Report Overview
As organizations race to unlock more value from their data, many are losing control of who has access to it. The environment has changed. It’s cloud-first, API-heavy, and increasingly shaped by AI. But access controls haven’t kept up. Most teams still rely on static policies, outdated role models, and fragmented systems that struggle to respond to real-time risk.
Access control is no longer just an IT function. It’s a critical layer of defense against insider threats, compliance failures, and unauthorized data exposure. Yet many teams are flying blind, managing permissions across disconnected platforms with limited visibility and little context.
The stakes are rising. Today, 44% of organizations report incidents tied to excessive or misaligned access. At the same time, 93% list securing APIs and endpoints as a top priority, and 89% are turning to AI to automate and improve access decisions.
The Link Index for Data Access Control gives teams a clear view of what works and what doesn’t. It evaluates 67 vendors across the criteria buyers care about most: accuracy, automation, scalability, and policy enforcement. From that review, 24 vendors stood out for helping organizations stay secure while keeping access manageable.
Key Takeways:
- Access control is now strategic: With sensitive data distributed across cloud services, APIs, and AI pipelines, unified governance is essential.
- Legacy models are falling behind: Static roles and siloed enforcement make it harder to maintain least privilege and respond to risk in real time.
- AI is reshaping access decisions: 89% of organizations are using behavioral signals and automation to reduce exposure and improve oversight.
- The leaders are future-ready: This Index highlights the 24 vendors delivering scalable enforcement, identity alignment, and integration across complex environments.
Methodology
The Link Index offers a detailed analysis and ranking of leading vendors for specific use cases, leveraging robust data and insights from Liminal’s market and competitive intelligence platform, Link. Liminal’s research team invites solution providers to participate in a company survey and analyst briefing. It uses a proprietary framework to assess and rank product capabilities based on their relevance to market needs. Liminal’s Digital Identity Landscape taxonomy and ontology are central to the Link Index, which precisely evaluates vendor solutions by buyer demand, product capability, and market presence. Liminal conducts a rigorous survey among buyers in the vendor selection process to identify the most in-demand product capabilities and the most valued product components. Market presence criteria included buyer satisfaction, market penetration, and brand recognition. The Link Index was designed to be used to inform go-to-market strategy and execution and provide guidance for solution buyers, specifically:
- Executives in corporate strategy
- Leaders of go-to-market execution
- Practitioners of solution implementation
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