# ispm

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/ispm/
Last updated: 2026-08-29
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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Identity Security Posture Management. Continuous assessment of identity-related misconfigurations and risk, such as dormant accounts, weak MFA coverage, and risky entitlements. Posture is preventive; ITDR is the runtime detection counterpart.

Posture management answers "what could go wrong" while detection answers "what is going wrong", and the two need different data. ISPM findings are usually unglamorous and high value: accounts excluded from MFA policy, admins without privileged workstations, dormant service accounts with live keys, and nested group membership nobody intended. The work is prioritization, since a raw findings list from a large tenant is unusable.

See also: [what is ITDR](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-itdr/), [CIEM](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/ciem/), [least privilege](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/least-privilege/), [ITDR vendors](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/itdr/)