For decades, companies invested in firewalls, endpoint security, and compliance audits. But those precautions don't prevent hackers from simply logging in. As cloud adoption, machine identities, and AI security risk expand, traditional defenses fail to address the real point of control, which is access to systems.

Every employee, contractor, bot, API, and AI agent represents a doorway into your most sensitive systems. And most organizations lack visibility into who, or what, has acces, why they have it, and whether they still should.

Mark McClain draws from his experience building and leading identity security company Sailpoint to explain how identity security evolved from an IT function into the central pillar of enterprise security strategy. He outlines why boards and management teams with cybersecurity oversight responsibilities must embrace the new reality that "identity is the core of enterprise security."

Written for general business leaders, this book outlines a practical cyber risk management strategy built around the core of securing all enterprise identities, both human and non-human. Through his decades of leadership experience, McClain demonstrates how an effective identity security strategy is the foundation required to protect a corporation’s data in the age of AI.

About the Author

MARK McCLAIN is a veteran technology executive and entrepreneur with more than forty years of experience in enterprise software and cybersecurity. He is the CEO and founder of SailPoint (NASDAQ:SAIL), where he has guided the company from a three-person startup to a publicly traded leader in identity security serving thousands of global enterprises. Earlier, he co-founded Waveset and held leadership roles at Tivoli, IBM, and HP. McClain writes and speaks frequently about leadership, culture, and the strategic role of identity in modern business security.