated
Identity authority is often distributed across systems, with no single cyber security control plane. Globally, 96% cited disconnected or poorly integrated security tools as creating exploitable gaps.
Detection of unauthorized activity is lagging
In 72% of organizations, credential misuse is not detected in real time, with most taking hours, and in some cases, days or weeks to identify unauthorized privileged access.
As AI adoption accelerates, new governance gaps emerge:
- AI usage is multiplying NHIs: 43% of respondents globally identify AI-related NHI management and security as a top identity governance gap. That figure climbs to 51% among US respondents, suggesting American enterprises are feeling the pressure of machine identity growth more acutely than their global counterparts.
- Employee AI use is a top concern: over half (56%) of respondents are concerned about employees inadvertently exposing sensitive information to AI systems – a figure that rises to 67% among US respondents, who also report higher-than-average concern about lack of visibility into employee AI tool usage (47% vs 42% globally).
- Shadow AI creates blind spots: a lack of visibility into the AI tools employees use was identified as a significant governance gap by 42% of organizations globally.
