So first, I want to say thank you to everyone being here and I want to especially say thank you to the team of KuppingerCole Analysts who made this happen The good thing is I'm right now an distinguished analyst so I don't need to work at least not on these things anymore and so I really didn't do much I think the only bigger contribution to EIC from my end was that I made something, some 55 proposals for the agenda but Matthias is nodding, he suffers from it because he had to deal with that in the agenda work but it's really a big thank you but we'll come to the thank you thing anyway I assume I did only click through the slides fast and I got a very complex set of instructions on where I must click or not which in most cases goes wrong so I think experience from the team is that I don't follow these rules that strictly Anyway, so as usual for the closing keynote I want to start with what are the trending things You see, I think this year it was super easy But no, I want to get a little bit more precise Was I too fast for the photos?
Okay, come on Initially I intended to only take a second or two for this slide but I think some of you are like me for me it also takes a while to pull out the smartphone and then to find the right thing and to move it in my hand in the right direction, etc.
So, okay, I think we're done So, trending themes a bit more in detail and a bit more differentiated Again, I want to start with AI because this really was that topic that literally was part of every talk Not only, but it was always somewhere in AI identity, AI security So, AI identity really is intersection of identity and AI AI security then the broader picture But there was more, for instance, not a super new theme but becoming really increasingly important and broad And we can also add AI here because it's identity verification for humans and beyond And I think this is a really important thing So, starting with, is it a human, is it an agent?
So, is this impersonating Martin or is it Martin? And identity verification is still something where we have quite a lot of evolution going on We don't use it as much as we maybe should, etc.
Interestingly, also another theme that is not super, super new popped up way more frequent than in earlier times here which is crypto agility which is relevant for a lot of things also in the identity space because it's about all the secrets and how secure they are or not and when not And I think the most important thing is we must be prepared We must be prepared for that Q-Day that may happen sooner or later I don't know I think I always say the Q-Day thing is a little bit like fusion energy which also may be there someday or later or whatever We don't know exactly, it's really hard to predict Let's wait and see, but let's prepare for it UDI wallet, obviously, as well more generally speaking decentralized identity, other types of wallets, etc.
And the main thing here I'd like to emphasize is success factors So how to make this a success, how to do it right I think this was quite a bit more the topic now How to do this right And I think this is really important because this is nothing that happens by itself We really need to make it a success and this will require a lot of work I read on LinkedIn quite a couple of times things like the very large e-commerce shops are obliged to support UDI wallet That does not equal that they will push for use of it So that might be just something somewhere deep down where they say, okay, if you want to use it, we have to support formally but we don't care about it So success comes from other things, not from regulations Pragmatic sovereignty in practice So there's this sovereignty thing I think there's a lot of buzzwords, things going over the top I think sovereignty plays a very important role because clearly a lot of organizations are asking themselves Where do we need it?
Do we need it? So how do we do it right? And I think there's a big difference between this more fundamentalistic approach Everything must be sovereign And the pragmatic, realistic, practical approach on understanding Where is it really important? Where does it really make sense? Where does it deliver value? Where do we need it for whichever reason?
I think this is one of the things we should also continue to look at Workload identity management clearly as well Some still call it non-human identity management I think the problem with NHI is that the term is a little bit too unprecise Because a workload identity is in its nature very different from the identity of an agent in agendic AI and very different from the identity of a cat All non-human And the cat example, thank you to Felix Gatkins I think he brought the cats into the discussion a while ago But I think we should be a bit more differentiated in the terminology and precise But it's a super important topic, we haven't solved it yet fully There's so many things to do, especially when it comes to the implementation A lot of organizations I talk with have their NHI initiatives or workload identity management initiatives right now as well as the initiatives around agendic AI And here comes, by the way, the person with the best hoodie of the day Because he has the one on the web It's my favorite football club here We are playing the German Cup final in football tomorrow here in Berlin So unfortunately we play against Bayern Munich, which means we have hope But anyway, it's just one game And so let's see where this ends And maybe I'm really happy tomorrow evening when we win Let's see, dynamic authorization I think, again, we could relate it also to the AI scene It is something we need to solve now And I think there are a couple of other things We started talking way more about real data security, not just technology security or information security, not technology security where we greatly failed so far But as I've said in other talks, everything we failed to solve in the past decades bites back now So dynamic authorization, data security, all the other things where we didn't do a proper job This is what is missing right now for the AI identity, AI security thing So we need to work on that Another thing is standards.
We had a lot of talk about standards but not only about what is going on but especially about the need for moving very fast on standards maybe also just specifications at the beginning to be fast, to work together We can't afford standard wars in that fast-moving world We need to really join forces and move fast and do it proper I like Yves Mahler's quote on S in MCP stands for security That is what we must avoid, these things We must think security and we must work hard on that in a fast-moving world And again, this is really important here Then really down to earth, a lot of this was and this is always a key theme of EIC I remember at the beginning, in the early years I still find it was one of the best claims or taglines for EIC that was thought leadership and best practice And that combination I think is also visible here in the themes we discussed and which were really relevant here And part of that is really the best practice Making your IAM program or project a success How to do it, learn from others And to help this, I brought up in the keynote our new Fabric models So we have the Identity Fabric since a couple of years and we added the AI Security Fabric and we added the Cyber Security Fabric There will be the respective reference Matthias, for instance, I'm on his smartphone basically the same way I do So I give you a little time then to make your photo So we will do the respective reference architectures For that we will go more into detail We will deliver a lot of research around that Because I think we need to I talked also about how these things are related because there are obvious intersections between that It's a lot of different perspectives So if you come from a cyber security and you look different at identity In identity, there's a lot of security We have to term identity security AI anyway, it's both So different perspectives and hopefully tools again that help you to do your job be it on a vendor side, be it more on the end user side So these were some of the things we did And these are the themes I have collected for my colleagues as 10 where we feel these were really super important at this year's EIC that will probably also be very relevant for our upcoming research or upcoming work over the next year and years And there probably will be other themes Even while I'm quite confident that AI identity, AI security also in 2027 will be a key theme of EIC So then my team added a little bit of adverse Yes, you should become a KC member You should have your access to research I think there's a logic We will deliver so much new stuff around all these topics we've mentioned So don't miss that I think it's really what you should have It gives you access to all the people in the team and all the usual stuff We will have other events, a couple of one-day events which we call impact days September, October, November And then the first time outside of Germany in the Nordics in February in Gothenburg Maybe I put this on my list I haven't been in Sweden before So maybe that's a great opportunity I'll think about it Given that I rarely fly, it's a long way But we'll see where this ends I probably will be at the adverse as well as many of my colleagues will be So this will then go really more into practical knowledge workshops, real-life use cases Okay, anyway It probably means real use cases or real-life use cases Anyway, we'll fix it for next year And anyway, a great opportunity a good exchange We did them in the previous year as well and they were really a success because it's really practitioners talking to each other Obviously we need to thank And we need to thank the platinum sponsors the gold sponsors, the silver sponsors I don't know whether we have bronze sponsors the innovation sponsors whatever other sponsors we had So quite a long list And I think this is what we need And I think this is part of it Thank you to the entire Copenhagen Coal team I did this Thank you to the events team of the BCC for the excellent work they do and the food Who has been at EIC number one?
In 2007?
No, the first EIC Okay I think the reason why we have always good and a lot of food is at EIC number one the caterer failed greatly And people were starving for three days So that is the history behind So we are always very cautious on this to ensure that this works properly So thank you as I said to all the sponsors the BCC team and for sure to all the attendees because I think all this interaction all this vibrant atmosphere comes from you And that's where we thank you for We value your feedback as long as it's positive No, we value your feedback Oh, this was fast And I didn't click I don't feel guilty This was EIC 2026 And I think when I click now then a video starts And I think it would be the first time in my career that I do this right It's been a super sunny day here in Berlin And it's been lovely to see everyone come together from all over the world Coupling a call has a strong reputation in cybersecurity community And the EIC event is really the flagship product that everyone knows about in the IAM community I think the conference is well visited by experts and different vendors It is a place where you meet those people in identity and related topics You should meet if you really want to move forward into a future that is human-centric and secure It's been really gratifying, I think to be able to see that view from across not just again in the US but kind of the world view of how things are shaping for my identity I like that you guys were brave enough to put my talk on the agenda For me, the most important topic which is my pain point so far is the non-human identities AI promises a lot of things to us today But without doing that in a secure way we are building up technical debts and risks that we can't manage Attackers don't wait when it comes to leveraging AI So we have to really bring our security posture on a completely different level It's moving forward into a world where software is becoming proactive and needs to be governed We have more and more inclusion-oriented and society-oriented topics on the agenda The events coincided with the publication of the Leadership Compass on Privileged Access Management So it's been incredibly interesting to go to the presentation by Alejandro So there's a lot of good topics around privacy, consents, changing laws and regulations all around the world Well, I just finished my keynote which was about identity in the United States and what it means for all of us in the industry Inspiring Vibrant Forward-looking Inspirational Community Fun We're not fully done yet, but almost I think I need to click only once now And this is the next year Again, mid-May Save the date Hope to see you all again here in Berlin Same place Again, mid-May And feel free already to apply as a speaker Etc.
etc. etc. All on the slide So looking forward to EIC 2027 here in Berlin And again, a great thank you from my end to every one of you Bye
