Definition

Device Posture

The security health state of a device at the moment of authentication, used as an input to access control decisions. A device posture check can verify that specific security controls are active (EDR software running, OS updated, disk encrypted, no jailbreak detected, specific executable files signed by expected OEMs) and append that verification to the authentication assertion. Posture checks can occur silently - without interrupting the user - or can require explicit user interaction for high-sensitivity operations. Beyond Identity's policy engine lets customers tune their posture requirements on a spectrum: from a simple 'verify not jailbroken' for a retail purchasing app, to 'verify every process in memory and the loader chain' for national security customers. The policy is customer-defined and reflects the organization's actual risk tolerance for specific operations.

From the episode “Agentic AI, Deepfakes, and the End of Passwords”

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