As organizations pour more money into AI initiatives, a familiar tension is resurfacing: how do you move fast on innovation without leaving the front door wide open? Tony Kelly, speaking on the BSW podcast, dug into the intersection of AI-driven budget growth and the identity challenges that come with it.
The core problem is not new — more spending means more tools, more integrations, more data flowing through more systems. But AI accelerates the pace dramatically. When teams spin up new AI-powered workflows, they often create new attack surfaces in the process: service accounts with broad permissions, data pipelines that bypass traditional access controls, and shadow IT that nobody is monitoring.
Identity management has become the linchpin. If you cannot control who — or what — has access to your data, then all the AI investment in the world will not save you from a breach. The organizations getting this right are the ones treating identity governance as a prerequisite to AI adoption, not an afterthought.
Kelly’s take is worth a listen for anyone trying to balance the pressure to innovate with the reality that security teams are already stretched thin.
Source: SC Media
