State of PAM 2026
Privileged-access-specific benchmarks. JIT elevation adoption, vault coverage, session-recording state, machine identity ratios, and the AI-agent-identity gap. Updated quarterly from CyberArk + practitioner data.
Reviewed
2026-05-22
5 benchmarks · CC BY 4.0
Regulators
NIST 800-53 AC-6 · CISA · audit frameworks (FedRAMP / HIPAA / SOC 2)
91%
Privileged access that is always-on
Share of organizations where at least half of privileged access is "always-on" — providing unrestricted, persistent access to sensitive systems. JIT elevation remains the exception.
Source: CyberArk 2025 Identity Security Landscape · 2025
1%
Full JIT elevation adoption
Only 1% of organizations have fully implemented just-in-time privileged access. The gap is attributed to legacy systems built for time-bound access, tool sprawl (88% of orgs manage 2+ identity tools), and weekly discovery of unmanaged privileged accounts.
Source: CyberArk 2025 Identity Security Landscape · 2025
80:1
Machine-to-human identity ratio
Median ratio of machine (non-human) identities to human identities in mid-large enterprises. 68% of orgs lack identity security controls for AI agents specifically.
Source: CyberArk 2025 Identity Security Landscape · 2025
58%
ObservationAverage PAM vault coverage
Average share of privileged credentials brought under vault management at enterprises with deployed PAM. The remaining 42% sits in spreadsheets, password managers, or untracked admin tooling.
Source: askmeidentity practice observations · 2026
34%
ObservationSession-recording coverage on production
Share of PHI / financial-systems-regulated environments with complete session recording on privileged access. HIPAA / FedRAMP audit findings increasingly cite this.
Source: askmeidentity practice observations · 2026
Cite this page
Reference our benchmarks in your reporting.
These benchmarks are licensed under CC BY 4.0 — free to cite, quote, and link to with attribution. Pick a format below.
askmeidentity. (2026). The State of Identity, live (v2026.05). Retrieved 2026-05-22 from https://askmeidentity.com/resources/state-of-pam/
"The State of Identity, live." askmeidentity, v2026.05, https://askmeidentity.com/resources/state-of-pam/. Accessed 2026-05-22.
@misc{askmeidentity_state_of_identity_2026_05, title = {The State of Identity, live}, author = {{askmeidentity}}, year = {2026}, note = {Version 2026.05, retrieved 2026-05-22}, url = {https://askmeidentity.com/resources/state-of-pam/} }