Most privileged accounts live outside PAM, leaving attackers a clear path to privilege escalation. Despite widespread adoption of Privileged Access Management (PAM), the hard truth remains: most privileged identities still operate outside its reach. Traditional PAM solutions protect only a fraction of the attack surface, leaving Tiers 1 and 2—servers, applications, and workstations—largely exposed. The result is a sprawling, fragmented ecosystem of privileged accounts, endless secondary logins, and unmonitored access paths ripe for exploitation. The problem is intensifying: non-human identities (NHIs)—from service accounts and APIs to AI agents—most with privileged access, already outnumber human users.
This session exposes the hidden blind spots in today’s NHI & privileged access strategies and the operational realities behind “just-in-time” (JIT) access promises. Drawing on frontline lessons from leading Tesco’s IAM strategy and now advising global enterprises as Silverfort’s Chief Identity Security Advisor, Rob Ainscough shows will explore why only 10% of organizations fully complete their PAM projects and how complexity—not technology—is the primary barrier to success.
Attendees will learn how to extend protection beyond PAM, delivering continuous visibility and control across system tier and every identity type—including NHIs and AI Agents. In this session, Rob will share how to shift identity security from a reactive “firefighting” model to proactive “field control.” He will outline practical strategies, including:
- Recognizing when privileged access strategies are leaving the broader environment exposed.
- Building a unified identity defense that spans on-prem, cloud, and hybrid systems.
- Extending protection to non-human identities (service accounts, APIs, AI agents) before attackers do.
- Building the business case for executives who are blind to this hidden threat
- Communicating identity risks and wins effectively to executives to drive investment
The outcome is holistic, cost-effective coverage that eliminates standing privileges, contains lateral movement, and simplifies compliance with frameworks like NIST, PCI DSS, and NY DFS.
Join Rob to see how modern identity-tiered protection can turn privileged access chaos into control—and why every uncovered admin account remains an open door attackers won’t hesitate to exploit.
