The guide to making Continuous Identity real in AWS

If you run production workloads in AWS, you already know the pressure: engineers are on call 24/7, incidents escalate in minutes, and attackers only need one credential to walk through the door.

The problem is that most access controls in AWS haven’t kept pace. Standing access is everywhere in the form of persistent IAM roles, long-lived credentials, and blanket privileges that stay open long after they’re needed. Even if you’ve bolted on processes like ticket checks or on-call approvals, they’re often manual and slow. The result? Audit gaps, frustrated engineers, and exposure windows ripe for abuse.

Why your current stack isn’t enough

You’ve probably invested in the usual suspects:

• Okta or another identity provider
• ServiceNow or your ITSM
• PagerDuty for on-call rotations
• CrowdStrike or another endpoint tool
• And of course, AWS IAM

But these systems don’t talk to each other. Access is granted upfront, without considering why it’s needed or when it should end. PAM tools may reduce credential sprawl, but they’re still built on static roles and delayed revocation.

That’s where Continuous Identity comes in.

Continuous Identity in action

Continuous Identity means making every access decision in real time—based on who the user is, why they need access, when they’re asking, and what device or system they’re using. With SGNL, those checks happen automatically, so engineers get the right access at the right time, and attackers don’t get lingering privileges to exploit.

Here’s how it works in AWS:

1. An engineer is paged to handle a production incident.
2. SGNL checks:
   • Are they in the right group in Okta?
   • Do they have an active ServiceNow ticket?
   • Are they currently on-call in PagerDuty?
   • Is their device compliant according to CrowdStrike?
3. If everything checks out, SGNL authorizes just-in-time access to the specific AWS account and role.
4. When the ticket closes, the shift ends, or the device falls out of compliance, access is revoked automatically.

No standing roles. No leftover credentials. No exposure window.

And most importantly, no change to how engineers request or access the systems they need.

They still use the same tools—Okta, ServiceNow, PagerDuty, AWS CLI—but behind the scenes, SGNL makes the access smarter, safer, and fully contextual.

Security improves, but the workflow stays familiar.

What success looks like

Organizations deploying SGNL with AWS see:

• Zero Standing Privilege — no persistent production access
• Lean IAM assignments — tens of thousands of roles reduced to a handful of reusable policies
• Faster incident response — on-call engineers get access instantly, without juggling tickets
• Stronger audits — every decision logged with full context
• Aligned governance — security and engineering teams share one policy model

Getting started

You don’t need to rip and replace. Most deployments start with:

• Okta (identity provider)
• ServiceNow (tickets)
• PagerDuty (on-call)
• CrowdStrike (endpoint compliance)
• AWS IAM (target system)

From there, SGNL connects the dots: our Identity Data Fabric ingests context, the Policy Engine evaluates it, Provider Hooks tie into Okta, and the CAEP Hub manages AWS sessions in real time. Start small. Secure one AWS account, one team, or one critical workflow. Then expand. Each step reduces standing privilege and closes exposure windows—without slowing your people down.

Want the details? Check out the AWS Deployment Guide or learn more about Continuous Identity