The surprising truth about identity security confidence

Organizations most confident in their identity security are often the least prepared, according to a new report from BeyondID. The study reveals a troubling gap between what organizations believe about their identity security programs and how they actually behave. Surprisingly, those expressing the highest confidence are adopting fewer best practices than their more cautious peers.

While 74% of IT decision-makers rate their identity posture as “Established” or “Advanced,” their security practices paint a different picture:

• Organizations self-identifying as “Advanced” follow only 4.7 out of 12 best practices – fewer than their “Established” peers, who follow 5.1
• Only 60% enforce MFA for all users – a basic security measure
• A mere 40% conduct regular user access reviews, leaving them vulnerable to unnecessary or outdated permissions
• Just 27% enforce a least privilege access model, despite it being a fundamental security practice
• Less than 3 in 10 organizations allocate more than 20% of their cybersecurity budget to identity security

“The confidence many organizations express simply isn’t backed by operational rigor,” said Arun Shrestha, CEO of BeyondID. “What we’re seeing is systemic overconfidence; leaders believe they’re prepared, but fail to enforce the foundational controls that would actually keep them secure.”

The impact of these gaps is alarming. In the past 24 months:

• 72% of organizations experienced at least one attack; 46% have had multiple attacks
• 38% of those breaches stemmed from compromised employee credentials
• 38% suffered a phishing attack that led to unauthorized access
• 36% experienced a data breach involving identity credentials
• 34% have failed a compliance audit due to identity-related issues; 14% failed multiple times

While 85% are “extremely” or “very” confident in their ability to detect breaches within 24 hours, survey respondents reported that the top consequences of breaches were operational downtime, reputational damage, and financial loss.

“If confidence equaled preparedness, these incidents would be far less common,” added Shrestha. “This misalignment between perception and reality leaves organizations critically exposed. While breaches tied to compromised credentials remain widespread, identity security often remains underfunded and inconsistently managed.”

The report outlines actionable recommendations for closing the gap between perceived and actual readiness, including:

• Implement foundational controls: Basic practices like MFA, regular access reviews, and least privilege models must be universal, not optional.
• Benchmark against objective standards: Self-assessment is inadequate. Organizations need third-party validation of their security posture.
• Invest where risk begins: Identity is the new perimeter and budgets must reflect its critical importance.