Platform

Customers

Resources

Platform

Customers

Resources

EBOOK

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Identity Drift: How Authorization Became the Quiet Breach Vector

Identity Drift: How Authorization Became the Quiet Breach Vector

Most organizations have modernized authentication with SSO, MFA, and conditional access. But once a user is through the front door, authorization remains fragmented, static, and dangerously outdated. In this eBook, Opal Security’s Chief Security & Trust Officer Jesse Scott examines the growing risk of identity drift—where access privileges accumulate unchecked, especially among non-human identities—and what you can do about it.

Get the Report

By submitting this form you agree with our Privacy Policy

0

1

/1

/2

/3

/4

0

Trusted by

  • /1

  • /2

  • /3

  • /4

0

Trusted by

/1

/2

/3

0

Trusted by

Context

What you’ll learn?

Before evaluating a request, Paladin builds a complete operational picture.

Why authorization gaps are the root of most modern breaches

How legacy access governance models create systemic risk

What forward-thinking security & identity teams are doing instead

How to shift from access governance to a modern access control plane

0

2

0

3

Status-Quo Identity vs. AI-Ready Identity

Content

Access Approval Speed

Access Approval Speed

Access Lifecycle Management

Access Lifecycle Management

Unused Access Handling

Unused Access Handling

AI Agent Readiness

AI Agent Readiness

Content

Days to weeks; dependent on ticket queues and manual reviews.

Days to weeks; dependent on ticket queues and manual reviews.

Days to weeks; dependent on ticket queues and manual reviews.

Days to weeks; dependent on ticket queues and manual reviews.

Quarterly spreadsheet marathons taking 3+ weeks.

Quarterly spreadsheet marathons taking 3+ weeks.

Siloed per-system reports with no cross-app correlation.

Siloed per-system reports with no cross-app correlation.

Content

Minutes or seconds; automated approvals handle the majority of requests.

Minutes or seconds; automated approvals handle the majority of requests.

Minutes or seconds; automated approvals handle the majority of requests.

Minutes or seconds; automated approvals handle the majority of requests.

Continuous compliance with AI-powered recommendations.

Continuous compliance with AI-powered recommendations.

Unified identity graph across AWS, GCP, GitHub, 
and more.

Unified identity graph across AWS, GCP, GitHub, 
and more.

Opal helps us protect more of our attack surface, with a small but mighty team.”

Mandy Andress

CISO, Elastic

As we scale, our security scales with us, and access controls aren't something we worry about.”

Gil Feig

CTO, Merge

Opal secures every identity in modern infrastructure, from employees to AI agents

0

4

Opal helps us protect more of our attack surface, with a small but mighty team.”

Mandy Andress

CISO, Elastic

As we scale, our security scales with us, and access controls aren't something we worry about.”

Gil Feig

CTO, Merge

Opal secures every identity in modern infrastructure, from employees to AI agents

0

4

Opal helps us protect more of our attack surface, with a small but mighty team.”

Mandy Andress

CISO, Elastic

As we scale, our security scales with us, and access controls aren't something we worry about.”

Gil Feig

CTO, Merge

Opal secures every identity in modern infrastructure, from employees to AI agents

0

4

See. Encode.

Enforce.

© 2026

See. Encode.

Enforce.

© 2026

See.

Enforce.

Encode.

© 2026