A few years ago, I came across Gartner's term "Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture", essentially a sophisticated way to describe the strategy of connecting cybersecurity tools. This concept was a major theme at SailPoint Navigate, though the specific buzzword rarely appeared. The underlying principle, however, was everywhere.
The Business Case Through a Simple Scenario
SailPoint reinforced this concept throughout the conference with a strategic example: Imagine your CIO is working on a Windows laptop that hasn't received the latest security patches. Your SOC has tools to detect non-compliant machines, but that data doesn't flow to the platform managing user access rights. Meanwhile, the CIO holds permissions ranging from benign (perhaps the party planning committee) to highly privileged administrative access to strategic systems.
This creates a clear gap where critical security intelligence exists in one system while access decisions are made in another, completely disconnected environment.
The Technical Foundation: Shared Signals Framework
By integrating these tools - "meshing the architecture" in Gartner's terminology, or "providing identity context" in SailPoint's language - we unlock powerful automated responses.
The enabling technology is the Shared Signals Framework (SSF), which I learned about at the Navigate conference. SSF is quickly becoming the established protocol for cybersecurity tool communication, analogous to how TCP/IP powers internet communication or OAuth enables SSO. This standardization is critical because it allows seamless, vendor-agnostic integration between security systems.
From Detection to Automated Response
Here's how the integrated workflow operates: The SOC tool detects the CIO's non-compliant laptop and sends an SSF message triggering a SailPoint Identity Security Cloud workflow. The system can then automatically act on the CIO's permissions with graduated responses such as:
a) Disable the network account entirely – likely too severe for a missing patch
b) Automatically deprovision all entitlements flagged as "Privileged" - a balanced automated response that reduces risk immediately
c) Trigger an approval workflow to the CEO/CTO – "The CIO's device is non-compliant. Approve temporary removal of privileged access?"
The specific actions matter less than the principle; real-time security posture directly informs access decisions without manual intervention.
The Strategic Imperative
Another central theme from Navigate emphasized the importance of connecting these critical systems to leverage their interoperability capabilities. Instead of operating in silos, where your SOC team, identity team, and access governance team work independently, integration multiplies their collective value.
The best part? You likely already own these tools; no middleware purchase required. These capabilities exist today in modern security platforms and will only become more flexible and powerful over time.
Breaking down these silos isn't just a technical improvement, it's a force multiplier for your security organization. Every integration point becomes an opportunity for automated risk reduction, faster incident response, and more intelligent access decisions.
As a cybersecurity leader, if you're not actively working to connect your security tools through frameworks like SSF, you're operating at a fraction of your potential effectiveness. The mesh architecture isn't future-state theory. It's available now, and your peers are already implementing it.
