IAM in 2026:
Key developments at a glance

Zero Trust no longer starts with the network in 2026. It starts with identity. Not with a password, n iet with a VPN, but with a simple question: who or what is requesting access, why, and under what conditions?

That is exactly why 2026 is a tipping point for Identity & Access Management. IAM has long since stopped being just about employees logging into applications. It is about a much broader reality: people, systems, APIs, service accounts, cloud workloads and even AI agents that perform actions independently. Anyone who still sees IAM as “user management” is looking through glasses from the previous era.

At One Zero IT, we see this shift reflected in organizational questions every day. Not just “how do we arrange SSO or MFA?”, but mainly: how do we keep a grip on all identities in a landscape that is becoming faster, smarter and more complex? This is precisely where the real challenge and also the greatest opportunity lies in 2026.

IAM becomes identity security, not just access management

The most important development in 2026 is that IAM will become increasingly broad and strategic. It is no longer just about providing access, but about continuously managing risk around identity. Think of machine identities, application registrations, certificates, tokens and automated processes. In many organizations, the number of non-human identities is now growing faster than the number of employees. As a result, the key question is shifting from “who has access?” to “which identity is allowed to perform which action, in which context, and how can we demonstrably control that? That change fits completely with the essence of Zero Trust: don’t trust anything by default, continually check, and only grant access that is truly needed.

AI agents force IAM into new model

One of the most striking developments in 2026 is the emergence of AI agents as a new type of identity. These are not just chatbots that answer, but software entities that retrieve information, invoke tools, start workflows or even perform actions on behalf of a user.

This creates a new IAM issue. Once an AI agent is allowed to do something independently, that agent must also be managed as a full-fledged identity. That means: an owner, clear rights, boundaries, logging and lifecycle management. Okta is now explicitly positioning this with “Okta for AI Agents,” which the company says will become generally available on April 30, 2026. Microsoft describes the same issue from the security side: AI agents must be protected end-to-end within identity, data and access governance.

The lesson is clear: An AI agent without governance is in fact a new privilege risk. Not because such an agent only has access, but can also use that access context-driven.

Passkeys make authentication stronger and more user-friendly

A second major movement is that passwordless will begin to mature in 2026. Passkeys in particular are gaining ground. Passkeys, in short, are a modern alternative to passwords, based on cryptography, and much more resistant to phishing.

Microsoft reports extensions in Entra ID in 2026 for synced passkeys and group-based configuration, allowing organizations to roll out by target group. At the same time, CISA continues to emphasize that WebAuthn and FIDO2 are among the most phishing-resistant forms of multifactor authentication (MFA). This is relevant because many attacks still revolve around stealing or tricking users around login credentials.

It is important to note, however: passkeys do not solve everything. They strengthen the authentication layer, but not automatically the authorization structure, review processes or governance of non-human identities. Organizations that think “passwordless” equals “secure” are making it too easy on themselves.

Non-human identities become the real problem of scale

While many organizations now have a reasonable grip on employee and external user identities, that grip is often still lacking with non-human identities. Think of service accounts, secrets, app registrations, workload identities and automated links between cloud platforms.

This is precisely where the greatest management risk arises in 2026. Not only because there are many of them, but because they often have no clear owner, are hardly ever reviewed periodically and are sometimes given far too broad permissions. In practice, this creates a shadow layer of access that is difficult to see but is business-critical. Therefore, IAM in mature organizations is increasingly shifting toward structural inventory, ownership, lifecycle management and replacing long-lived secrets with stronger, short-term or federated forms of access. This is no longer a luxury. This is basic mastery.

The market is shifting from stand-alone tools to identity platforms

In 2026, you also see traditional IAM disciplines functioning less independently of each other. Identity Governance (IGA), Privileged Access Management (PAM) and identity threat detection are functionally shifting closer and closer together. A concrete example is the completion of Palo Alto Networks’ acquisition of CyberArk on Feb. 11, 2026. This positions identity security even more emphatically as part of an integrated security platform for human, machine and agentic identities.

This also requires a sharper architectural vision. The right question is not just which tool has the most functions, but especially which solution fits governance, integrations, compliance and cloud. And how do you avoid new vendor lock-in while trying to gain speed? These are exactly the conversations organizations need to have in 2026.

That’s what we at One Zero IT are committed to. Vendor agnostic, Zero Trust driven and with a focus on cohesion between governance, access, privileges and compliance. Not by adding another separate solution, but by making the identity layer mature.

Regulations make identity administratively relevant

In addition to technology, regulations play a major role. The NIS2 Directive (Cybersecurity Act) sets cybersecurity obligations for 18 critical sectors within the EU. In addition, the AI Act becomes fully applicable on Aug. 2, 2026, with a few exceptions. And the European Commission indicates that member states must make their digital identity wallets available to citizens, residents and businesses by the end of 2026.

The Impact of this on IAM is huge. For executives and security leads, it means that IAM is no longer just a technical project. It touches auditability, governance, chain trust and risk management. Especially in public sectors and regulated environments, identity thus becomes an integral part of strategic decision-making.

The threat is shifting: less just passwords, more identity exposure

Finally, attack patterns are also changing. Identity attacks have long since ceased to be just about stolen passwords. In 2026, we will increasingly see combinations of phishing, session hijacking, token abuse, infostealer data, abuse of OAuth permissions and social engineering at scale.

ENISA continues to describe phishing as a dominant attack vector, reporting that 27% of the phishing cases examined resulted in intrusions. At the same time, phishing remains linked to the delivery of malicious code in 23% of cases. That means organizations need to look beyond strong authentication. Sessions, tokens, device trust, anomalous behavior and suspicious access patterns must also be better monitored. Those who only secure the front door, but don’t look at what happens next, are leaving much of the risk behind.

What this means for organizations in 2026

The bottom line is simple: IAM in 2026 is no longer about choosing a tool. It’s about building a governable identity operating model for humans, machines and AI.

At One Zero IT, we believe organizations need to get three things right now: get a handle on all identities, continuously assess access in a risk-driven manner, and link identity to governance, security and compliance rather than to separate management processes.

The winners of 2026 are not the organizations with the most IAM tools. They are the organizations that finally treat identity as what it really is: the new trust layer of the digital organization.

Do you recognize these developments within your organization? Or have you noticed that IAM is still approached too much as traditional management? I would be happy to discuss how you as an organization can manage this in a practical and mature way.

By: Olabode – IAM Consultant at One Zero IT