ManageEngine in The Workforce Identity Security Platforms Landscape

In the Workforce Identity Security Platforms Landscape, Q4 2025, Forrester named ManageEngine among 32 vendors it provided an overview on to help security leaders understand how workforce identity security platform providers differ in type of offering, market focus, and use cases. The report supports informed vendor comparison based on organizational size and market focus.

According to Software Strategies blog, at Forrester’s 2025 Security & Risk Summit, Merritt Maxim, VP and research director, highlighted the escalating threats shaping the evolution of identity security. Static IAM fails against machine-speed threats. Conversely, context-aware IAM, powered by dynamic authorization, continuously assesses real-time user behavior, device posture, and threat intel. Forrester identifies this adaptive approach as critical, turning identity from a passive gatekeeper to a proactive defender that stops attacks before damage occurs.

In parallel, attackers are increasingly using valid credentials and legitimate privileges rather than infrastructure to move through environments. As a result, identities themselves now represent a significant part of the enterprise attack surface. This change has forced IAM platforms to evolve. Organizations need end-to-end visibility into how identities are configured, how privileges combine, how access is actually used over time and remediation of deviations captured.

ManageEngine AD360, recognized in the Workforce Identity Security Platforms Landscape, Q4 2025 report, is designed to provide a unified view of identity configuration, usage, risk, and response across on-premises and cloud environments.

Identity security with AD360 

AD360 approaches identity security by continuously monitoring identity posture across hybrid environments, correlating identity configuration, entitlement relationships, and access activity to assess contextual risk and surface exposure before it results in misuse or compromise.

AI-driven identity intelligence and behavioral visibility

Modern identity security depends on understanding how access is structured and used, not just how it was approved. In AD360, Zia provides AI-driven access insights that analyze users’ group memberships in context, use peer comparison analysis to benchmark a user’s access against others in similar roles to surface anomalous or excessive memberships, and also identifies high-risk combinations of group memberships.

Its ML-based features like access recommendations and user behavior analytics analyze historical provisioning data and peer entitlements to suggest appropriate privileges during onboarding and baseline normal user and entity activity where deviations such as logins from new geographies, unexpected privilege elevation, or unusual access patterns are flagged.

Continuous identity risk assessment and posture evaluation

Identity risk continues to evolve after provisioning. AD360 continuously evaluates identity posture across hybrid systems, identifying dormant accounts, misaligned privileges, insecure delegations, and weak password configurations as they emerge. Risk scoring follows NIST-aligned methodologies and updates dynamically as configurations and usage change, allowing administrators to prioritize remediation based on impact rather than periodic snapshots.

Identity risk exposure and attack path visibility across hybrid environments

Many identity risks arise from how permissions combine over time across on-premises directories and cloud identity environments. Risk exposure management visualizes nested groups, delegated roles, inherited privileges, and hybrid identity configurations as connected access paths, while the Attack Surface Analyzer highlights insecure configurations, exposure indicators, and misconfigurations that can enable credential abuse, privilege escalation, or lateral movement. This unified view makes indirect paths to sensitive permissions visible and helps teams assess identity-related exposure consistently and address structurally risky access conditions proactively rather than after misuse occurs.

Adaptive authentication and contextual access enforcement

Authentication effectiveness depends on context. AD360 supports adaptive MFA, passwordless authentication, biometric options, and conditional access policies that evaluate device, location, time, and behavioral signals. Additional authentication is enforced when risk indicators warrant it, strengthening protection against credential misuse while minimizing friction for legitimate users. SSO and self-service password reset further reduce insecure password practices and help desk dependency.

Governance, auditability, and sustained identity hygiene

Sustained identity security requires governance that reflects actual access usage. AD360 supports access certification campaigns for bulk entitlement review, justification validation, and role alignment. Centralized auditing captures logons, privilege changes, group modifications, and policy updates across Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID, while prebuilt compliance reports mapped to the GDPR, HIPAA, the PCI DSS, and SOX support continuous audit readiness.

Identity orchestration across hybrid environments

Effective identity security depends not only on visibility and detection, but also on the ability to act consistently across systems. AD360 supports identity orchestration by automating identity workflows and synchronizing identity changes across platforms, reducing manual gaps that can introduce security risk.

By orchestrating user life cycle actions and access changes across Active Directory, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other connected systems, AD360 helps prevent stale accounts, misaligned privileges, and configuration drift. Workflow automation and cross-platform synchronization ensure that remediation actions, access updates, and life cycle changes occur reliably and auditable, strengthening identity security outcomes across hybrid environments.

Integrated identity detection and response

Detection is only effective when it leads to action. AD360 integrates with Log360 so identity-related anomalies can trigger remediation directly from the SIEM workflow. Accounts can be disabled, credentials reset, or entitlements modified without tool switching, reducing response time and operational friction during identity-driven incidents.

Identity security as a continuous control loop

Identity security solutions are defined by the ability to assess risk, fine-tune access, and respond in real time as identities interact with systems.

By combining intelligence-driven analysis, continuous risk assessment, adaptive controls, and integrated response, AD360 has an adaptive approach to enable organizations to secure identities consistently across modern, hybrid environments.

Schedule a one-on-one session with our product experts to see how AD360 enables identity-first security across your enterprise. Request a personalized demo today.