Identity at the Center

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 Digital Identity Advancement Foundation (DIAF). Sachini shares how she moved from open banking API security into consumer identity work at a bank, and what led her to apply for the award named after identity pioneer Kim Cameron. Ian explains DIAF's mission to remove financial barriers to industry participation and previews the upcoming Vittorio Bertocci award for standards contributors. The conversation covers agentic AI and non-human identity governance, the AuthZen specification, continuous access management, and how practitioners can separate real AI capability from marketing hype. The group also swaps favorite hallway conversations from the show floor, including a discussion on extending the shared signals framework beyond RISC and CAPE, before wrapping with some very Vegas talk about the Sphere.Connect with Sachini: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachini-siriwardene/Connect with Ian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iglazer/Learn more about the Digital Identity Advancement Foundation: https://diaf.org/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com00:00 - Cold open and conference banter01:35 - Jim's origin story with identity and Kim Cameron03:22 - Welcoming Sachini Siriwardene and Ian Glazer04:02 - Ian explains the Digital Identity Advancement Foundation05:54 - How Sachini got into identity through open banking08:46 - The moment identity clicked as mission critical09:47 - Agentic AI and non-human identity governance11:25 - Optimist or pessimist on AI and the job market14:45 - Applying for and winning the Kim Cameron Award15:41 - How DIAF selects award recipients17:21 - Standout sessions and the AuthZen specification18:36 - First impressions of Identiverse20:01 - Advice for future award applicants22:03 - Managing agentic identity in practice23:16 - Separating AI hype from real capability24:32 - Where the identity industry can improve27:08 - Acting fast without chasing hype28:05 - Favorite hallway conversations29:23 - Extending the shared signals framework30:39 - A D&D themed conference talk31:08 - Vegas talk and the Sphere experience34:19 - Wrap up and how to support DIAFIDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Sachini Siriwardene, Ian Glazer, Identiverse 2026, Kim Cameron Award, Vittorio Bertocci Award, Digital Identity Advancement Foundation, DIAF, agentic AI, non-human identity, AuthZen, continuous access management, open banking, OAuth2, FAPI, shared signals framework

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 conversation that spans two of the standards world's most active frontiers. The first half breaks down C2PA, the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, explaining how it differs from digital watermarking, how metadata and cryptographic signatures build a chain of custody for media, and why this work connects directly back to identity. The conversation then shifts to AI agents and the challenge of defining and governing intent, with Mike drawing an extended analogy to the early, under-regulated days of space exploration. The episode closes with reflections on the value of hallway conversations and community at Identiverse.

Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-kiser/

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/

Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/

Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com

00:00 Introduction from Identiverse 2026
01:00 Mike previews his two Identiverse talks
01:35 What C2PA is and how chain of custody works
06:51 Watermarks versus C2PA explained
10:06 Why content provenance matters for identity
14:22 Is C2PA a standard or a working group
16:23 The SpaceX and space debris analogy for agent intent
20:13 Governing agent publishing without stifling innovation
22:00 Action Identification Theory and the how versus the why
27:47 Can an AI actually have intent
32:34 Why people humanize and fall in love with chatbots
38:37 The case for locking down intent early
39:39 Does intent change, or is it a new intent
46:19 Favorite hallway conversations at Identiverse
51:03 Wrap up and where to find Mike

IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Mike Kiser, SailPoint, C2PA, Content Provenance and Authenticity, Identiverse 2026, Shared Signals Framework, AI Agents, Agentic Identity, Digital Watermarking, Decentralized Identity Foundation, Intent-Based Access Control

This Sponsor Spotlight episode, made possible with support from Tuebora, features Jim McDonald in conversation with Sanjay Nadimpalli, CEO and founder of Tuebora. Sanjay shares his path into identity beginning as one of the first engineers at Aveksa, then discusses how intelligence is reshaping identity governance and administration by replacing static configuration with continuous, context-aware decision making. The conversation covers the concept of governance debt, how AI can interpret organizational intent expressed in natural language, and where human oversight remains essential. The discussion also explores governance of agentic identities, including how they differ from traditional service accounts, the challenges posed by their ephemeral and dynamic nature, and the policy-driven frameworks needed to manage them. Sanjay closes with a reflection on what identity practitioners should be thinking about for the next few years.

Connect with Sanjay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaynadimpalli/

Learn more about Tuebora: https://www.tuebora.com/idac

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/

Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/

Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com

00:00:00 - Introduction and welcome
00:00:56 - How Sanjay got into identity
00:02:40 - Full circle moment with Deepak Taneja and Zilla
00:03:05 - What Tuebora does
00:04:14 - The story behind the name Tuebora
00:05:20 - Can intelligence replace configuration
00:10:05 - Why static configuration falls short today
00:14:52 - Customer frustrations with legacy environments
00:21:09 - Comparing this to everyday AI tool use
00:23:31 - How intelligence drives outcomes
00:28:42 - Maintaining security control alongside AI
00:32:38 - The orchestra analogy for AI and human roles
00:35:28 - Introducing agentic identity governance
00:36:10 - Why agentic identities differ from service accounts
00:42:20 - The scale problem of agentic identities
00:44:00 - Building a framework for agent governance
00:47:35 - Closing advice for identity practitioners
00:52:06 - Where to find Tuebora next

IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Sanjay Nadimpalli, Tuebora, Sponsor Spotlight, identity governance, IGA, agentic identity, AI agents, governance debt, explainability, IAM, access governance, non-human identity, Aveksa, continuous governance, identity governance and administration

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, shared signals, and the identity questions AI keeps raising. Sean shares what he is hearing on the ground about the upcoming transaction tokens spec, why continuous identity has moved from concept to mainstream adoption, and how shared signals are expanding into commerce. The conversation shifts to AI: the real cost of securing it, why model provenance matters, and the murky question of who is on the hook when an AI agent makes an expensive or harmful decision on your behalf. They debate companion agents, consent versus power of attorney, and whether the identity industry even owns this problem. Sean closes with a simple piece of advice for anyone feeling overwhelmed by AI right now.

Connect with Sean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanodentity/

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/

Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/

Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and a Decoded update
00:44 Transaction tokens spec preview
01:51 State of the union on continuous identity
03:39 The questions organizations are asking
04:34 Is it still all about the data
05:07 Shared signals framework moving into commerce
06:40 Is AI a fad at Identiverse this year
07:11 The real cost of securing AI
08:00 Model provenance and indemnity
09:39 IAM for AI versus AI for IAM
10:18 Trusting agents to act without oversight
14:51 Assigning authority to the who and the what
16:13 The cruise booking example and who is on the hook
20:16 Companion agents, consent, and power of attorney
23:00 Does the identity industry own this problem
25:00 Relationship and intent as the real issue
28:03 Could an insurance market emerge for agentic AI
29:18 An access review scenario gone wrong
30:41 Small specialized language models for identity tasks
32:11 Favorite hallway conversations at Identiverse
36:05 Wrap up and words of wisdom on AI FOMO

Keywords: IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Sean O'Dell, Decoded, Identiverse 2026, continuous identity, transaction tokens, shared signals framework, agentic AI, AI security, model provenance, IAM, digital identity, identity and access management

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. Pam breaks down assistive versus autonomous agents, walks through where standards like SPIFFE and OAuth hold up, and explains the difference between delegation, impersonation, and partition. The conversation also covers credential discovery risk, shared signals and revocation, what enterprises should prioritize now, and the value of hallway conversations at Identiverse.

Connect with Pam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pameladingle/

OAuth Actor Profile for Delegation: https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-mcguinness-oauth-actor-profile-00.html

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/

Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/

Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and Identiverse 2026 vibes
04:01 Defining agentic identity
07:06 Has the earth really shifted
11:38 An old problem thats been bejeweled
15:13 From Nulli Secundus to Microsoft
16:00 How standards are holding up
19:27 Client ID metadata and just in time trust
21:41 Shared signals and the revocation problem
24:43 Deploying agentic identity at scale
28:11 Registries at scale
29:04 Delegation authorization and attenuation
32:33 Delegation vs impersonation vs partition
36:03 The one thing you can fix right now
37:56 Favorite hallway conversation
42:29 The solar system of hallway conversations
45:51 Remembering Kim Cameron
48:00 New voices to watch
52:08 Wrap up and thank you

Keywords: IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Pam Dingle, Pamela Dingle, Microsoft, Identiverse 2026, agentic identity, agentic AI, non-human identity, delegation, impersonation, SPIFFE, OAuth, identity standards, IAM, digital identity, workload identity