Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM)

What is Identity Security Posture Management?

Identity Security Posture Management is the practice of continuously evaluating the security posture of identities across directories, cloud platforms, applications, and infrastructure. It focuses on understanding who has access to what, how that access is configured, and where identity-related risks exist.

ISPM brings together identity data, configuration state, and activity context to highlight exposures such as overprivileged users, stale accounts, risky group memberships, and weak policy enforcement. Rather than reacting after an incident, ISPM helps security and IT teams proactively reduce the identity attack surface.

Why is ISPM important?

Most modern attacks start with identity compromise, not malware. Stolen credentials, misused privileges, and poorly governed access are often enough for attackers to move laterally and reach sensitive data.

ISPM is important because traditional identity tools focus on administration, not risk. Without continuous posture assessment, identity environments drift over time as users change roles, cloud services evolve, and exceptions accumulate. ISPM exposes that drift and helps teams prioritize what actually increases risk.

What risks does ISPM help identify?

ISPM identifies identity risks that are easy to miss in complex environments. These include excessive permissions, standing privileged access, orphaned or inactive accounts, weak password and authentication policies, and misconfigurations in Active Directory, Entra ID, and cloud IAM.

It also highlights risky conditions created by nested groups, service accounts, and non-human identities that often bypass standard governance. By correlating identity posture with real access paths, ISPM shows which issues matter most.

How does ISPM differ from IAM and IGA?

IAM and IGA focus on provisioning, authentication, and lifecycle workflows. ISPM complements these controls by evaluating how well identity security is actually enforced.

While IAM answers how access is granted, ISPM answers whether that access creates risk. It continuously assesses configurations and entitlements, maps them to security best practices, and provides risk-based insights that IAM and IGA platforms typically do not surface on their own.

Use cases

• Healthcare: Healthcare organizations rely on ISPM to reduce identity risk while meeting strict regulatory requirements. ISPM helps identify excessive access to patient records, unmanaged privileged accounts, and misconfigurations that could expose protected health information, supporting audit readiness without slowing down clinical workflows.
• Financial services: In financial services, ISPM helps uncover toxic access combinations, enforce least privilege, and reduce standing privileged access. By highlighting identity risks tied to critical systems, ISPM supports fraud prevention and strengthens alignment with regulatory frameworks such as SOX and PCI DSS.
• Enterprises with hybrid environments: Large organizations running hybrid Active Directory and cloud environments use ISPM to gain a unified view of identity risk. ISPM exposes gaps between on-prem and cloud identity controls, highlights inconsistencies, and helps teams reduce attack paths that span multiple platforms.
• Managed service providers (MSPs): MSPs use ISPM to assess customer identity environments at scale. Risk scoring and posture reporting help prioritize remediation, demonstrate value to customers, and maintain consistent security standards across tenants.

How Netwrix can help

Netwrix approaches Identity Security Posture Management by connecting identity visibility with practical risk reduction. Our solutions continuously assess Active Directory, Entra ID, and hybrid identity environments to uncover risky configurations, excessive privileges, and weak controls.

With built-in assessments, detailed reporting, and clear remediation guidance, Netwrix helps teams move from knowing they have identity risk to actually reducing it. By tying identity posture to real access and activity context, Netwrix makes least privilege achievable and identity risk manageable.