Identity Intelligence

Identity intelligence is the capability to monitor, analyze, and understand identity-driven activity — from login attempts and account registrations to ongoing behavior throughout a user’s session — to determine whether the action is likely legitimate or malicious. In a world where threats such as session sharing, credential stuffing, account takeover, brute force attacks, session hijacking, use of suspicious IPs, unusual device use, stolen credentials, VPN account misuse, and MFA exploits occur with increasing frequency, identity intelligence gives organizations the means to identify and interrupt these attacks at the earliest possible moment. Behavioral analysis underpins effective identity intelligence. The ability to detect deviations from user norms, unusual access patterns, or anomalous digital signals makes the difference between reactive and proactive defense.

Large enterprises in particular are exposed to identity-based attacks because the perimeter is no longer the only zone of risk; identity is often the new attack vector. For example, when stolen credentials are used for credential stuffing campaigns or account takeover attempts, the attackers may exploit shared sessions to bypass device-based controls. Meanwhile, brute-force attacks target systems relentlessly, and session hijacking allows attackers to piggyback on legitimate user sessions. Many of these unauthorized access attempts could go unnoticed unless unusual device use or suspicious IPs are flagged. Without identity intelligence, these vectors often evade traditional IAM (identity and access management) or PAM (privileged access management) systems until after damage has occurred.

Behavioral analysis is the most effective way to stop identity-based threats because it doesn’t rely solely on static controls like passwords or MFA, but instead continuously evaluates the context of access. Good identity intelligence platforms monitor unusual activity to identify when account takeovers, MFA exploits, or other unauthorized access attempts may be occurring. They correlate these signals with OSINT identity intelligence (open-source intelligence about the user or account) and apply machine learning models to baseline data to detect deviations. Behavioral analysis is the most effective way to stop identity-based threats, and when combined with OSINT identity intelligence, IT teams can detect and monitor bad actors the moment they log in or sign up for an account, and throughout their user journey.

For enterprise organizations that must protect not only workforce identities but also third-party, vendor, or customer identities, identity intelligence is indispensable. It enables organizations to gain unified observability across identity systems and event logs, apply AI-powered detection of sophisticated attacks, and automate real-time prevention workflows by blocking compromised sessions or taking other defensive actions. The benefits are substantial: faster incident remediation, fewer false positives through contextual business logic, and the prevention of costly breaches by bad actors attempting to exploit identity.

Finally, effective deployment of identity intelligence requires integration into existing identity and access frameworks. That’s where Imprivata comes in. Imprivata Privileged Access Management and Imprivata Enterprise Access Management deliver a comprehensive platform for securing all digital identities. Imprivata’s recent acquisition of identity intelligence specialist Verosint further strengthens its capability by embedding AI-powered risk signaling and continuous behavior monitoring into access workflows. By combining this behavioral- and OSINT-based identity intelligence with PAM controls, enterprise organizations gain the visibility and automated response needed to detect and block bad actors, while preserving seamless access for legitimate users.