Conference Description
Key Takeaways
- Three-day conference focused on identity and access management strategy, architecture and emerging threats
- Addresses machine identity management, privileged access controls and AI-driven security challenges
- Designed for CISOs, IAM managers, security architects and enterprise IT leaders
- Covers identity governance, compliance requirements and identity threat detection and response
- Features analyst-led sessions, workshops and access to more than ninety solution providers
Introduction
The Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit 2026 brings together senior security professionals in Las Vegas from 7–9 December 2026 to examine the evolving challenges of securing digital identities across enterprise environments. As organisations contend with expanding cloud footprints, proliferating machine identities and increasingly sophisticated threat actors, the conference provides a forum for IAM leaders to evaluate strategic approaches grounded in independent research and peer experience.
About This Event
This annual summit is structured around Gartner’s research methodology, offering attendees access to analyst insights alongside practical workshops and peer discussions. The programme combines keynote presentations with interactive sessions, roundtable conversations and hands-on workshops. Participants can also engage directly with analysts through one-on-one consultations and explore technologies from more than ninety solution providers in the exhibit showcase. Continuing professional education credits are available for qualifying sessions.
Identity Management in an AI-Driven Landscape
Artificial intelligence is reshaping both the capabilities and the threat surface of identity systems. The summit examines how AI agents and tools such as M365 Copilot introduce new authentication and authorisation requirements, while simultaneously creating opportunities for more adaptive, risk-based access controls. Sessions explore the dual challenge facing security teams: leveraging AI to strengthen identity programmes while defending against AI-generated attacks that can bypass traditional verification methods.
Identity threat detection and response has emerged as a critical discipline as attackers increasingly target identity infrastructure directly. The conference addresses how organisations can build detection capabilities that identify compromised credentials, privilege escalation attempts and anomalous access patterns before they result in breaches.
Machine Identity and Nonhuman Access Controls
The rapid growth of service accounts, API keys, robotic process automation and AI agents has created a category of identity management that many organisations struggle to govern effectively. Machine identities now significantly outnumber human users in most enterprise environments, yet they frequently lack the lifecycle management, certification processes and visibility applied to workforce identities. The summit dedicates specific attention to machine IAM, examining how security teams can inventory, authenticate and monitor nonhuman identities that often possess elevated privileges.
Privileged Access and Governance Modernisation
Privileged access management remains foundational to enterprise security, yet legacy PAM implementations often fail to address modern hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. Conference sessions examine approaches to modernising privileged access controls, including just-in-time provisioning, session monitoring and integration with broader identity governance frameworks.
Identity governance and administration programmes face similar modernisation pressures. Risk-based certification, automated access reviews and decentralised identity architectures represent evolving approaches to managing access at scale while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements. The summit explores how these capabilities interconnect, recognising that effective IAM programmes require coordination across access management, governance and privileged access disciplines.
Who Should Attend
The summit is designed for senior practitioners responsible for identity strategy, security architecture and compliance within their organisations. Chief information security officers, IAM managers, security architects and IT directors from large enterprises, government agencies and regulated industries represent the primary audience. The programme assumes familiarity with core IAM concepts and focuses on strategic and architectural considerations rather than introductory material.
Addressing Enterprise Identity Challenges
Organisations attending the summit typically grapple with identity sprawl across cloud platforms, legacy systems and partner ecosystems. The operational risk from unmanaged or orphaned accounts, combined with compliance obligations that demand demonstrable access controls, creates pressure on IAM teams to deliver both security and efficiency. The conference provides frameworks for prioritising investments, measuring programme maturity and building business cases for identity modernisation initiatives.