From Static Privileges to Ephemeral Access: Identity Security for the Modern Cloud

The cloud is the undeniable foundation of enterprise agility and innovation. But with that transformation comes a shift in the threat landscape. Identity (and its related access), not the network, is now the primary security perimeter. 

Organizations that succeed in this new reality are reimagining how they secure access, manage privileges, and empower their teams. 

This is not just about upgrading legacy tools or “cloud-washing” on-premises methods. It’s about adopting an identity strategy designed for the speed, complexity, and risks of the modern cloud. 

From Operational Task to Cybersecurity Pillar 

Identity was once treated as a back-office function, a way to manage user accounts and provision access. Today, identity is recognized as a critical control point for cybersecurity. 

Why? 

• The traditional perimeter is gone. Users, workloads, and data live across AWS, Azure, GCP, SaaS platforms, and remote endpoints. 
• Multi-cloud is the default. Most enterprises operate across a multi-cloud environment, so consistent access enforcement is critical. 
• Work is everywhere. The shift to remote and hybrid means employees connect from home offices, coffee shops, and beyond.  

In this environment, identity is where security, compliance, and operations converge. 

Three Pillars of the Modern Identity Stack 

Most enterprises already understand the role of: 

1. Identity Providers (IDP) – for authentication, SSO, and MFA. 
2. Identity Governance & Administration (IGA) – for compliance, certifications, and access attestations. 

But a third pillar is rapidly gaining prominence: Privileged Access Management (PAM), especially in the cloud. 

Modern cloud-native PAM solutions are more than password vaults and jump servers. It’s about controlling privileged authorization dynamically, often through just-in-time (JIT) access and ephemeral permissions that disappear when the task ends. 

What Cloud Security Leaders Are Looking For 

From conversations with CISOs, cloud security teams, IAM architects, and DevOps leaders, three priorities consistently emerge: 

1. Keep Developers Happy and Secure 

If access processes are slow or complex, smart engineers will find shortcuts. Modern IAM and PAM must make security the easy way by integrating directly into developer workflows, supporting automation, and avoiding roadblocks. 

2. Operate at Cloud Speed 

Cloud environments scale and change in minutes, not months. Access controls need to keep up, provisioning permissions automatically when infrastructure spins up, and revoking them instantly when it’s decommissioned. 

3. Don’t Forget Non-Human Identities 

Service accounts, CI/CD pipelines, and machine identities often hold powerful, long-lived credentials. The rapid growth and unpredictable behaviors that could result from agentic AI access have also introduced another layer that needs to be considered across non-human identity (NHI) management.

Every identity across the enterprise environment must be governed with the same least-privilege, ephemeral model as human accounts, eliminating static API keys that attackers can exploit. 

Why Native Cloud Tools Aren’t Enough 

Every major cloud provider offers identity and access features. But those features: 

• Don’t extend across clouds or SaaS. AWS Identity Center won’t govern Azure or GCP workloads, and vice versa, much less private cloud environments or any on-prem systems. 
• Are inconsistent. Capabilities vary widely between providers, creating operational gaps in enforcement. 
• Aren’t built for identity as a primary business. Native tools optimize for their own platforms, not for unified multi-cloud control. 

Some enterprises build their own custom integrations, only to find they can’t scale, maintain consistent user experience, or handle advanced use cases like CLI access with ITSM integration. 

A cloud-native, multi-cloud PAM platform solves these problems by delivering fine-grained authorization, consistent policy enforcement, and a unified experience across AWS, Azure, GCP, SaaS, databases, Kubernetes, and on-premises environments. 

The Broker Model vs. the Proxy Model 

Many legacy PAM tools still rely on a proxy model, routing all access through a gateway that holds static credentials. This creates bottlenecks, single points of failure, and hidden standing privileges. 

A brokered access model works differently: 

• No standing accounts. Permissions are created on the target resource only when requested, then revoked automatically. 
• Direct connections. Users connect straight to the resource without a middleman in the data path. 
• Ephemeral by default. Accounts and entitlements vanish when the session ends, shrinking the attack surface. 

Think of it like a vending machine for permissions: you request what you need, use it, and it disappears. 

From Silos to Collaboration 

Historically, IAM teams worked in isolation from cloud operations and development. That’s changing. 

Today, successful identity programs involve security, IAM, cloud, and DevOps teams collaborating to align security with operational reality. 

This partnership means IAM professionals must understand modern cloud workflows, and DevOps teams must value the security guardrails that identity provides. 

The Minimal Viable Modern Identity Stack 

While every environment is unique, a foundational stack for modern identity typically includes: 

• IDP – centralized authentication and MFA. 
• IGA – governance, attestations, and lifecycle management. 
• CPAM – cloud-native privileged authorization, JIT access, and policy enforcement across all identities. 

Layer on automation and comprehensive analytics to continuously right-size privileges based on actual usage. 

Challenging the Status Quo 

Legacy controls aren’t always fit for cloud realities. For example, session recording made sense in an on-prem world with shared root accounts. But in cloud-native, API-driven environments, “recording” button clicks is of limited value. 

Security leaders need to ask why they do things a certain way, and be open to replacing outdated practices with controls that work in today’s environment. 

Securing identity in the cloud era is no longer about bolting modern features onto legacy frameworks. It requires a fundamental rethinking of how access is granted, used, and revoked across every human and non-human identity, in every environment. 

By combining user-centric design, automation, ephemeral permissions, and unified multi-cloud governance, organizations can dramatically reduce their attack surface while empowering teams to deliver at cloud speed. 

Those who embrace this shift will gain not just stronger security, but also the operational agility to meet whatever challenges and innovations the future brings.