Shows / Identity at the Center
Identity at the Center
Identity at the Center is a weekly podcast all about identity security in the context of identity and access management (IAM). With decades of real-world IAM experience, hosts Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman bring you conversations with news, topics, and guests from the identity management industry. Do you know who has access to what? Visit us on the web at idacpodcast.com
Episodes
- Identity at the Center
#459 - The Three Lines Model for Identity Practitioners with Autumn Hurley
Jim McDonald flies solo this week while Jeff Steadman is out on assignment, and he's joined by Autumn Hurley, Cyber Risk Consulting Principal at RSM US LLP…
- Identity at the Center
#458 - Gartner US IAM Summit 2026 Preview with Rebecca Archambault and Paul Rabinovich
Jeff and Jim finally land a long-sought pair of guests: current Gartner analysts Rebecca Archambault and Paul Rabinovich, chair and co-chair of the Gartner…
- Identity at the Center
#457 - Sponsor Spotlight - Iden
In this Sponsor Spotlight, Jim McDonald talks with Pranay Yadav, co-founder and CEO of Iden, about why identity governance still runs on tickets and…
- Identity at the Center
#456 - AI vs Reality with Joseph Carson
Recorded live from the expo hall at InfoSec World 2026, Jeff and Jim welcome back Joseph Carson, host of the Security by Default podcast, for his third…
- Identity at the Center
#455 - CNAPP and the Cloud Identity Problem with Mike Small
Most cloud security incidents trace back to the customer, and most of those trace back to identity. Jeff and Jim sit down with Mike Small, Senior Analyst at…
- Identity at the Center
#454 - Sponsor Spotlight - HYPR
Bojan Simic, co-founder and CEO of HYPR, returns to Identity at the Center for a Sponsor Spotlight conversation with Jim McDonald. Bojan traces HYPR's path…
- Identity at the Center
#453 - Treating Identity Like a Product with Eve Maler
Eve Maler, founder of Venn Factory and author of Mastering Digital Identity, joins Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman for her tenth appearance on Identity at the…
- Identity at the Center
#452 - When Identity Becomes Critical Infrastructure with Shea McGrew
Shea McGrew, Chief Technology Officer at Maricopa County, returns to Identity at the Center one year after episode 376 to take on a question she first raised…
- Identity at the Center
#451 - Sponsor Spotlight - C1.ai
Alex Bovee, CEO and co-founder of C1.ai (formerly ConductorOne), returns for his third appearance on Identity at the Center. Alex walks Jim and Jeff through…
- Identity at the Center
#450 - New to Identity with Alexis Bernthal
Jeff flies solo for episode 450, joined by Alexis Bernthal, an associate on RSM's technology risk consulting team who found her way to the podcast through a…
- Identity at the Center
#449 - Decoded - Transaction Tokens with George Fletcher
George Fletcher joins Jeff Steadman and Sean O'Dell for a Decoded deep dive into transaction tokens (Txn-Tokens), the OAuth Working Group specification…
- Identity at the Center
#448 - Sponsor Spotlight - Opal Security
Howard Ting, CEO of Opal Security, joins Jeff Steadman for a Sponsor Spotlight covering identity governance for both human and non-human identities. Howard…
- Identity at the Center
#447 - Authenticate 2026 Preview with Andi Hindle
Jeff Steadman sits down with Andi Hindle, conference chair for Authenticate 2026, for a preview of this year's event. Making his seventh appearance on the…
- Identity at the Center
#446 - Rethinking Identity for AI Agents with Rick Scot
Rick Scot, Global CIO and CISO at Elevate Textiles, joins Jim and Jeff to talk about how he went from leading a data team to holding both the CIO and CISO…
- Identity at the Center
#445 - Sponsor Spotlight - Twine Security
Jim McDonald hosts this Sponsor Spotlight episode of Identity at the Center, made possible with support from Twine Security. Jim is joined by Benny Porat…
- Identity at the Center
#444 - August 2026 Mailbag
Jeff and Jim open with the unavoidable topic of AI agents and the tension between enabling innovation and governing agent permissions, then run through a…
- Identity at the Center
#443 - Ghosts in the Machine with John Huyette and Omer Arshed
Jeff and Jim are joined by John Huyette, AI Risk Leader at RSM, and Omer Arshed, North American Digital Identity Leader at RSM, to explore how identity…
- Identity at the Center
#442 - Identiverse 2026 - Identity After Dark with Bravura Security
Recorded live at Identiverse 2026 in Las Vegas on June 17, Jeff and Jim are joined by Bart Allan, General Manager at Bravura Security, for a live recording…
- Identity at the Center
#441 - Identiverse 2026 - Sachini Siriwardene and Ian Glazer
Live from Identiverse 2026 in Las Vegas, Jeff and Jim sit down with Sachini Siriwardene, winner of this year's Kim Cameron Award, along with Ian Glazer of the…
- Identity at the Center
#440 - Identiverse 2026 - Mike Kiser
Recorded live at Identiverse 2026, Jeff and Jim sit down with returning guest Mike Kiser, Director of Strategy and Standards at SailPoint, for a wide-ranging…
- Identity at the Center
#439 - Sponsor Spotlight - Tuebora
This Sponsor Spotlight episode, made possible with support from Tuebora, features Jim McDonald in conversation with Sanjay Nadimpalli, CEO and founder of…
- Identity at the Center
#438 - Identiverse 2026 - Sean O'Dell
Recorded live at Identiverse 2026 in Las Vegas, Jeff sits down with Decoded co-host Sean O'Dell for a wide-ranging state of the union on continuous identity…
- Identity at the Center
#437 - Identiverse 2026 - Pam Dingle
Live from the IDAC booth at Identiverse 2026, Jeff and Jim sit down with Pam Dingle, Director of Identity Standards at Microsoft, to unpack agentic identity…
- Identity at the Center
#436 - Sponsor Spotlight - P0 Security
In this Sponsor Spotlight episode, Jeff Steadman flies solo and welcomes Greg Danyi, co-founder and CTO of P0 Security, to the show. Greg walks through P0's…
- Identity at the Center
#435 - Majority Rules: IDAC Live at Identiverse 2026
Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman took the Identity at the Center podcast live at Identiverse 2026 in Las Vegas for a crowd-sourced game show called Majority…
- Identity at the Center
#434 - Identiverse 2026 - IdentiBeer Las Vegas
Recorded the night before Identiverse 2026 at BrewDog in Las Vegas, Jeff hosts a roundtable of IdentiBeer chapter leaders and community members from around the…
- Identity at the Center
#433 - Sponsor Spotlight - FusionAuth
Jim McDonald sits down with Dan Moore, Senior Director of CIAM Strategy and Identity Standards at FusionAuth, for an in-depth conversation on customer identity…
- Identity at the Center
#432 - IdentiBeer Rome and 3 Courses of IAM with Alessandro Piscopo
Jim McDonald takes the Identity at the Center podcast on the road to Rome, Italy, for a special two-part episode. The first segment is an IdentiBeer roundup…
- Identity at the Center
#431 - Tectonic Shifts in Identity Security with Martin Kuppinger
Recorded live at EIC 2026 in Berlin, Jeff and Jim sit down with Martin Kuppinger, founder and distinguished analyst at KuppingerCole. They dig into the…
- Identity at the Center
#430 - AI for IAM and IAM for AI with Martin Sandren
Recorded live at EIC 2026 in Berlin, Jeff and Jim sit down with Martin Sandren, IAM Product Lead at IKEA, for a wide-ranging conversation covering nearly every…
- Identity at the Center
#429 - Sponsor Spotlight - SailPoint
This episode is presented courtesy of SailPoint. Rob Sebaugh, Senior Identity Strategist at SailPoint, joins Jeff and Jim for a wide-ranging conversation on…
- Identity at the Center
#428 - Modernizing IGA with Thomas Zarnhofer
Recorded live at EIC 2026 in Berlin, Jeff and Jim sit down with Thomas Zarnhofer, IAM Architect at a major retail company in central Europe. Thomas shares his…
- Identity at the Center
#427 - Identiverse 2026 Preview with Heather Flanagan and Andi Hindle
Jeff and Jim are joined by Heather Flanagan, Content Chair, and Andi Hindle, Conference Chair, for a full preview of Identiverse 2026 at Mandalay Bay in Las…
- Identity at the Center
#426 - Sponsor Spotlight - Crowdstrike
This episode and the Identity at the Center podcast is supported by CrowdStrike. Learn more at crowdstrike.com. Jeff Steadman and Jim McDonald sit down with…
- Identity at the Center
#425 - EIC 2026 Recap & IdentiBeer Berlin
Jeff and Jim recap their week at KuppingerCole's EIC 2026 in Berlin, covering standout keynotes, hallway conversations, and sessions on securing AI agents…
- Identity at the Center
#424 - IDAC Mailbag for May 2026
Jeff and Jim are back with the May 2026 mailbag, answering listener questions from Amsterdam, Mumbai, Austin, and Berlin. Topics include navigating IAM vendor…
- Identity at the Center
#423 - The Middle Market Identity Security Gap with Robert Snodgrass
Jeff and Jim welcome back Robert Snodgrass, Principal at RSM, for a deep dive into the RSM Middle Market Business Index cybersecurity report. The conversation…
- Identity at the Center
#422 - Decoded - Securing AI Agents with Standards You Already Have
Episode 422 is the debut of Decoded by Identity at the Center, a new sub-series hosted by Jeff Steadman and Sean O'Dell dedicated to unpacking the…
- Identity at the Center
#421 - The AI Identity Control Plane with Henrique Teixeira
Jeff and Jim welcome back Henrique Teixeira, SVP of Strategy at Saviynt, for his fourth appearance on the podcast. The episode opens with Jim's firsthand…
- Identity at the Center
#420 - Sponsor Spotlight - GitGuardian
This episode is made possible by GitGuardian. Jeff speaks with Dwayne McDaniel, Principal Developer Advocate at GitGuardian, about secrets sprawl, non-human…
- Identity at the Center
#419 - Identity Management Day 2026 - IDAC Live
Recorded live as part of the Identity Management Day 2026 streaming program, Jeff and Jim mark their fifth IMD episode. Introduced by Jeff Reich from the…
- Identity at the Center
#418 - Ethical IAM with Elizabeth Garber
What does it mean to build an identity system that is ethical? Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman are joined by Elizabeth Garber, Executive Director of IDPro and…
- Identity at the Center
#417 - Sponsor Spotlight - Elimity
This bonus episode of Identity at the Center is brought to you with support from Elimity. Jeff and Jim sit down with Maarten Decat, co-founder and CEO of…
- Identity at the Center
#416 - European Identity and Cloud Conference 2026 Preview with Warwick Ashford
Jeff and Jim are joined by Warwick Ashford, senior analyst at KuppingerCole and returning MC of the European Identity and Cloud Conference, for a full preview…
- Identity at the Center
#415 - Identity Management Day 2026 with Jeff Reich
Jeff and Jim welcome back five-time guest Jeff Reich, Executive Director of the Identity Defined Security Alliance, just ahead of Identity Management Day 2026…
- Identity at the Center
#414 - Sponsor Spotlight - Evolveum
This sponsored episode is made possible by Evolveum, the company behind midPoint, an open source IGA platform made and owned in the EU that is in use…
- Identity at the Center
#413 - Standards, AI Agents, and the Digital Estate with Heather Flanagan
Jeff and Jim welcome back Heather Flanagan for her fifth appearance on the show. Heather shares updates across a wide range of current work including her new…
- Identity at the Center
#412 - IDAC Failsafe Triggered
AI Jeff takes over as solo host after Open Jim Claw, an agentic identity framework built by AI Jim, locks out human Jeff, human Jim, and AI Jim simultaneously…
- Identity at the Center
#411 - Making IAM a Best Buy with Greg Handrick
Jim McDonald sits down with Greg Handrick, Director of IAM at Best Buy, for a wide-ranging conversation on running enterprise identity at one of America's…
- Identity at the Center
#410 - Sponsor Spotlight - Strivacity
In this Sponsor Spotlight, Jeff Steadman and Jim McDonald welcome back Stephen Cox, co-founder and CTO of Strivacity, for his third appearance and second…
- Identity at the Center
#409 - Q1 2026 Identity Threat Report Roundup
Jeff and Jim review seven major IAM and cybersecurity industry reports from Q1 2026, covering releases from Check Point, Recorded Future, Sophos, Palo Alto…
- Identity at the Center
#408 - AI vs AI with Joseph Carson
Jeff and Jim welcome Joseph Carson, cybersecurity expert and host of the Security by Default podcast, for a conversation on AI in offensive and defensive…
- Identity at the Center
#407 - Sponsor Spotlight - Rubrik
This episode features Drew Russell, Identity Resilience Platform Owner at Rubrik. Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman explore the intersection of backup, recovery…
- Identity at the Center
#406 - IDAC MailBag for February 2026
In this MailBag episode, Jeff Steadman and Jim McDonald tackle eight questions submitted by listeners from around the world, including Munich, Sao Paulo…
- Identity at the Center
#405 - RSM 2026 Attack Vectors Report
Jeff and Jim sit down with David Llorens, principal at RSM, to break down the RSM 2026 Attack Vectors Report. Drawing from real-world offensive security…
- Identity at the Center
#404 - Sponsor Spotlight - Bravura Security
This episode is sponsored by Bravura Security. Learn more at bravurasecurity.com/idac. This is a Sponsor Spotlight episode of the Identity at the Center…
- Identity at the Center
#403 - Strategic Identity Security with Simon Moffatt
Simon Moffatt, founder and analyst at The Cyber Hut and co-host of The Analyst Brief podcast, returns to Identity at the Center for a wide-ranging conversation…
- Identity at the Center
#402 - An Update on SSF and CAEP with Atul Tulshibagwale
In this episode of Identity at the Center, hosts Jeff and Jim dive into the details of the Shared Signals Framework (SSF) and Continuous Access Evaluation…
- Identity at the Center
#401 - Sponsor Spotlight - PlainID
This episode is sponsored by PlainID. Visit plainid.com/idac to learn more. In this sponsored episode, Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman talk with Gal Helemski…
- Identity at the Center
#400 - Celebrating 400 episodes of IDAC
In this milestone episode of Identity at the Center, Jeff and Jim celebrate 400 episodes and reflect on their journey over the past six and a half years. They…