You ever stare at the ceiling at 3 AM wondering, “Who even am I anymore?”
Now imagine your company’s authentication system doing the same—minus the dim lighting and emotional music.
Welcome to the other identity crisis: the one happening not in your therapist’s office, but in your IT infrastructure. The one where your IAM (Identity and Access Management) system can’t tell the intern from the insider threat. Where “hello, admin” could just as well be “hello, hacker.”
But here’s the kicker—digital identity isn’t that different from human identity. We’re both messy. We’re both layered. And when left unchecked, we both spiral.
Human Crisis #1: The Many Masks We Wear
Let’s start with a basic truth: no one has just one identity.
You’re someone’s daughter, someone else’s boss, a wine enthusiast, a chai loyalist, a keyboard warrior on X (formerly Twitter), and a lurker on LinkedIn. That’s… a lot.
Similarly, your digital self isn’t one clean ID either. It’s Slack logins, Google accounts, GitHub handles, AWS permissions—and your old Zoom account that still thinks you’re an intern.
You’re everywhere, and so is your data. Fragmented. Overlapping. Often outdated. And that’s exactly what most IAM systems are dealing with: scattered digital personas pretending to play nice.
Human Crisis #2: Ghosts of Who We Were
Ever been in a job you outgrew but didn’t quit because… inertia?
IAM gets it. Systems are full of ghost identities—ex-employees whose access was never revoked, old vendors who can still log in, and test accounts with names like “demo123.”
Like that one ex who still has your Netflix password, these digital ghosts are harmless… until they’re not. They’re the backdoors attackers dream about. And worse—they’re completely avoidable.
Human Crisis #3: Trust Issues
You meet someone at a party. They seem nice. You trust them. Next week, your dog is missing, and they’re gone with your blender. People develop trust issues because of betrayal. IAM developed Zero Trust for the same reason.
Zero Trust sounds harsh, but it’s basically just healthy boundaries. No assumptions. No “he seems legit.” Everything gets verified, every time. Even your CEO.
Because in a world full of catfish and credential stuffing attacks, default trust is a luxury no one can afford.
Human Crisis #4: The Midlife Access Crisis
We all know someone who peaked in college and still brings up that one debate trophy.
Access in IAM is similar. People get it once—and often never lose it. You join as a junior dev, climb the ladder, and now you have full admin rights. But does anyone clean up the trail behind you? Revoke the old stuff?
Nope.
This is how privilege creep happens. Not out of malice. Just out of… laziness. And it’s a major reason breaches happen. Not because someone broke in, but because we never closed the front door.
The Soul of IAM: Knowing Thy User
IAM isn’t just tech. It’s a living map of “who can do what and why.”
The moment it loses sight of why someone has access, it stops being secure. It starts being… hopeful. And in security, hope is not a strategy.
Just like in life—when people don’t know what they stand for, they’re vulnerable to anything.
So, What’s the Fix?
In therapy, identity crises are solved with introspection, alignment, and often a hard reset.
In IAM? Pretty much the same:
- Audit who has access to what. Like, actually look. Not just once a year.
- Kill the ghost accounts. Seriously. They’re not romantic.
- Practice least privilege. No one needs god-level access to upload a selfie.
- Embrace Zero Trust. Not cynicism—just smart caution.
The Bottom Line: Systems Need Self-Awareness Too
IAM is your organization’s memory, boundaries, and spine. If it gets fuzzy, overly trusting, or nostalgic, the whole enterprise is at risk.
And the parallels to people? Well, we’re all just trying to figure out who we are, what we need access to, and who gets to come along for the ride.
So maybe the best IAM strategy starts by asking a simple human question – “Who am I now?”
And more importantly:
“Who shouldn’t I be anymore?”