Identity Security Planning For 2026 Is Shifting Under Pressure
Help Net Security, Wednesday, January 7th, 2026
Identity security planning is becoming more focused on scale, governance, and operational strain, according to the Identity Security Outlook 2026 report. The ManageEngine research draws on responses from 515 identity and security leaders in the United States and Canada and reflects budget holders and practitioners who manage day-to-day identity systems.
The findings point to three forces shaping near-term strategy: growth in non-human identities, uneven use of AI in identity operations, and sustained momentum toward vendor consolidation.
Non-human identities dominate identity growth
The report shows that machine identities now outnumber human identities by wide margins across most organizations. Service accounts, API keys, bots, agents, and certificates continue to multiply as automation, cloud platforms, and DevOps pipelines expand. Nearly half of surveyed organizations report machine-to-human ratios above 100:1, and some sectors report ratios reaching 500:1.