Identity Security Starts Before Login
Security Boulevard, Monday, April 6th, 2026
Identity security begins when a person's identity is first created and enrolled in your systems. This early moment shapes every authentication decision that follows and plays a central role in workforce impersonation risk. Increasingly, it's also where attackers focus.
Identity security is strongest at login, but trust is established earlier - when identities are created, recovered, or updated
Traditional factors (know, have, are) verify access to an account, not the human behind it As authentication has improved, attackers have shifted upstream into onboarding, recovery, and support workflows
Biometrics and devices confirm consistency, but depend on who was enrolled at the start Adding 'something you prove' helps ensure identities are tied to a real, verified human from the beginning Without that, even the strongest authentication controls can end up protecting the wrong identity