Identity at the Center

Jeff and Jim welcome back Robert Snodgrass, Principal at RSM, for a deep dive into the RSM Middle Market Business Index cybersecurity report. The conversation covers the confidence gap facing middle market organizations, why digital identity remains undervalued despite being the primary attack surface, non-human identity governance, flat cybersecurity budgets, risk framework adoption, and what good incident response preparedness actually looks like. The episode wraps with a spirited Bitcoin Pizza Day toppings debate.Connect with Robert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-snodgrass-7a199412/Review the RSM US Middle Market Business Index Special Report on Cybersecurity 2026: https://rsmus.com/middle-market/cybersecurity-mmbi.html?cmpid=ola:45559-idac:bb01IDPro new member discount: https://idpro.org/idac/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.comTIMESTAMPS00:00:00 Introduction and Scatter Spider social engineering discussion00:04:00 IDPro discount code and upcoming conferences00:06:26 Guest intro: Robert Snodgrass and the MMBI report00:09:05 Defining the modern middle market00:12:00 The confidence gap: 96% confident, 18% breached00:15:04 Why attackers log in and top identity investment priorities00:19:00 Why only 23% of leaders prioritize digital identity00:22:00 Internal partnerships as the path to identity program success00:25:10 AI, shadow AI, and non-human identity risks00:31:00 NHI governance at scale: 45 to 1 ratio00:34:50 Cybersecurity budget realities in the middle market00:39:00 EU regulation and top-line cybersecurity drivers00:42:03 NIST CSF adoption and risk framework value00:46:00 Incident response planning: the two-minute drill00:52:16 Bitcoin Pizza Day and closing thoughtsKEYWORDSidentity security, middle market, cybersecurity, MMBI, RSM, Robert Snodgrass, phishing-resistant MFA, non-human identities, NHI, shadow AI, incident response, NIST CSF, IAM, identity governance, ransomware, tabletop exercises, digital identity, cybersecurity budget, identity program, IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald

Episode 422 is the debut of Decoded by Identity at the Center, a new sub-series hosted by Jeff Steadman and Sean O'Dell dedicated to unpacking the specifications and standards powering IAM. Joining them is Pieter Kasselman, VP of Open Standards at Defakto and chair of the WIMSE working group. The conversation covers why traditional non-human identity approaches break at agentic scale, how SPIFFE and SPIRE enable short-lived automated credential provisioning without long-lived secrets, and why treating agents as workloads unlocks a decade of existing standards. Pieter walks through critical OAuth specs including JWT authorization grant, token exchange, client ID metadata, and the emerging transaction tokens draft. Sean connects these to practical gateway architecture, continuous access evaluation, and policy-based authorization. The episode closes with real-world deployment examples and a clear takeaway: the tools to secure agentic identity are available today.Episode Links:Pieter Kasselman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pieter-kasselman-0259862/AI Agent Authentication and Authorization: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-klrc-aiagent-auth/Workload Identity in Multi-system environments (WIMSE): https://ietf-wg-wimse.github.io/OAuth SPIFFE Client Authentication: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-oauth-spiffe-client-auth/Transaction Tokens: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-oauth-transaction-tokens/08/Agentic Identity Control Framework. You Already Have the Pieces. Now Build It. by Sean O'Dell: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/agentic-identity-control-framework-you-already-have-pieces-o-dell-61b5e/Timestamps:00:00 Introduction to Decoded by Identity at the Center00:13 The mission of the Decoded sub-series03:02 Guest intro: Pieter Kasselman, VP of Open Standards at Defakto06:21 Why agentic identity is urgent: scale, multi-platform, and shifting threat landscape10:42 The real cost of API keys and credential sprawl in agentic systems13:23 Agentic identity identifiers and how SPIFFE assigns unique workload IDs21:00 Credential types: X.509, JWTs, and workload identity tokens31:00 Connecting SPIFFE to OAuth and dynamic registration with client ID metadata38:18 SPIFFE SVIDs, multiple credentials per agent, and governance traceability41:44 Authentication versus authorization: delegation versus impersonation47:00 Transaction tokens: binding access to specific transactions to stop token theft51:21 Identity chaining and cross-domain authorization55:00 Shared Signals Framework and dynamic authorization57:00 Gateways, CAEP, and mid-flight token revocation for rogue agents59:31 What you can deploy today with SPIFFE, OAuth, and existing IDPs01:02:58 Policy-based access control and why instance-level governance cannot scale01:04:58 Workload identity federation: Anthropic and Google Agent ID updates01:07:13 Cross-platform federation and the law of agentic utility01:11:55 Elevator pitch: agents are workloads and 95% of the problem is solved now01:17:03 What is coming next: a transaction tokens deep diveKeywords:agentic identity, SPIFFE, SPIRE, OAuth, transaction tokens, Shared Signals Framework, WIMSE, workload identity, non-human identity, authorization delegation, JWT, CAEP, API gateway, IAM standards, AIMS, Jeff Steadman, Sean O'Dell, Pieter Kasselman, IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jim McDonald, Decoded by Identity at the CenterDecoded by Identity at the Center:Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Sean O'Dell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanodentity/Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Visit the show on the web at https://idacdecoded.com/

Jeff and Jim welcome back Henrique Teixeira, SVP of Strategy at Saviynt, for his fourth appearance on the podcast. The episode opens with Jim's firsthand experience building an AI agent for a work project and discovering in real time how identity management challenges surface in the agentic era. After conference updates on EIC in Berlin and Identiverse in Las Vegas, Henrique unpacks the crowded terminology around AI agent governance, from Gartner's agent management platforms to UADP, the Unified Agentic Defense Platform. He proposes a three-pillar framework for managing AI and non-human identities: discovery, identity lifecycle and governance, and runtime access management, with guidance on where to start depending on whether your organization is greenfield or legacy-heavy. The conversation then examines how AI is reshaping the analyst business model, what makes information sources trustworthy, and how proprietary inquiry data forms the real competitive moat for firms like Gartner and Forrester. The episode closes with a wide-ranging discussion on AI's risk to shared cultural experiences, hyper-personalized entertainment, and the ethics of licensing your digital identity in the afterlife.Connect with Henrique: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardes/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com00:00:00 Intro00:00:55 Jim's AI Agent Experiment and Identity Lessons00:06:04 Conference News: EIC and Identiverse00:07:22 Identity Beer Community Events00:08:40 Introducing Henrique Teixeira00:12:00 AI Control Plane: Competing Terminologies00:17:36 Three Pillars of AI Agent Identity Management00:18:46 Why Visibility Matters More for NHI00:20:00 Ownership, Accountability, and Humans at the Control Plane00:24:26 Industry Maturity and the Gaps That Remain00:25:41 Where to Start: Governance-First vs. Visibility-First00:29:52 AI's Impact on the Analyst Profession00:34:57 What Analyst Firms Have That AI Cannot Replace00:39:04 Trust, Boutique Analysts, and Repeatability00:44:34 Proprietary AI Chatbots and Gated Intelligence00:49:30 IP Rights and the Legal Gray Zone of AI Training00:52:14 AI and the Erosion of Shared Cultural Experience00:58:00 AI Music, Personalized Entertainment, and the Future of Art01:03:47 Digital Afterlife, Voice Clones, and AI Personas01:08:18 Wrap-Up and ClosingKeywords: IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Henrique Teixeira, Saviynt, AI identity control plane, non-human identities, NHI, agentic AI, AI agents, AI governance, identity lifecycle, access management, discovery, agent management platform, UADP, IAM, Gartner, analyst firms, AI and culture, digital identity, identity security, EIC, Identiverse, identity beer

This episode is made possible by GitGuardian. Jeff speaks with Dwayne McDaniel, Principal Developer Advocate at GitGuardian, about secrets sprawl, non-human identity governance, and the findings of the State of Secret Sprawl 2026 report. With 28.6 million secrets leaked to public GitHub in 2025 - a 34% year-over-year increase - they explore why hardcoded credentials persist, how agentic AI tools are making the problem worse, and what IAM practitioners can do to start addressing machine identity governance. Topics include GitGuardian's Good Samaritan notification program, the growing NHI inventory challenge, SPIFFE and SPIRE as a path to zero standing privilege, and data showing Claude Code co-authored commits are more than twice as likely to contain leaked secrets. Visit gitguardian.com/lps/idac to learn more.Connect with Dwayne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwaynemcdaniel/Dwayne's website: https://dwayne-mcdaniel.com/Learn more about GitGuardian: https://www.gitguardian.com/lps/idacGitGuardian Good Samaritan Program (free) - https://www.gitguardian.com/good-samaritanThe State of Secrets Sprawl 2026: https://www.gitguardian.com/state-of-secrets-sprawl-report-2026SPIFFE Book: https://spiffe.io/book/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.comTIMESTAMPS:00:00 Introduction and sponsor welcome00:48 Dwayne's background and path to developer advocacy04:11 Surprises from entering the identity and security space06:29 What a principal developer advocate actually does09:32 Why secrets became Dwayne's focus area14:10 GitGuardian: overview and mission19:36 Where secrets commonly leak across the SDLC22:17 The Good Samaritan notification program explained28:00 Why 70% of leaked secrets from 2022 were still valid in 202533:54 State of Secret Sprawl 2026: the year software changed40:39 AI coding tools, Claude Code, and secrets leakage data47:28 Practical questions for IAM practitioners to start asking52:24 Zero standing privilege and the case for SPIFFE/SPIRE01:00:00 Resources: the SPIFFE book, WIMSE, and AWS STS01:02:51 Hot sauce, the Cubs, and closing thoughtsKEYWORDS:secrets sprawl, hardcoded secrets, non-human identity, NHI governance, GitGuardian, SPIFFE, SPIRE, workload identity, DevSecOps, agentic AI, Claude Code, zero standing privilege, supply chain security, credential abuse, identity and access management, IAM, IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Dwayne McDaniel

Recorded live as part of the Identity Management Day 2026 streaming program, Jeff and Jim mark their fifth IMD episode. Introduced by Jeff Reich from the Identity Defined Security Alliance, they reflect on how the IAM industry has evolved since their first IMD episode in 2021 and grade overall progress a C. Topics include what has genuinely improved (passkeys, MFA adoption, broader awareness), what hasn't (compliance fatigue, security theater, persistent credential theft), the exploding challenge of non-human identity governance, whether AI will eventually need to certify other AI, and how AI-powered phishing and deep fakes are raising the bar for identity verification. The episode wraps with chat-submitted IAM bumper stickers.Identity Management Day 2026: https://www.idsalliance.org/event/identity-management-day-2026/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.comCHAPTERS0:00 - Jeff Reich intro from the IMD stream2:00 - Identity Management Day 2026 kicks off3:30 - Five years of IMD: a look back at episode 887:00 - Does IMD move the needle?9:30 - Who is Identity Management Day actually for?12:00 - What has improved in IAM over five years16:00 - What hasn't improved: compliance fatigue and security theater18:30 - Grading the IAM industry21:00 - NHI governance: visibility and accountability26:00 - Can AI certify AI? Agentic identity governance29:00 - AI-powered phishing and the evolving threat landscape32:00 - Deep fakes and the identity verification challenge36:00 - Lighter note: IAM bumper stickersKEYWORDSidentity management day, identity management day 2026, NHI, non-human identity, agentic AI, phishing, deep fakes, IGA, passkeys, MFA, IAM, identity governance, access management, cybersecurity, credential theft, security awareness, IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald