For years, cyber security was a boundary problem — build a strong perimeter, harden the walls, and keep attackers out. That worked when people, devices, and applications lived inside the same corporate network. Today the landscape is distributed: users work from anywhere, SaaS and APIs dominate, and workloads span multi-cloud.

The Shift in Cyber Security’s Centre of Gravity

Three powerful forces have reshaped the cyber security paradigm:

The perimeter has dissolved — cloud, SaaS, and partners extend far beyond firewalls.
Attackers now “log in” more often than they “break in.”
Permissions sprawl grows faster than manual controls can contain.

As a result, security’s centre of gravity moved from defending the edge to governing who has access and what they can do. That’s the essence of Identity & Access Governance (IAG).

“Identity is the new perimeter. Governance is the new defense.”

From Access Control to Risk Governance

IAG treats access as a risk to be governed, not just a permission to be granted. Beyond provisioning or authentication, governing identities effectively helps organisations:

Reduce the blast radius of potential breaches.
Minimise dwell time and privilege misuse.
Generate continuous, audit-ready evidence.

Identity governance ensures the right people have the right access for the right reason — and that this remains true over time.

When Governance Is Missing

Without structure, predictable gaps emerge:

New starters wait too long for access, encouraging workarounds.
Movers retain old permissions they no longer need.
Leavers keep dormant accounts that should be revoked.
Service accounts multiply without owners, tracking, or expiry.

These gaps increase risk. Over-privileged accounts enlarge the ransomware blast radius, and orphaned credentials create stealthy entry points for exfiltration.

Making Least Privilege a Habit

The goal isn’t just access control — it’s sustainable risk reduction. To achieve that:

Make least privilege the default access model.
Adopt just-in-time administration instead of standing privileges.
Continuously reconcile live access against policy to detect drift fast.

These practices shrink your attack surface and contain damage when a breach occurs.

The Identity-First Future

Perimeter firewalls still matter, but the greatest ROI comes from governing who can do what. Welford IAG embodies this identity-first approach — unifying access across hybrid ecosystems, automating lifecycle changes, and providing verifiable compliance on demand.

Key Benefits of the IAG Model

Unified identity visibility across cloud and on-premises environments.
Automated provisioning, certification, and de-provisioning.
Continuous evidence generation for compliance audits.
Improved accountability and reduced insider threats.

— Welford Systems, advancing Identity Governance for a Zero Trust world.