Where is Identity Security Heading? A Conversation with Bill Harper
This video features Bill Harper, an identity industry veteran with over 20 years of experience, and the head of identity-related matters—covering enterprise/workforce to customer-focused identity—at New American Funding for almost four years.
Harper dives into how organizations can address common security misconceptions and the critical discussion surrounding the removal of standing privileged access. He shares his strategy for prioritizing risk, emphasizing the urgent need to remove standing access for those who control identity, such as those with super admin access to platforms like Azure or AWS, as they could gain full control of an environment in under 20 seconds.
Discover Harper’s approach to protecting highly sensitive data in the mortgage industry, including bank and employment records, and why he targets high-risk individuals like database administrators and, surprisingly, executive assistants who are often highly targeted by threat actors.
The conversation offers actionable insights on:
The Power of Frequent Audits: Learn why Harper mandates more frequent access reviews for contractors (every 30 days), regular employees (every 60 days), and stale accounts (every 90 days).
Overcoming the "Human Factor": The biggest industry bottleneck is the human element. Harper suggests leveraging automation and AI to perform daily or hourly risk-based audits, eliminating the reliance on busy managers and executives to manually approve access.
Embracing Just-in-Time Access: Harper advocates for Just-in-Time access that allows users to see what access others have in case of emergencies, with strict approval processes required to gain that access.
The Future of Identity Teams: Identity operations and security must merge. Harper stresses that identity teams need to evolve their expertise from configuration to security analysis and programming.
Finally, the video explores the growing challenge of agentic AI and identity, with Harper sharing his concerns about multiple agents communicating with each other and acquiring more permissions. Harper leaves identity leaders with one piece of advice: stop focusing on today’s tech stack and start thinking about what the industry will look like in a year or two.
Watch the full video to gain strategic, forward-thinking insights from a security leader at the forefront of modern identity management.
