New Book Posits That the Biggest Cybersecurity Threat May Already Be Inside Today’s Companies
“Identity Under Attack: An Industry Founder Exposes the Hidden Security Crisis in Modern Enterprises” by Mark McClain
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“Identity Under Attack: An Industry Founder Exposes the Hidden Security Crisis in Modern Enterprises” by Mark McClain is released with Forbes Books.
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, November 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — “Identity Under Attack: An Industry Founder Exposes the Hidden Security Crisis in Modern Enterprises” by Mark McClain is now available on Amazon and at major booksellers. The book is published with Forbes Books, the exclusive business book publishing imprint of Forbes.
For decades, companies have invested heavily in firewalls, endpoint protection, and compliance programs to defend against cyberattacks. But according to cybersecurity pioneer Mark McClain, one of the greatest threats to modern enterprises is someone gaining access through credentials and permissions that already exist.
In “Identity Under Attack,” the SailPoint CEO and cofounder pulls back the curtain on an escalating crisis: As enterprises accelerate cloud migration, automation, and generative AI, the corporate footprint has evolved far beyond human employees. Each non-human and agentic identity requires access to sensitive enterprise data, yet the vast majority operate without continuous visibility, lifecycle governance, or real-time security oversight.
“For too long, the security industry has focused on building taller walls, while ignoring who we are letting through the front gate,” McClain said. “In this new agentic era, where autonomous AI agents and machine identities operate alongside human workforces, identity is no longer just an IT checkbox. It is the defining security boundary. I wrote this book to give business leaders, board members, and security practitioners a clear blueprint to discover every identity, govern their access dynamically, and protect their organizations before trust is compromised.”
As organizations embrace cloud computing, automation, and artificial intelligence, their digital environments are expanding beyond traditional employees to include contractors, third-party vendors, software bots, and autonomous AI agents. Each represents another potential entry point into critical systems, often without sufficient visibility or oversight.
The book argues that traditional, point-in-time compliance certifications create a dangerous illusion of safety. Today’s threat landscape demands moving from static approvals to continuous, AI-driven visibility and dynamic trust models capable of detecting credential misuse and privilege creep in real time.
“Mark McClain has lived the history of identity security from its humble beginnings to where it has become central to not only securing an enterprise but also securing the success of a business strategy,” said former PwC Global Cybersecurity and Privacy Leader and former FBI Deputy Director, Sean Joyce. “This book is a call for leaders to rethink identity not as an IT function, but as the foundation of security, resilience, and maintaining a competitive advantage.”
“Identity Under Attack” delivers an urgent challenge to leaders to recognize that the enterprise workforce has fundamentally converged, bringing autonomous AI agents and machine identities directly alongside human teams. McClain urges executives to strip away complacent assumptions about perimeter defense, enforce continuous, unified governance across all identities, and establish the security foundation needed to embrace the future of AI innovation with confidence.
This release is posted on behalf of Forbes Books (operated by Advantage Media Group under license).
About Mark McClain
Mark McClain is the CEO and cofounder of SailPoint (NASDAQ:SAIL), a global leader in identity security. Since founding the company in 2005, he has led it through rapid growth, two IPOs, and international expansion, serving thousands of enterprise customers. Previously, he cofounded identity pioneer Waveset, later acquired by Sun Microsystems, and held senior leadership roles at Tivoli, IBM, and HP. McClain is also the author of “Joy and Success at Work.” With decades of experience at the forefront of enterprise cybersecurity, he brings rare perspective to the evolving risks surrounding identity and access.
About Forbes Books
Forbes Books is the exclusive business book publishing imprint of Forbes. Forbes Books offers business and thought leaders a way to share their ideas and expertise with the world. Under the direction of Advantage Media Group, Forbes Books is a highly selective, invitation-only imprint. Authors are chosen because of the stature and success they have achieved in their respective fields. For more information, visit books.forbes.com.
Tate Causey
Forbes Books
+1 843-414-5600
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