AI is everywhere, and people across your organization are most likely already using it to write code, triage alerts, answer emails, and chat with sales prospects. Now, AI is making its way into the heart of identity security.
That sounds like great news for teams that need to do more with less—until the questions start rolling in:
Can we trust it?
How do we secure it?
Who is using it, and what are they using it for?
Is it aligned with our privacy policies and compliance requirements?
If you're an IT, security, or compliance leader in an organization using AI, you may wonder what's real, what's hype, and what helps. This blog breaks it down into simple, practical terms with no jargon or black boxes.
Let's demystify AI by looking at three things: how to secure AI used in your identity security strategy, how to secure with AI, and how to measure the impact of AI on your business and security goals.
Oh—and we'll tackle the three big questions that every security leader should be asking about AI.
Don't overcomplicate it: before you let AI help secure your IT environment, you need to secure it first.
AI tools, including copilots, bots, or scripts, are machine identities. They use credentials, access sensitive systems, and make decisions, leveraging the access they are granted. If left unchecked, they become a security blind spot just like any other unmonitored and unmanaged identity.
Treat them like you would any other privileged machine identity (with a bit of extra care, of course):
Bottom line: Treat AI like a high-powered machine identity with a brain. Because it is.
Next, let's look at AI from a different angle. Once your AI is secure, you can consider how it can help secure identities, systems, and data. AI is a game-changer for identity security. Traditional access control relies on manual approvals and static rules that can't keep up with today's dynamic, fast-paced, and complex environments. AI, instead, can adapt on the fly and at digital speed (this means it works faster than normal humans).
Here's how AI controls can work when done right:
Imagine an intelligent, automated system that knows Bob from Finance always logs in from Cleveland between 8 AM and 5 PM. Let’s say Bob logs in today from a new device in Berlin at midnight and is asking for access to sensitive HR data. AI spots the anomaly, evaluates the risk, business justification, permissions, device, intent, for example, and makes the call to block or approve his access instantly.
No waiting for manual approvals. No risky over-permissioned or over-privileged identities.
And, if you use a self-hosted large language model (LLM), you gain even more. Unlike third-party AI services, a self-contained model keeps your data where it belongs—inside your environment. That approach improves accuracy, increases privacy, and ensures you remain compliant with company policies and industry or regulatory requirements. It all remains in your hands and transparent while still working in real-time within your tech stack to improve security.
Let's be honest: IT and security teams don't have time for marketing hype, empty promises, or complexity in proving ROI on any tech stack investment. You want proof, and your leadership team wants proof before trusting AI with sensitive processes and data.
Good news! When AI security is done right, the outcome is measurable.
You can expect:
And maybe most importantly, you can show leadership, the board, or auditors exactly how and why each access decision was made with evidence documented for every request, every time. Think of the ‘Bob’ example above—you can easily see the evidence that clearly shows how and why the decision to block or allow was made. That's the kind of transparency you should expect when securing AI and securing with AI.
Absolutely—if it's explainable and you control the guardrails. Look for platforms that show you the 'why' behind every decision and give you the option to intervene or override when needed.
By enforcing least privilege and documenting every decision, AI makes access reviews and audits easier. No more spreadsheets. No more scrambling to pull and aggregate data.
This is a good one! Traditional automation follows the rules you set, often with a singular focus, and cannot adapt or adjust without extensive human intervention. Agentic AI learns, adapts, and applies real-time context. It's like giving your access policies a brain and a risk radar.
There is no mystery here
AI doesn't have to be a black box you need to decrypt. When you understand how to secure it, use it, and measure it, it becomes one of the most powerful tools in your identity security strategy.
Whether you're tightening compliance, increasing security, reducing manual approvals, or just trying to lower your stress levels to get your weekends back, AI's got you covered—as long as you've got it covered.
We would love to show you how to leverage the tech stack you have today to secure your AI quickly and how Delinea’s cloud-native platform uses agentic AI to deliver secure, real-time access that checks all the compliance boxes.
Learn more to reduce the noise around AI.