19th Edition of the Identity Jedi Newsletter

Wednesday 1/18/22 - Identity Jedi Newsletter - Subscribe

Hey Jedi! Welcome to the 19th Edition of the Identity Jedi Newsletter! Oh man do we have some news for you this week! 2023 has kicked off with a bang for the identity industry. We got acquisitions, breaches, partnerships, and more!

But first, I want to address the elephant in the room. Last week SailPoint completed the acquisition of SecZetta, a third-party identity management platform company. I'll dive into what that means for the industry later on, but for now, I want to address the people side of this.

Call it whatever you want, but the economy is turning, and it's getting harder for everyone out there. An unfortunate part of acquisitions is that not everyone makes it to the other side of the rainbow. This past week, many good people at SecZetta found themselves Friday morning looking for new employment in this current market. In times like this is natural for all of us to build fences. We want to protect ourselves and those we care about most and focus solely inward. I would encourage you, Jedi, to fight that urge and build bridges instead. Let's look out for each other. If you're currently hiring, reach out, and let's see if we can find some amazing people their next opportunity. If you aren't hiring but know of someone who is, let's make some connections. My good friend and mentor Richard Bird says: "Life is a team sport", and I truly believe it is. This industry we love is small; let's see if we can use our powers for good and help those in tough situations.

Ok..that was a little rough, but needed. We've got to take the good with the bad with this crazy roller coaster we call life. So let's switch to some good stuff. Starting this week, I'm rolling out blog posts to the Identity Jedi website. Quick read, educational posts about this lovely industry. You can check out the first one here!

Don't forget about the referral program! Refer the newsletter and get free stuff! I mean, it doesn't get any easier than that!

Let's Get to The Good Stuff

• SailPoint Acquires SecZetta

• Simieo Acquires PathMaker Group

• Governance in the cloud is hard..mmmkay

The Platform Wars Continue

SailPoint and Uncle Tommy B didn't wait long in the new year to fire their shot in the Platform Wars. SailPoint acquired SecZetta last week to bolster its capabilities around handling third-party identities. As they face competition from other platforms plays like Okta, OneIdentity, Microsoft, and up-and-coming competitors like Authomize, Balkan.ID, and Axiom the identity space is starting to get crowded and SailPoint is starting to look a little long in the tooth. Time will tell if this will give them a much needed shot in the arm, although recent SailPoint acquisition history the odds aren't in their favor

Hey what about us?

Not to be left out of the acquisition games. IAM services provider SImeio announced its purchase of fellow IAM services provider PathMaker Group. I'm interested to see how this plays out for the consulting firms these coming years. As budgets tighten and layoffs continue, companies will be looking to outsource work....right?

Experian exposed

So tell me again, why laying off a massive amount of tech and cybersecurity talent will help companies? To be fair, this breach had nothing to do with anyone being laid off, but it just begs the broader question. If still have exploits as glaring as this one in our industry. How does having fewer people to deal with it make sense? I digress. This is pretty bad, like the early 2000's, all I have to do is change part of the URL to get access bad.

Last Word

10,000 from Microsoft, 18,000 from Amazon, Salesforce 8,000. And that's just the companies we know and love..or hate. No matter how you slice it, it's a rough time in the tech world. If you're reading this and you've been affected, here's my LinkedIn profile, my network is your network.

Identity Jedi

Or you can feel free to email me: [email protected]

However, I can help I will.

I'm not immune to this, as I was let go as part of the SailPoint acquisition of SecZetta so trust me when I say I know how it feels. The silver lining for me, is that I get to spend more time with you Jedi. Virtually, of course. I enjoy this opportunity to pour into the newsletter and provide even more content. Also I'll be rolling out exclusive Expert Interviews to the newsletter starting next week! I've got some great guests lined up. The full interviews will be accessible for my premium subscribers, and excerpts will be available for all. If you're interested in signing up for the check the link below

Be Kind to each other, Be Good to each other, Love each other.

-The Identity Jedi

JEDI COUNCIL

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