Gartner®, Deepfake Identity Threats: Mitigate Risk in Identity Verification and Face Biometrics, Akif Khan, Nayara Sangiorgio, James Hoover, 11 May 2026
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Key Takeaways
- Modern workforce identity and access management (IAM) platforms are highly effective at managing accounts, authentication, permissions, and access policies.
- But IAM was not designed to continuously verify the person behind the account, creating an identity assurance gap that attackers increasingly exploit.
- Threats such as fraudulent remote workers, contractor account misuse, and AI-powered impersonation target trust in the individual rather than weaknesses in access controls.
- The future of workforce security requires both account assurance and identity assurance.
- CLEAR1 adds a reusable identity layer to existing IAM environments, helping organizations establish and re-establish trust during high-risk workforce moments.
Workforce IAM Is Essential—But the Threat Landscape Has Changed
Workforce identity and access management has become the foundation of enterprise security. Organizations rely on identity providers, MFA, provisioning workflows, governance tools, and privileged access controls to manage access across employees, contractors, and third-party partners.
These systems are highly effective at answering critical questions:
- Who is requesting access?
- What permissions should they have?
- What actions are they allowed to take?
Modern IAM platforms automate these decisions at scale, helping organizations provision accounts, enforce policies, govern access, and support zero trust initiatives across the workforce lifecycle.
But today's attackers are targeting something different.
Rather than breaking through perimeter defenses or stealing passwords, they increasingly focus on impersonating legitimate workers, manipulating account recovery processes, and exploiting trust-based workflows. As a result, many organizations are discovering a challenge traditional IAM was never designed to solve on its own: verifying the actual person behind the account.
The Workforce Identity Gap Attackers Are Exploiting
Every IAM decision starts with an assumption: the digital identity attached to an account is legitimate.
Once an account is created, most IAM systems focus on managing authentication, authorization, and access. They are designed to determine what an account can do—not continuously verify that the person using it is still the authorized individual.
That distinction has become increasingly important as workforce identity threats evolve.
Five Workforce Identity Attacks That Have Already Gotten Past the IAM Stack
Today, security teams are facing attacks such as:
- Helpdesk social engineering used to reset MFA or recover access
- Fraudulent remote workers entering organizations under false identities
- Contractor or third-party account misuse
- Compromised sessions where attackers inherit trusted access
- AI-generated impersonation that makes deception more scalable and convincing
In many of these scenarios, the IAM stack behaves exactly as intended. The weakness is not the authentication workflow or access policy itself—it is the organization's confidence in the person behind the request.
As a result, many security leaders are recognizing that account assurance and identity assurance are not the same thing.
Why Existing Controls Don't Fully Solve the Problem
Organizations have invested heavily in controls designed to strengthen workforce security.
Single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) reduce credential-based risk and improve authentication security. Identity governance and administration (IGA) tools help manage approvals, certifications, and access reviews. Privileged access management (PAM) solutions provide stronger controls around sensitive accounts.
While these technologies remain critical, they are primarily designed to manage accounts, sessions, permissions, and authentication factors. They are not built to repeatedly verify the human behind those controls.
For example:
- MFA often proves possession of a device or authentication factor, not the identity of the individual using it.
- HR-driven provisioning workflows assume the employee record is legitimate before downstream accounts are created.
- IGA and PAM help govern access but do not independently verify the person requesting or using that access.
This is why organizations with mature IAM programs can still experience identity-based attacks. The controls are working as designed—the trust placed in the individual is what is being exploited.
Identity Assurance: The Missing Layer
Identity assurance helps close the gap between account trust and human trust.
Rather than relying solely on credentials, devices, or workflow approvals, identity assurance enables organizations to verify the real person behind high-risk workforce actions.
This may include a combination of:
- Biometric verification
- Government-issued document validation
- Source corroboration
- Device and contextual signals
When integrated into existing IAM workflows, identity assurance can help organizations:
- Verify employees and contractors before trust is established
- Confirm identity during MFA enrollment and reset flows
- Reduce account recovery and helpdesk fraud
- Strengthen controls around privileged access
- Re-verify identity when roles, entitlements, or risk levels change
- Support periodic recertification and trust validation
The result is stronger confidence in the person behind the account without requiring organizations to rebuild the IAM foundation they already rely on.
CLEAR1: The Person-Based Solution for Workforce IAM
CLEAR1 complements existing workforce IAM investments by adding multi-layered identity assurance at critical trust moments.
Rather than replacing identity providers, governance platforms, or privileged access tools, CLEAR1 integrates with existing workflows to help organizations verify the person behind high-risk actions—from new hire verification and MFA enrollment to privileged access requests and beyond. Existing users verify instantly with just a selfie, while new users enjoy the same experience across all partners after a quick, one-time setup.
For organizations already using platforms such as Okta, Ping Identity, or Microsoft Entra, identity assurance can be embedded directly into existing workforce processes, strengthening trust without creating additional friction.
The Future of Workforce IAM
As workforce environments become more distributed and attackers become more sophisticated, managing accounts alone is no longer enough.
Traditional IAM remains essential for authentication, authorization, governance, and access control—but organizations also need a reliable way to verify the person behind critical workforce actions.
The strongest workforce security strategies combine account assurance with identity assurance to ensure trust is grounded not only in credentials, but in the individual behind them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does workforce identity and access management mean?
Workforce identity and access management refers to the systems and policies organizations use to manage and secure employee, contractor, and third-party access to business applications, systems, and data. It typically includes authentication, access controls, and identity governance, and increasingly includes identity assurance to help verify the real person behind high-risk actions.
We are already at AAL2. Why add a person-based verification layer?
AAL2 strengthens authentication by requiring stronger proof during login, but it does not always confirm that the person using the credential, device, or authentication factor is the authorized individual. A person-based verification layer adds confidence at high-risk workforce moments like onboarding, MFA reset, account recovery, and privileged access by helping confirm the real person behind the request.
Where does verified workforce identity fit with zero trust?
Verified workforce identity strengthens zero trust by adding identity assurance where trust decisions matter most. While zero trust helps enforce continuous evaluation of users, devices, and access context, person-based verification adds confidence that the individual behind the session is legitimate, especially during higher-risk actions.
How quickly can we deploy without disrupting Okta, Ping, or Microsoft Entra?
CLEAR1 is designed to layer into existing IAM environments rather than replace them. With native integrations for platforms like Okta, Ping, and Microsoft Entra, many organizations can deploy quickly—sometimes in hours or even minutes—without rebuilding core identity infrastructure or disrupting existing workflows.
What compliance frameworks does CLEAR1 attest to?
CLEAR1 supports high-assurance identity and security requirements with standards and attestations that include IAL2, AAL2, HIPAA, PAD2, and SOC 2 Type II. These frameworks help organizations strengthen security and trust while supporting enterprise compliance needs.
Workforce IAM Is Essential—But the Threat Landscape Has Changed
Workforce identity and access management has become the foundation of enterprise security. Organizations rely on identity providers, MFA, provisioning workflows, governance tools, and privileged access controls to manage access across employees, contractors, and third-party partners.
These systems are highly effective at answering critical questions:
- Who is requesting access?
- What permissions should they have?
- What actions are they allowed to take?
Modern IAM platforms automate these decisions at scale, helping organizations provision accounts, enforce policies, govern access, and support zero trust initiatives across the workforce lifecycle.
But today's attackers are targeting something different.
Rather than breaking through perimeter defenses or stealing passwords, they increasingly focus on impersonating legitimate workers, manipulating account recovery processes, and exploiting trust-based workflows. As a result, many organizations are discovering a challenge traditional IAM was never designed to solve on its own: verifying the actual person behind the account.
The Workforce Identity Gap Attackers Are Exploiting
Every IAM decision starts with an assumption: the digital identity attached to an account is legitimate.
Once an account is created, most IAM systems focus on managing authentication, authorization, and access. They are designed to determine what an account can do—not continuously verify that the person using it is still the authorized individual.
That distinction has become increasingly important as workforce identity threats evolve.
Five Workforce Identity Attacks That Have Already Gotten Past the IAM Stack
Today, security teams are facing attacks such as:
- Helpdesk social engineering used to reset MFA or recover access
- Fraudulent remote workers entering organizations under false identities
- Contractor or third-party account misuse
- Compromised sessions where attackers inherit trusted access
- AI-generated impersonation that makes deception more scalable and convincing
In many of these scenarios, the IAM stack behaves exactly as intended. The weakness is not the authentication workflow or access policy itself—it is the organization's confidence in the person behind the request.
As a result, many security leaders are recognizing that account assurance and identity assurance are not the same thing.
Why Existing Controls Don't Fully Solve the Problem
Organizations have invested heavily in controls designed to strengthen workforce security.
Single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) reduce credential-based risk and improve authentication security. Identity governance and administration (IGA) tools help manage approvals, certifications, and access reviews. Privileged access management (PAM) solutions provide stronger controls around sensitive accounts.
While these technologies remain critical, they are primarily designed to manage accounts, sessions, permissions, and authentication factors. They are not built to repeatedly verify the human behind those controls.
For example:
- MFA often proves possession of a device or authentication factor, not the identity of the individual using it.
- HR-driven provisioning workflows assume the employee record is legitimate before downstream accounts are created.
- IGA and PAM help govern access but do not independently verify the person requesting or using that access.
This is why organizations with mature IAM programs can still experience identity-based attacks. The controls are working as designed—the trust placed in the individual is what is being exploited.
Identity Assurance: The Missing Layer
Identity assurance helps close the gap between account trust and human trust.
Rather than relying solely on credentials, devices, or workflow approvals, identity assurance enables organizations to verify the real person behind high-risk workforce actions.
This may include a combination of:
- Biometric verification
- Government-issued document validation
- Source corroboration
- Device and contextual signals
When integrated into existing IAM workflows, identity assurance can help organizations:
- Verify employees and contractors before trust is established
- Confirm identity during MFA enrollment and reset flows
- Reduce account recovery and helpdesk fraud
- Strengthen controls around privileged access
- Re-verify identity when roles, entitlements, or risk levels change
- Support periodic recertification and trust validation
The result is stronger confidence in the person behind the account without requiring organizations to rebuild the IAM foundation they already rely on.
CLEAR1: The Person-Based Solution for Workforce IAM
CLEAR1 complements existing workforce IAM investments by adding multi-layered identity assurance at critical trust moments.
Rather than replacing identity providers, governance platforms, or privileged access tools, CLEAR1 integrates with existing workflows to help organizations verify the person behind high-risk actions—from new hire verification and MFA enrollment to privileged access requests and beyond. Existing users verify instantly with just a selfie, while new users enjoy the same experience across all partners after a quick, one-time setup.
For organizations already using platforms such as Okta, Ping Identity, or Microsoft Entra, identity assurance can be embedded directly into existing workforce processes, strengthening trust without creating additional friction.
The Future of Workforce IAM
As workforce environments become more distributed and attackers become more sophisticated, managing accounts alone is no longer enough.
Traditional IAM remains essential for authentication, authorization, governance, and access control—but organizations also need a reliable way to verify the person behind critical workforce actions.
The strongest workforce security strategies combine account assurance with identity assurance to ensure trust is grounded not only in credentials, but in the individual behind them.
