Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM)

Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) is the continuous assessment and improvement of the security posture of digital identities in an IT environment. Identity sources, accounts, permissions, authentication policies and the configuration of identity services are checked for avoidable risks – such as over-privileged accounts, missing multi-factor authentication or orphaned access.

ISPM belongs to the family of posture management approaches: what cloud security posture management does for cloud configurations and Data Security Posture Management does for sensitive data, ISPM transfers to identities. At its center is the identity attack surface, i.e. the entirety of all accounts, roles, tokens and trust relationships through which attackers could gain access. If it grows uncontrolled across many applications and directories, this is referred to as identity sprawl. Detected weaknesses usually receive a risk score and are prioritized by potential impact.

ISPM must be distinguished from Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR): ISPM acts preventively and eliminates misconfigurations before they are exploited, whereas ITDR detects and defends against ongoing attacks on identities. Both approaches complement the administrative processes of IAM and IGA and are building blocks of Identity Security.