From Human to Machines: Redefining Identity Security in the Age of Automation

By Sumit Srivastava, Solutions Engineering Director, CyberArk India

As much as India’s digital transformation casts attention on human-centric cybersecurity, the most significant threat today comes from the explosion of machine identities that far outnumber human identities. Statistics indicate that 93% of organisations globally have suffered two or more identity breaches in 2024, with machine identities emerging as the primary risk factor.

This challenge has become increasingly critical as Indian conglomerates and startups expand globally, due to new comprehensive SEBI cybersecurity regulations that now require robust identity governance systems to be put in place.

The Transformation of Identity Security

In the past, identity security was primarily concentrated on human users- employees, substitute workers, and collaborators – who could log into the systems of the company. There was a level of implementation that incorporated password policy, multi-factor authentication, and access review after a defined period to ensure protection of identity.

With the faster pace of automation, this approach is increasingly insufficient.

There is a significant rise in identity with devices being routed through cloud workloads, API’s, automation scripts, and IoT, creating an unimaginable security gap that these non-human entities are now regarded as the riskiest identity type. This also does not provide a lot of hope regarding these human characteristics of the so-called automated devices.

Not many security professionals exhibit a high degree of confidence self-assessing their company’s capacity to handle and safely manage the diverse range of automated identities.

According to the Zoho’s Workplace Digital Transformation Survey 2025, in India, where digital transformation maturity stands at 64.6%, surpassing the global average of 62.3%, the risk is intensified due to the heavy lag in cybersecurity readiness.

Major Forces Driving Change

There has been an identity security shift in India driven by several macro forces. First, the economic implications of cyber breaches are increasing at alarming rates. The Indian cybersecurity market is expected to reach US$5.56 billion by 2025, registering a YoY growth of 18.33%.

With the adoption of cloud accelerating, 83% of organisations are expected to use three or more Cloud Providers in 2025. This multi-cloud environment multiplies issues because organisations need to grant access to different systems and platforms. To solve these challenges, some companies have started providing identity and access management services in the cloud, hosted on Indian data centers.

At the same time, AI and ML are changing the dynamics of both defensive and offensive warfare. While these technologies enhance security automation, they are facilitating more advanced attacks. The recent “PrintSteal” network involving over 1,800 fake domains that produced more than 167,000 fake Aadhaar and PAN cards in India demonstrates the level of sophistication in identity attacks.

Barriers in Indian Security Scenarios

In the context of India, these identity security problems pose unique challenges. With initiatives like Digital in India, there is an increased urgency for security. Meanwhile, the gap in cybersecurity talent remains at an alarming 1.5 million cybersecurity specialists needed in 2025.

There is also added complexity due to various regulatory compliance from The Department of Telecommunication, RBI, and SEBI. Striking a balance between meeting compliance standards and managing the uncontrolled growth of identity populations needs careful planning and strategy.

Perhaps most alarming is that only 18% of Indian companies allocate little over 10% of their IT budget to cybersecurity.

A Shift in Paradigm: Identity Security in Automation Era

To address these issues, a new approach with several key elements is emerging, one that embraces automation and AI while addressing machine identities.

AI-optimised processes review activity patterns, identify unusual behavior, and can modify permissions on their own.

Autonomous identity lifecycle management simplifies the onboarding, transformation, and offboarding activities without losing confidentiality.

Comprehensive machine identity protection strategies must be adopted because automation produces many non-human entities that need to operate with some degree of access.

All Zero Trust strategies should be executed on every person and machine, giving minimal access needed during each interaction.

Advantages of Automated Identity Security

In the next 12 months, identity populations are projected to triple, making it more difficult for Indian organisations to depend on manual identity processes. Automation platforms have the capability to analyse behavioral patterns and implement privileged access control and mitigation in real time, all of which are essential for modern infrastructure management.

An integrated approach that recognises the various forms of identities is more effective than the old, fragmented approach to identity security.

For regulatory compliance, audit logs and deposit reports are automatically generated, which makes these processes easier. Most importantly, automation increases competitive market productivity while lowering costs for businesses. Industry research shows that automated identity management systems can decrease user provisioning time from 30 minutes to seconds.

Trends Reshaping the Future of Identity Security

As we look ahead, emerging technology is bound to change identity security. One such example is the advancement of quantum computing, which makes encryption standards much harder to maintain. The Reserve Banks Innovation Hub is already pushing forward and trying to get Indian Banks to switch over to quantum resistant cryptography, while other leaders such as IIT Hyderabad are initiating collaborations that focus on post-quantum cryptography. This research will serve immensely in developing new standards within India.

Solutions for decentralised identity verification using blockchain have proven to be more than efficient. With time, these will enable Indian enterprises to shift towards more user-friendly identity security solutions, hence improving the overall experience.