Emerging Standards: What’s Next for Identity Management in the Era of AI and Zero Trust

Identity has become the new perimeter. The shift to cloud, the proliferation of remote work, and the increasing sophistication of cyber threats are forcing organizations to rethink their approach to identity and access management (IAM). As traditional network boundaries dissolve, emerging standards and technologies are redefining what effective identity management looks like.

According to Gartner, by 2025, 80% of enterprises will have adopted a strategy to unify web, cloud, and private application access from a single vendor’s SSO platform, up from 20% in 2021. This consolidation is driven by a need for coherent security, improved user experience, and operational efficiency across increasingly complex digital ecosystems.

The State of Identity Management in 2025

The identity management landscape is at an inflection point, with several transformative standards and approaches gaining momentum:

1. Zero Trust Identity: Beyond “Trust but Verify”

Zero Trust has evolved from buzzword to business imperative. The core principle—never trust, always verify—is particularly relevant to identity management, where every authentication and authorization decision must be contextually validated.

According to a recent Okta report, 97% of organizations have implemented or plan to implement a Zero Trust initiative. However, only 21% have fully deployed core Zero Trust principles across their identity infrastructure, revealing a significant implementation gap.

Modern identity solutions like Avatier’s Identity Anywhere Lifecycle Management are building Zero Trust principles directly into their architecture, ensuring that identity verification happens continuously, not just at login.

Key emerging standards supporting Zero Trust identity include:

• NIST 800-207: The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Zero Trust framework provides a comprehensive approach to resource security, emphasizing that no actor, system, or service should be inherently trusted.
• Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust Assessment (CARTA): This Gartner-defined approach moves security beyond static, point-in-time assessments to continuous monitoring and adaptive response based on real-time risk analysis.

2. Decentralized Identity and Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)

Perhaps the most revolutionary shift happening in identity management is the move toward decentralized models that give individuals greater control over their digital identities.

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) represents a paradigm shift from organization-controlled to user-controlled identity. Built on blockchain or distributed ledger technologies, SSI enables users to maintain ownership of their identity data and selectively share verified credentials without unnecessary disclosure of personal information.

Key emerging standards in this space include:

• Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs): This W3C standard for globally unique identifiers enables verifiable, self-controlled digital identity without centralized registries.
• Verifiable Credentials (VCs): Another W3C standard that defines a credential format for cryptographically secure, privacy-respecting, and machine-verifiable claims.

While enterprise adoption of decentralized identity is still in early stages, the technology holds enormous potential for reducing identity fraud, simplifying compliance, and improving user privacy. Forward-thinking identity providers are already incorporating aspects of these standards into their solutions.

3. AI-Driven Identity Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is transforming identity management from a static, rules-based discipline to a dynamic, adaptive approach powered by machine learning.

According to SailPoint’s Identity Security Report, organizations with AI-enhanced identity security experience 80% fewer access-related security incidents than those relying solely on manual processes. The report also notes that AI-driven identity platforms can reduce certification time by up to 60% while increasing accuracy.

Modern identity solutions like Avatier’s Access Governance are leveraging AI and machine learning to:

• Detect anomalous access patterns that may indicate compromise
• Predict access needs based on peer group analysis
• Automate routine identity decisions while escalating unusual requests
• Continuously optimize access policies based on observed behaviors

The emerging NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) provides guidelines for responsible AI development in security contexts, ensuring that AI-driven identity decisions remain transparent, fair, and explainable.

4. Passwordless Authentication Standards

The industry-wide push to eliminate passwords is gaining momentum, with several emerging standards making passwordless authentication more secure and interoperable:

• FIDO2/WebAuthn: These complementary standards enable strong, phishing-resistant authentication using biometrics, mobile devices, or security keys.
• Passkeys: Built on FIDO standards, passkeys represent the next evolution in passwordless authentication, replacing passwords with cryptographic key pairs that are both more secure and more user-friendly.

According to Microsoft, organizations implementing passwordless authentication see a 99.9% reduction in account compromise. Meanwhile, Ping Identity reports that businesses adopting passwordless methods experience a 50% reduction in authentication-related help desk costs.

Avatier’s Multifactor Integration is designed to support these emerging standards, enabling organizations to deploy passwordless authentication options while maintaining backward compatibility with existing systems.

Convergence of Identity, Security, and Governance

One of the most significant trends in identity management is the convergence of previously distinct domains:

Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) + Privileged Access Management (PAM)

Traditional boundaries between identity governance and privileged access management are dissolving as organizations recognize the need for comprehensive visibility across all identity types.

According to Gartner, by 2025, 70% of organizations will consolidate their identity governance and privileged access management vendors, up from less than 5% today. This convergence enables unified policy management, simplified compliance, and holistic identity lifecycle management.

Identity as the Foundation for Security Operations

Identity has become central to security operations, with identity-related telemetry now essential for threat detection and response.

A recent Okta study found that 80% of security breaches involve compromised credentials, highlighting why identity must be integrated into broader security monitoring and response workflows.

Modern identity platforms now provide APIs and integration capabilities that allow identity events to be correlated with security telemetry, enabling more effective threat detection and response.

Regulatory Landscape and Compliance Impacts

The regulatory environment continues to evolve, with increasing focus on privacy, consent, and access controls:

• Global Privacy Regulations: GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and similar regulations worldwide impose strict requirements on how organizations manage identity data and authentication.
• Industry-Specific Requirements: Sectors like healthcare (HIPAA), finance (PCI-DSS), and education (FERPA) have specific identity and access requirements that solutions must address.
• Supply Chain Security Mandates: Executive orders and regulations increasingly require strong identity verification across supply chain relationships.

According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), 65% of organizations worldwide now consider compliance with identity-related regulations a “high” or “very high” priority, up from 43% in 2020.

For regulated industries, identity management platforms with built-in compliance capabilities, like Avatier’s Compliance Manager, have become essential for maintaining regulatory adherence while navigating the complex landscape of emerging standards.

Implementation Challenges and Best Practices

While these emerging standards offer significant benefits, implementing them presents several challenges:

Integration with Legacy Systems

Most enterprises maintain hybrid environments with a mix of legacy on-premises systems and modern cloud applications. Identity solutions must bridge these worlds while enabling a path toward modern standards.

Best Practice: Adopt identity platforms with extensive connector libraries and hybrid deployment options that can unite on-premises legacy systems with cloud-native applications under a single identity framework.

Skills Gap

The complexity of modern identity ecosystems and emerging standards has created a significant skills gap. According to ISC², the cybersecurity workforce gap includes nearly 4 million unfilled positions globally, with identity specialists being particularly scarce.

Best Practice: Prioritize solutions that offer automation, intuitive interfaces, and comprehensive professional services to bridge internal skills gaps.

Balancing Security and User Experience

Implementing stringent identity controls can create friction that hampers productivity and drives shadow IT adoption.

Best Practice: Focus on adaptive, risk-based approaches that apply appropriate controls based on context rather than one-size-fits-all policies.

The Path Forward: Strategic Recommendations

For organizations navigating this evolving landscape, consider these strategic approaches:

1. Start with a Zero Trust Identity Framework: Evaluate your current identity architecture against Zero Trust principles and identify gaps in continuous verification, least privilege, and context-aware access.
2. Adopt an Identity Fabric Approach: Rather than point solutions, focus on building a cohesive identity fabric that can adapt to emerging standards while maintaining interoperability across your technology ecosystem.
3. Prioritize Automation and Intelligence: Manual identity processes cannot scale to meet modern security challenges. Invest in platforms with robust automation and AI capabilities to enhance both security and efficiency.
4. Focus on Governance and Visibility: As identity expands beyond organizational boundaries, comprehensive governance becomes essential. Ensure you maintain visibility into who has access to what, when, and why—across all resources.
5. Build a Standards-Based Strategy: Rather than focusing on vendor-specific approaches, prioritize solutions built on open standards that will evolve with the industry.

Conclusion

The future of identity management lies at the intersection of Zero Trust principles, decentralized models, artificial intelligence, and seamless user experience. Organizations that embrace these emerging standards and technologies will not only enhance their security posture but also create competitive advantages through improved efficiency and user satisfaction.

As the identity landscape continues to evolve, the most successful organizations will be those that view identity not simply as a security function but as a strategic business enabler that facilitates digital transformation while protecting their most critical assets.

The question for today’s security and IT leaders is not whether to embrace these emerging standards, but how quickly they can implement them to stay ahead of both threats and competitors in an increasingly digital world.

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