Identity at the Center

Jeff and Jim welcome Joseph Carson, cybersecurity expert and host of the Security by Default podcast, for a conversation on AI in offensive and defensive security. Joseph shares the real-world incident that inspired his EIC keynote - watching two AI agents negotiate a ransomware payment live. He breaks down how attackers use unconstrained models to lower the skill barrier and accelerate data exfil...

This episode features Drew Russell, Identity Resilience Platform Owner at Rubrik. Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman explore the intersection of backup, recovery, and identity security. Drew explains how Rubrik evolved from data backup into a cyber resilience platform with identity as a core pillar. Topics include recovering Active Directory, Okta, and Entra ID after ransomware, Rubrik's "bun...

In this MailBag episode, Jeff Steadman and Jim McDonald tackle eight questions submitted by listeners from around the world, including Munich, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Toronto, Hanoi, London, Sydney, and Chicago. The conversation covers governing AI and non-human identities, practical first steps toward passwordless adoption, what a mature IAM program actually looks like, who should own identity with...

Jeff and Jim sit down with David Llorens, principal at RSM, to break down the RSM 2026 Attack Vectors Report. Drawing from real-world offensive security engagements, David explains why identity continues to be the primary attack surface, how AI chatbots are creating new vulnerabilities through prompt injection, and what separates organizations that get breached from those that don't. The conve...

This episode is sponsored by Bravura Security. Learn more at bravurasecurity.com/idac . This is a Sponsor Spotlight episode of the Identity at the Center podcast. Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman are joined by Bart Allan, General Manager at Bravura Security, to discuss why enterprise password management remains a critical piece of identity security even as organizations pursue passwordless strategie...

Simon Moffatt, founder and analyst at The Cyber Hut and co-host of The Analyst Brief podcast, returns to Identity at the Center for a wide-ranging conversation about the strategic evolution of identity security. Simon shares an update on his second book, IAM at 2035, which explores where identity is heading over the next decade. The discussion covers why identity has shifted from a back office fun...

In this episode of Identity at the Center, hosts Jeff and Jim dive into the details of the Shared Signals Framework (SSF) and Continuous Access Evaluation Profile (CAEP), with special guest Atul Tulshibagwale, the CTO of Signal. The trio discusses the complexities and applications of these identity security standards, recent adoption by major tech companies, and how they are transforming the appro...

This episode is sponsored by PlainID. Visit plainid.com/idac to learn more. In this sponsored episode, Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman talk with Gal Helemski, CTO and co-founder of PlainID, about the evolving landscape of authorization. The conversation covers the transition from traditional roles and attributes to a modern policy-based access control (PBAC) approach. Gal explains how PlainID helps...

In this milestone episode of Identity at the Center, Jeff and Jim celebrate 400 episodes and reflect on their journey over the past six and a half years. They discuss the podcast’s evolution, from its early days focusing on strategy and framework to recent themes like cloud identity, governance, and AI-driven technologies. Jim shares his New Year's resolution of writing a book about identity,...

Jim McDonald is joined by Jeff Margolies, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Saviynt, to discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence and identity security. Jeff shares his decades of experience in the industry, from building the IAM practice at Accenture to his current leadership role at Saviynt. The conversation covers how AI is making manually intensive identity tasks more efficient,...

In this episode, Jim McDonald welcomes back Martin Kuppinger, Principal Analyst at KuppingerCole, to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of identity in 2026. With Jeff Steadman away, Jim and Martin dive deep into the intellectual challenges posed by AI agents and the limitations of traditional non-human identity frameworks. Martin explains why organizations are feeling a sense of disillusionmen...

Jeff Steadman is joined by RSM colleagues Rich Servillas and Charles John to explore the critical intersection of identity access management, operational resilience, and disaster recovery. Rich, a director from the cyber response group, shares insights from the front lines of ransomware and cloud intrusions, while Chuck, director of operational resilience, discusses the importance of business cont...

Jeff and Jim are joined by Gartner Analyst Rebecca Archambault for a special live edition of the podcast recorded at the Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit in Grapevine, Texas on December 10, 2025. Instead of a traditional interview, the trio hosts "Majority Rules," an interactive game show where the live audience votes on pressing and fun identity topics. Listen in to hear...

#395 - Sponsor Spotlight - Redblock This episode is sponsored by Redblock. Visit redblock.ai/idac to learn more. Jeff and Jim come to you live from the Gartner IAM Summit in Grapevine, Texas, for a special Sponsor Spotlight with Redblock. They sit down with CEO Indus Khaitan to discuss how Redblock uses AI and computer vision to solve the "last mile" problem in identity management: disco...

We are live from the Gartner IAM Summit 2025 in Grapevine, Texas! In this episode, we welcome back Sarah Clark, now the Chief Product Officer and GM of North America at Hopae. Sarah shares her journey from Mastercard to buying rainforests in Costa Rica and rescuing dogs, before diving deep into the world of digital identity infrastructure. We discuss connecting government-issued digital IDs with t...

Join Jeff, Jim, and special guest Ian Glazer at the Gartner IAM Summit 2025 as they discuss the Identity and Access Management (IAM) industry, the evolution of IAM practices, and the exciting new concepts like Continuous Identity. They delve into topics such as the impact of AI, shared signals framework, and the struggles and triumphs of identity practitioners. Plus, hear about the Digital Identit...

Join hosts Jeff Steadman and Jim McDonald for a special live episode recorded on location at Identiverse DC! In this interactive session, Jeff and Jim host a game of "Majority Rules," where the audience competes not to answer correctly, but to guess the most popular answer in the room. The game covers a wide range of topics, from the trivial (worst conference swag and the official unifor...

Jeff and Jim come to you live from the expo floor at Identiverse DC 2025. They are joined by John DelMauro, Executive Vice President at Cyber Risk Alliance, to discuss the energy of regional events and how they differ from the massive Las Vegas gatherings. The group discusses the current state of the identity industry, the inevitable presence of AI in both marketing and event planning, and the &qu...

In this episode of the Identity at the Center Podcast, hosts Jeff and Jim sit down with Tobin South, co-chair of the OpenID Foundation's AI Identity Management Community Group, to delve into the intricacies of identity management in the age of agentic AI. They discuss the challenges and solutions related to AI agents, the role of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and the concept of recursive d...

This episode is sponsored by Aembit. Visit aembit.io/idac to learn more. Jeff and Jim welcome David Goldschlag, CEO and Co-founder of Aembit, to discuss the rapidly evolving world of non-human access and workload identity. With the rise of AI agents in the enterprise, organizations face a critical challenge: how to secure software-to-software connections without relying on static, shared credentia...

In this episode of The Identity at the Center Podcast , hosts Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman catch up with John Tolbert, Director of Cybersecurity Research at KuppingerCole Analysts, to talk about the rapidly evolving world of Fraud Reduction Intelligence Platforms (FRIP). They explore: The six capabilities of modern fraud reduction systems How AI and machine learning are both helping and hurting...

Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman sit down with Mike Reiring of RSM at InfoSec World 2025 to explore how managed service providers are reshaping IT and identity operations. They dig into the differences between MSPs and MSSPs, how to choose the right partner, and how AI is transforming help desks, problem management, and security monitoring. The conversation closes with a fun dive into Mike’s passion...

In this episode of the Identity at the Center podcast, hosts Jeff and Jim broadcast from InfoSec World 2025, sharing lively discussions on identity management, AI security, and identity's evolving role in information security. They are joined by Ross Young and G Mark Hardy, co-hosts of the CISO Tradecraft podcast, who share their journeys into cybersecurity, illuminating how identity intersect...

This episode is sponsored by Nexis. Visit nexis-secure.com/idac to learn more. In this sponsored episode of *Identity at the Center*, host Jim McDonald sits down with Dr. Heiko Klarl, CEO of Nexis, to explore how the company is advancing authorization governance for modern enterprises. Dr. Klarl explains how Nexis builds visibility and control across fragmented identity landscapes and why “better...

Live from Authenticate 2025, Jeff Steadman and Jim McDonald sit down with the Cal Ripken of IDAC, Andrew Shikiar, Executive Director and CEO of the FIDO Alliance. Andrew shares exciting updates on the incredible progress of Passkeys, revealing that over 3 billion are now in use securing accounts. We discuss the key themes of the conference, including the ongoing arms race with AI in security and t...