Ethical Hacking News
Identity Dark Matter: The Invisible Half of Identity, poses a significant security crisis for organizations. This concept highlights the growing concern of identity fragmentation across various environments, including SaaS, on-prem, IaaS, PaaS, home-grown, and shadow applications.
The concept of Identity Dark Matter refers to the invisible, unmanaged half of an organization's identity universe.The growing concern of identity fragmentation across various environments creates significant "blind spots" for cyber risks.The primary risks associated with Identity Dark Matter include visibility gaps, compliance and response failures, hidden threats, and privilege escalation.Organizations must adopt a three-pillar approach to eliminate Identity Dark Matter: See Everything, Prove Everything, and Govern Everywhere.
Identity Dark Matter, a term coined by The Hacker News (THN), refers to the invisible, unmanaged half of an organization's identity universe. This concept highlights the growing concern of identity fragmentation across various environments, including SaaS, on-prem, IaaS, PaaS, home-grown, and shadow applications.
The article begins with a quote from Roy Katmor, CEO of Orchid Security, who states that "the future of cyber resilience lies in an identity infrastructure that operates like observability for compliance and security." This statement emphasizes the need for organizations to shift from configuration-based Identity and Access Management (IAM) to evidence-based governance. The article then delves into the components of Identity Dark Matter, which include unmanaged shadow apps, non-human identities (NHIs), orphaned and stale accounts, agent-AI entities, and credential abuse.
The growth of these ungoverned entities creates significant "blind spots" where cyber risks thrive. According to THN, 27% of cloud breaches in 2024 involved the misuse of dormant credentials, including orphaned and local accounts. The primary risks associated with Identity Dark Matter include visibility gaps, compliance and response failures, hidden threats, lateral movement, insider threats, and privilege escalation.
To bridge the gap between IAM and unmanaged systems, THN has developed an Identity Dark Matter Buyer's Guide. This guide provides organizations with a comprehensive framework to navigate these hidden risks and select the right tools to secure their entire identity perimeter.
The article also explores the concept of Identity Observability, which involves collecting telemetry directly from every application, not just standard IAM connectors. By unifying telemetry, audit, and orchestration, enterprises can transform Identity Dark Matter into actionable, measurable truth. The Orchid Security Perspective highlights the importance of seeing everything, proving everything, and governing everywhere.
The future of cyber resilience lies in an identity infrastructure that operates like observability for compliance and security. Organizations must adopt a three-pillar approach to eliminate Identity Dark Matter: See Everything, Prove Everything, and Govern Everywhere. By doing so, they can ensure that governance is not claimed but proven.
In conclusion, Identity Dark Matter represents a significant security crisis for organizations. The growth of ungoverned entities creates blind spots where cyber risks thrive. To address this issue, organizations must shift from configuration-based IAM to evidence-based governance. The adoption of Identity Observability and the three-pillar approach can help transform Identity Dark Matter into actionable truth.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/The-Invisible-Half-of-Identity-Unveiling-Identity-Dark-Matter-ehn.shtml
https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/what-is-identity-dark-matter.html
Published: Tue Jan 6 05:45:23 2026 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
