AS organisations accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, automation and digital services, BluDive Technologies Limited and Delinea have called on enterprises to make identity security and Privileged Access Management (PAM) a central pillar of their cybersecurity strategies.

The call was made at the BluDive-Delinea Executive Seminar, themed “Beyond the Firewall: Securing Identity and Privileged Access in the AI Era,” held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Lagos.

The event brought together C-suite executives, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), IT leaders and cybersecurity professionals to examine how artificial intelligence, cloud environments, remote work and machine-to-machine connectivity are changing the enterprise cyber-risk landscape.

Cybersecurity is now a boardroom issue

Speaking at the seminar, the Chief Executive Officer of BluDive Technologies Limited, Mr Abdul-Azeez Musa, said technology has evolved from being an enabler of business to becoming an integral part of the business itself.

Musa said organisations must therefore move cybersecurity beyond the traditional IT function and make it a strategic boardroom priority. He identified people and governance as two of the major challenges confronting cybersecurity, noting that even sophisticated security technologies can be undermined by weak enforcement, poor security practices and inadequate governance.

The firewall is no longer enough

Nadia Zamouri, Territory Manager, Middle East & Africa at Delinea, said the traditional network perimeter is no longer sufficient to protect modern enterprises. The rise of remote workforces, multi-cloud environments, third-party contractors, applications and AI agents means that access to enterprise systems increasingly occurs outside the traditional corporate network. Zamouri noted that virtually every type of identity — whether human, machine or AI — could become privileged at some point.
She said identity security should enable organisations to adopt AI confidently rather than prevent them from taking advantage of the technology.

Privileged Access Management becomes critical

Delinea Sales Engineer Vijay Balakrishnan highlighted the growing security risks associated with service accounts and non-human identities. Many organisations rely on service accounts to allow applications and systems to communicate with one another. However, credentials associated with these accounts can remain static for extended periods because changing them may disrupt business operations.

Balakrishnan emphasised the importance of Just-in-Time (JIT) privileged access, which gives users or systems elevated privileges only when needed. Once the session ends, the access can automatically expire, reducing the window of opportunity available to attackers.

He also highlighted passwordless security, which can eliminate reliance on shared secrets that may otherwise be stolen, reused or compromised through phishing attacks.

Why organisations need an identity-first cybersecurity strategy

The increasing sophistication of cyber threats means that organisations across industries face a security environment in which identity has become one of the most important attack surfaces.

Modern enterprises operate interconnected digital environments spanning business applications, databases, cloud platforms, APIs, endpoints, remote users, third-party services, automation and increasingly AI-enabled systems. As these environments become more interconnected, controlling privileged access becomes critical.

A modern Privileged Access Management strategy can help organisations control and monitor privileged accounts; apply least-privilege access policies; provide Just-in-Time access to critical systems; secure service accounts and machine identities; reduce the risks associated with compromised credentials; monitor privileged sessions; improve visibility into human and non-human identities; support Zero Trust security principles; strengthen regulatory and cybersecurity governance; and reduce the potential impact of insider threats and credential-based attacks.

The objective is not simply to restrict access but to ensure that the right identity has the right level of access to the right resource for the right period of time.

From human identities to AI identities

One of the most significant changes emerging from the AI era is the rapid growth of non-human identities. Applications, APIs, automation tools, bots, service accounts and AI agents can now interact with enterprise systems with limited human intervention.

This creates a new dimension of cybersecurity risk. An organisation may have strong controls around employee access while overlooking machine identities that continuously communicate with databases, applications and infrastructure.

As AI agents become more capable of executing tasks autonomously, organisations will need to establish clear controls around AI identity, authentication, authorisation, privilege and accountability.

The question for security leaders is evolving from “Who has access?” to “Which human, machine, application or AI agent has access, what can it do, and how is that access being controlled?”

BluDive and Delinea deepen cybersecurity partnership

Musa also highlighted the longstanding relationship between BluDive and Delinea, noting that the partnership has evolved beyond technology deployment. BluDive currently serves as a premier Delinea partner, supporting customer deployments and providing high-severity technical support through a team that includes more than eight certified engineers.

The partnership positions BluDive to support organisations seeking to strengthen their identity security, Privileged Access Management and cybersecurity posture as they modernise their IT environments.

The cybersecurity challenge requires continuous innovation

The need for stronger identity management was also reinforced by Daniel Ogunsanmi, an Identity Access Manager at First Bank of Nigeria Limited, who noted that identity management has become an increasingly important component of modern security.

He stressed the need for organisations to research, test and adopt technologies capable of reducing manual processes while improving operational efficiency.

Cybersecurity must evolve with digital transformation

The BluDive-Delinea seminar reinforced a broader message for organisations: digital transformation without identity security can create new pathways for cyber risk.

As organisations adopt cloud computing, AI, automation and digital platforms, their security strategies must evolve accordingly. The traditional perimeter-based security model is giving way to an identity-centric and Zero Trust approach, where every user, device, application, service account and AI agent must be authenticated, authorised and continuously monitored according to its level of risk.

For modern enterprises, Privileged Access Management should therefore no longer be viewed simply as an IT security tool. It is increasingly a business risk-management capability.

The seminar concluded with a call for organisations to treat identity security as a strategic priority as they expand their digital environments, deploy AI and manage increasingly complex human and non-human identities.

KEY TOPICS: Cybersecurity • Privileged Access Management (PAM) • Identity Security • Enterprise Security • Artificial Intelligence • AI Security • AI Agents • Zero Trust • Cloud Security • Non-Human Identities • Machine Identities • Just-in-Time Access • Passwordless Security • Cyber Risk • Digital Transformation