The Night of the Disconnected: A Halloween Tale of Zombie Permissions

A chilling reminder that in identity security, what you can’t see can hurt you.

The conference room was dark except for the pale glow of the projector. Sarah, the CISO, stood frozen as she read the audit findings. Her hands trembled slightly as she scrolled through page after page of unauthorized access, orphaned accounts, and permissions that shouldn’t exist. 

“How long have these been here?” she whispered. The auditor’s response was clinical, detached. “Some of these accounts? Years. They’ve been lurking in systems we didn’t even know were connected to our environment.”

Sarah felt a chill run down her spine. Somewhere in the darkness of their disconnected systems, something had been growing. Waiting. And now it had awakened. 

Hidden access lurking in disconnected systems can lead to real-world nightmares. This Halloween, explore the haunting reality of zombie permissions—and how READI’s connectivity brings them to light. 

The Curse of Disconnection

In every organization, there are systems that live in the shadows—applications that were deployed quickly, cloud services adopted by individual departments, legacy platforms that “just work” so nobody touches them. These disconnected islands create the perfect breeding ground for something sinister:  zombie permissions. 

Unlike the zombies of horror films, these threats don’t shuffle or moan. They’re silent. Invisible. They lurk in the blind spots created when systems aren’t connected to your identity governance platform. 

What Are Zombie Permissions?

Zombie permissions are access rights that should be dead but aren’t:

• The Departed Employee - John left six months ago, but his admin account still has full access to the customer database. Nobody knows because the system isn’t connected to HR or your IGA platform.
• The Forgotten Contractor - A vendor was granted temporary access for a three-month project in 2023. The project ended. The contractor moved on. The access remains, undead and dangerous. 
• The Privilege Creep - Maria moved from Marketing to Finance a year ago. She gained new permissions but never lost the old ones. Now she has access to systems across five departments. Nobody can see the full picture because the systems don’t talk to each other. 
• The Shadow Service Account - An automated process needed credentials. Someone created a service account with excessive permissions. The process changed. The service account remained, its purpose forgotten, its power unchecked. 

These aren’t hypothetical scenarios. They’re happening right now, in systems that aren’t connected to your governance infrastructure.

Nobody Sees It. Nobody Knows.

The most terrifying aspect of zombie permissions isn’t what they can do—it’s that  you don’t know they exist. 

Your SailPoint Identity Security Cloud platform is powerful. It can govern identities, certify access, and enforce policies. But it can only protect what it can see. When applications aren’t connected—when that critical financial system, that cloud database, that legacy platform sits isolated in the darkness—your governance is blind. 

This creates a false sense of security. You run your access reviews. You certify permissions. You generate compliance reports. Everything looks clean and controlled. But lurking in those disconnected systems, the zombies are multiplying. 

Until That Dark Day When It Comes for You

The awakening happens without warning:

The Audit - External auditors arrive and start asking about systems you barely remember deploying. They want to see access logs. They want proof of governance. You realize with growing horror that entire applications exist outside your identity governance scope.

The Breach - Your security team detects unusual activity. An investigation reveals that an attacker used credentials from a terminated employee—credentials that should have been disabled months ago but weren’t because the system was disconnected from your IGA platform.

The Insider Threat - An employee with accumulated permissions across multiple roles and departments abuses their excessive access. The damage is extensive because nobody realized how much access they had scattered across disconnected systems.

The Compliance Failure - A regulatory review reveals gaps in your access governance. Fines are assessed. Certifications are questioned. Your organization’s reputation suffers—all because zombie permissions were lurking in disconnected systems.

The cost isn’t just financial. It’s the sleepless nights, the emergency response, the loss of trust, and the knowledge that the threat was preventable.

Connectivity: Shining a Light into the Darkness

There’s a reason why zombie movies always emphasize light—flashlights, floodlights, fire. Light reveals what’s hidden. It shows you the threat before it reaches you. In identity security,  connectivity is that light.

When every application, every system, every identity source is connected to your identity governance platform, the shadows disappear. You can finally see:

• Every identity across every system.
• Every permission no matter where it’s granted.
• Every orphaned account that should have been terminated.
• Every excessive privilege that accumulated over time.
• Every compliance gap before the auditor finds it.

The READI Approach to Connectivity

This is where READI’s platform becomes your flashlight in the darkness. While SailPoint provides the governance framework—the policies, the workflows, the certifications—READI ensures that  everything is connected to that framework.

Connector Studio makes it fast and flexible to bring even the most stubborn applications into the light: 

• No more “we can’t connect to that system”.
• No more six-month connector development projects.
• No more applications hiding in the shadows because connectivity is “too hard”.

The AI Smart Connector acts like a genius integrator, working to connect applications that traditional connectors can’t reach:

• Legacy systems without APIs.
• Custom applications where no connectors exist.
• Cloud services with non-standard interfaces.

When connectivity is comprehensive, your SailPoint governance becomes truly powerful. Access reviews actually review all access. Certifications actually certify all permissions. Compliance reports actually reflect complete compliance.

Don’t Wait for the Zombies to Awaken

Every day that systems remain disconnected is another day zombie permissions multiply in the darkness. Every application that sits outside your governance scope is a potential security incident waiting to happen. The good news? You don’t have to wait for that dark day of discovery.

Shine a light.  Connect your systems. Bring every application, every identity source, every permission into your governance framework. Use READI to rapidly establish connectivity where it doesn’t exist. Let your SailPoint platform govern what it can now see.

• Because in identity security, what you can’t see will hurt you. 
• But what you can see? What you’ve connected and brought into the light? 
• Those zombies don’t stand a chance. 

Ready to illuminate the dark corners of your identity infrastructure? Learn how READI’s connectivity solutions work with SailPoint to eliminate zombie permissions before they become a nightmare. Visit  www.readibots.com to discover how fast, flexible connectivity transforms identity governance from a checkbox exercise into comprehensive security. to discover how fast, flexible connectivity transforms identity governance from a checkbox exercise into comprehensive security. 

Because the only good zombie permission is one you found before it found you. 

🎃 Happy Halloween from the READI team 🎃