Our 6 for ’26: Six Trends to Watch in 2026
In cybersecurity as in life, the only constant is change. The difference is that today's technology is making the pace of change accelerate more every day.
Over the past few years, our industry has raced to adopt concepts that once seemed futuristic. Passwordless authentication, Zero Trust frameworks, and rudimentary AI-driven threat detection have moved from theory to implementation. But as fast as we've moved, the horizon is moving faster.
The next 12 months will demand a fundamental shift in how we approach identity, moving from a static, defensive posture to a dynamic, scalable strategy.
We recently sat down with KeyData Cyber's leadership team to capture their expert insights on the future of identity security and business enablement. Our discussion covered the strategic integration of emerging technology and proven best practices, starting with Arun Shrestha, Managing Director, who explored the critical mandates of AI security by design and by default and AI-native identity defense. Todd Musselman, Managing Director, showcased the practical application of this technology, discussing how AI agents can streamline user lifecycle management processes. Shifting to resilience, Johnny Shin, Managing Director, detailed the importance of creating resiliency through hybrid solutions in the cybersecurity landscape. We also dove into tactical control with Brian Read, CTO, who explained the necessity of Just-in-Time (JIT) access, and Sanjay Shah, CSO, who addressed the complexity of modern security through identity orchestration and collaboration. Finally, Jonathan Edwards, Managing Director, brought the conversation full circle by focusing on the ultimate strategic goal: using identity to drive revenue.
Over the coming weeks, we will explore each trend in-depth. For now, here is a high-level summary of the trends we expect to see in the year ahead.
The 6 Trends to Watch in 2026
1. Defense by Default: The Rise of AI-Native Identity Security
For the past year, we've treated AI as a new tool. In 2026, we must treat it as a new identity. The exponential growth of AI agents, models, and non-human identities has created an attack surface that is impossible to manage with traditional, rules-based security. The only viable path forward is to "fight AI with AI” with a shift toward autonomous, AI-native identity systems that can detect, respond, and adapt to threats at machine speed.
2. AI Agents in Action: Streamlining the User Lifecycle
While AI-native defense handles threats, "Agentic AI" will handle the work. Legacy IGA tools still require significant human oversight. The next wave will see AI agents take over the manual, repetitive, high-volume tasks of user lifecycle management. These agents will follow your standard operating procedures to provision, modify, and revoke access, close tickets, and document actions for audit—freeing your SoC to focus on strategy instead of spreadsheets.
3. Right Access, Right Time: Just-in-Time (JIT) Privilege Becomes the New Norm
The age of standing privilege is over, and it’s long overdue. For years, Just-in-Time (JIT) access has been a best practice – a good to have, but not a necessity. In 2026, it will become the mainstream standard. Granting privileged access only when needed and only for the duration it's needed dramatically shrinks your attack surface. This is the ultimate expression of the principle of least privilege, and vendors and C-suite leaders alike are now prioritizing it as a core security strategy.
4. From Siloed to Symphony: The Era of Identity Orchestration
Most enterprises don't have one identity system - they have many. They could have Microsoft, Okta, SailPoint, CyberArk, and others, often managed by different teams, in different locations. This siloed approach creates unwanted gaps, complexity, and risk. Identity orchestration creates a unified collaboration layer between your platforms. This allows you to leverage best-of-breed features (like one system's superior analytics) across your entire ecosystem and build in greater resilience.
5. Building Cyber Resilience: Hybrid Identity Architectures Make a Comeback
The "all-in-on-the-cloud" dream has met a harsh reality. Recent high-profile outages at major hyperscalers have proven that 100% dependency on a single provider is a critical business risk. In 2026, we're seeing a pragmatic "comeback" of hybrid architectures and resilience will become the key metric of success. This isn't about rejecting the cloud – there will always be value in cloud-based tools. Instead, we will reinforce cloud agility with reliable on-premises or multi-cloud fallback systems.
6. Beyond Security: Identity as a Revenue Driver
For decades, IAM has been sold to the board as an insurance policy—a cost center designed to prevent loss. That conversation is changing. Forward-thinking organizations now recognize identity as a strategic revenue driver. A well-orchestrated customer identity platform speeds time-to-market, enables deep personalization, and builds the kind of trust that attracts and retains customers. Modern identity is about enabling growth while protecting it from breaches, disruptions, and expensive downtime.
Looking Forward
These six trends paint a clear picture: identity is outgrowing its old boundaries.
In the year to come, identity security will become more autonomous with AI, more dynamic with JIT, more integrated with orchestration, more resilient with hybrid models, and more profitable as a business enabler.
This round-up is just the beginning. The real insights are in the details. Next week, we will continue our "6 for '26" series with a deep dive into our first trend: Defense by Default: The Rise of AI-Native Identity Security.
