CRN just named the Silverfort Identity Security Platform a finalist in the 2026 Tech Innovators Awards. Finalists were selected for introducing truly innovative products that bring tangible value to customers.
At the core of this recognition is what Silverfort has always been built upon: enforcing Identity Security inline, at runtime—the moment access is requested, not after. That approach has never mattered more than it does now.
Attacks that used to take days can now complete in minutes, sometimes less. AI-powered attacks have made static credentials, standing privileges, detection rules, and post-mortem reviews obsolete.
Silverfort’s own research in the Mythos Field Report validates this reality. When we had access to Mythos through testing with customers, a clear pattern emerged: standard, unsophisticated attacker playbooks executed at a speed that left no realistic window for human response. The only control that held up at machine speed was identity-first security acting inside the authentication flow, in real time.
Why it matters: Runtime Access Protection stops AI-powered attacks
Most identity and security tools operate on a delay. They grant access, log what happened, and hope someone reviews it before it becomes a problem. That worked when attackers moved at human speed. It doesn’t anymore.
Silverfort was built differently from the start to prepare for the moment when identity truly becomes the last layer of defense.
Its Runtime Access Protection (RAP) integrates directly into authentication flows to analyze behavior, assess risk, and enforce adaptive controls at the exact time access is requested. Every authentication request gets evaluated against dynamic context in real time, and a decision gets made before access is granted: allow, deny, step up, or restrict.
That means a service account that’s authenticated to the same two servers for three years doesn’t get to quietly request access to a domain controller at 3 AM. The system catches it in milliseconds, not during next quarter’s audit.
This is also what makes Silverfort able to protect what most tools miss entirely: legacy systems, command-line tools like PowerShell and PsExec, local accounts, and now AI agents—all treated as first-class identities, all covered by the same runtime enforcement, and secured without lengthy implementations or disruption to the business.
The next layer: IVIP, a category the market is catching up to
Runtime enforcement answers the question of granting access at the moment it matters.
Over the past year, Silverfort built the layer that makes those decisions smarter, strengthening the platform based on where Identity Security is proven to be heading.
Gartner predicts that by 2028, 70% of CISOs will rely on Identity Visibility and Intelligence Platforms (IVIPs) to continuously monitor and shrink their IAM attack surface. Our introduction of Access Intelligence and the Identity Graph & Inventory are Silverfort’s answer to that shift.
Access Intelligence closes the gap AI–powered attacks exploit most: excess privilege that’s been sitting there quietly. It doesn’t just show who or what has permission, but who’s actually using itacross every application, server, and resource, including effective privileges hidden inside AD and cloud. Over–privileged accounts, stale access, and inherited rights get surfaced and prioritized, so teams can get to least privilege at scale instead of guessing. The fewer standing privileges an identity has, the less an AI–powered threat actor can weaponize it in the attack path.
The Identity Graph & Inventory is the visibility layer underneath it all: a live, continuously updated map of every identity, human or machine, across AD, cloud IdPs, SaaS, and infrastructure. You can’t act on an identity in real time if you don’t know it exists.
Identity-first runtime security is your strongest defense
AI-powered attacks have already changed how organizations need to strategize their cybersecurity defense. But the fundamentals are still the same.
Organizations have recognized that identity is the control point that attackers must always move through to achieve their goals—whether the identity is a human, non-human, or AI agent—and runtime enforcement is what gives you the ability to meet a threat actor where they are, the moment they’re trying to get in.
Thank you to CRN for recognizing Silverfort’s leadership in the fast-growing Identity Security market, and congratulations to the rest of the finalists.
To learn more about Silverfort’s Runtime Access Protection and identity-first runtime security, visit us here.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Identity Visibility and Intelligence Platform (IVIP)? IVIP is a new category introduced by Gartner in 2025 that represents products that give organizations a single, continuously updated view of every identity—human, machine, and AI agent—across on-prem, cloud, and SaaS environments, along with the access each identity actually uses. Gartner predicts 70% of CISOs will rely on IVIPs by 2028 to monitor and shrink their IAM attack surface.
What is Runtime Access Protection (RAP)? Runtime Access Protection is Silverfort’s patented technology, which integrates directly into authentication flows to evaluate risk and enforce access controls—such as MFA, step-up authentication, or denial—at the moment an authentication request is made, rather than after access has already been granted.
Why does least privilege matter more in the age of AI-powered attacks? AI agents can discover and chain together over-privileged or unused access far faster than a human attacker. Reducing standing privilege ahead of time shrinks the number of paths an AI-driven attack can exploit, making least privilege a runtime security concern rather than only a compliance requirement.
Why was Silverfort named a 2026 CRN Tech Innovators Award finalist? Silverfort was recognized for its Identity Security Platform, which enforces protection inline and at runtime across every identity in hybrid environments—strengthened by Access Intelligence and the Identity Graph & Inventory, which together add IVIP capabilities to provide visibility and least-privilege enforcement to that same runtime foundation.
