Powered by: CIONET and CyberArk

This week CIONET hosted a roundtable with CyberArk & PWC, leading experts and executives around a relatively complex topic in digital business today: the security of machine identities in an AI-driven world. This was not just a technical discussion, it was a lively exploration of what “identity” means, how it’s changing, and why it needs much more management attention.

What Came Up in the Discussion
Every AI agent now needs an identity just as every human does. The discussion quickly moved from practical challenges in machine identity and cybersecurity to more philosophical questions: if algorithmic agents create, interpret, and read content for other algorithms, where do humans fit into that chain?

With AI, cloud, and smart automation propelling the number of APIs, bots, and machine accounts sky-high, organizations now face a fast-growing attack vector. Yet, standards are lagging, both for companies and individuals. Just as “tribe” belonging shapes human behavior, it’s increasingly relevant for machines: who governs machine identities? And who is responsible when something goes wrong?

A highlight: participants received CyberArk’s book on securing every identity, a timely resource in a world moving from Sapiens to civilization, where digital agents play a central role in our security and progress.

Kevin Bocek from CyberArk and Ivo van Bennekom, PWC made clear that machine identity security isn’t just a technical IT problem, it’s now a core business risk. Why? Because real-world incidents triggered by poorly governed machine identities cause operational disruption, audit failures, reputational damage, and missed deadlines.

As companies accelerate digital and AI transitions, untracked or fragmented machine identities may become the next big source of business risk. Strategic leadership across IT, business, and boardroom, needs to step up. With new tools, best practices, and a strong governance focus, machine identity security can enable safe innovation, Zero Trust, and resilient business growth.